Democracy Essay, Research Paper

Ricky Ramoutar

Critical Lens

M.E. Sullivan said, “Democracy is only as successful as the people who make it work,” proves itself in the novel Lord of the Flies. I agree with this statement because, if there are to many people opposing one thing there will be war. The boys in this book struggled back and forth trying to establish a stable government. Democracy was forming in the group but, dictatorship was quickly sneaking up behind.

Democracy was an essential thing for the boys to survive on the island. Ralph tried to form a democratic nation from the beginning using the conch as a symbol. Everyone listened when the conch was blown. The system was working but after a couple months people started to get different ideas of ruling. Jack, who was basically the leader of the underworld tried to replace democracy with a strong dictatorship. Since the idea of a new type of government, democracy was losing power quickly.

Jack and his followers tried to bring down the democracy quickly because he or they wanted to be ruler. Jack did not want to be ruled by someone less superior than him. Jack and his group stopped obeying Ralph’s orders, and also they stopped going to the meetings when the conch was sounded. Jack started a rebellion against Ralph. Since the rebellion most of the kids joined Jack, and some stayed with Ralph. Two tribes were formed the democratic and the dictatorship tribes.

Once the tribes formed, democracy was abolished. Jack didn’t have everyone under his rule so, he was still unhappy. To get the children of the island to follow him, he went to the extent of murder. Simon and Piggy were victims of two different governments colliding together. After the death of Simon and Piggy, Ralph was alone. The democratic group was finally gone. The dictators had taken over.

In conclusion, democracy in this novel was over thrown by a dictatorship. Ralph was weak and couldn’t handle keeping the boys intact. Simon and Piggy was basically all Jack had but they were put to death. Jack, who was much stronger, felt that he could keep everyone together. His power exceeded into a dictatorship after he saw that everyone responded to his ruling with more enthusiasm. It is true that without the proper people, a democracy can’t work. Any form of government with the right people can rule.