How Does Lord Of The Flies Cause Conflict Essay

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Pages: 5

In both the fictional world and real world, people are often thought of as either being inherently good or bad. Simple, right? If someone carries out good deeds and “fights the good fight”, they are seen as a protagonist, and conversely, if someone causes conflict and seems to only want the worst for others, they become labelled as the antagonist, or the villain. But, what about the inconspicuous in-between section, when a character seems to be neither on the light side, nor the dark side? Surely life isn’t so black and white that these situations are nonexistent, so where do these individuals fall on the spectrum? This circumstance is represented impeccably in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, which follows a group of boys stranded on an island waiting for rescue, through the elementary-aged twin characters, Sam and Eric. In the novel, it becomes clear that …show more content…
The twins often find themselves caught in the middle of this conflict, but it often isn’t obvious whose side they are on, as their main concern is to avoid the conflict and in turn, punishment. Throughout the book, it becomes clear that their main strategy in dealing with conflict when stuck in the middle of Ralph and Jack’s diverging beliefs, is to take whatever means in order to appease those in charge and avoid harm.

In the beginning of the book, the main conflict occurring between Jack and Ralph was whether to focus on building a signal fire and adequate shelters, or go out and hunt for meat. Ralph, very early on, became the voice of reason and order, claiming that the boys’ first priority should be