lord of the flies journal 1

Bradley Hofmann

Block: 2-1

English 11

Journal 1 – Lord of the Flies

At the very beginning of the story, a key decision is made by the young group of survivors. Together they democratically decide that Ralph will be the chief of the group because of his obvious leadership qualities and because he possesses the conch that brought them all together. The quote “Let him be the chief with the trumpet-thing” (pg 18) shows that the conch itself is a physical example of Ralph’s supremacy. Immediately following the vote, Ralph declares Jack the leader of his choir to ensure that he does not protest. This situation proves that even children can determine power structures, also that only those who are prepared to follow the person with the authority have the right to award it to them. Ralph clearly demonstrates the person who is given authority by those who are prepared to follow him while Jack provided an example of a basic dictatorship when he marches to the others with his possy of obedient choir members. The modest election relates to me because I was once in a similar situation. In my case, it was a coach who decided that we were going to have a vote to determine the captain of our lacrosse team. After reflecting upon our team’s decision, I noticed that we elected a natural leader much like how the boys in Lord of the Flies elected Ralph. However, the natural leader on the team did not have as much knowledge of lacrosse as other candidates, yet the other candidates where overlooked because of their lack of dominance. Similarly, Piggy was overlooked because of his insecurities even though he is the most logical member and “what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy” (pg 18-19). Therefore it is clear my team and the boys in Lord of the Flies acted similarly in multiple ways throughout our vote-casting. In addition, the election reminds me of a French text I read called “Ceux qui ressemble, rassemble.” In the text, the author explains how it is human nature to surround yourself with people look similar to you, and how they are more likely to accept you as a part of their group because you have more things in common with them. This is relevant because in Lord of the Flies, as soon as Jack’s choir group enters the meeting (dressed identically), the boys subconsciously view themselves as either part of the choir or not part of the choir. Because of this, it is not surprising that boys all voted for the member in the same subconscious classification as them, for example when Ralph asked who thought he should be the chief “every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then piggy, too, raised his hand gradually into the air” (pg 19). This proves that the boys labeled each other and trusted in Ralph because they had more in common with him. Finally, the election in Lord of the Flies is interconnected with modern politics because in both we notice that voting often turns into a popularity contest rather than an educated way of selecting the most suitable leader. While it is understandable that 12 year olds would not reflect upon the reasons why they voted for someone, it is inexcusable that some modern day adults act in the same manor. In Lord of the Flies, there were clearly better options than Ralph as the chief because “what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy while the most obvious leader was Jack.” (pg 18-19). Nevertheless, the group of boys chose Ralph for reasons as simple as the fact that he was holding a shell. A comparable real life example could be the election of Barak Obama, because people also voted for his for reasons as simplistic as race. Granted that Barak did present a very good platform and would have probably been elected regardless, many Americans turned the election into a popularity contest, making it directly relatable to the election in Lord of the Flies.