Jack Merridew

Does this boy contribute in any way to the tragedy on the island?

Jack Merridew speaking to Ralph in the 1990 film adaptation of the novel.

In my opinion, Jack Merridew is the sole largest contributor to the devastating tragedy that occurred on the island. It was his antics, conflicts, and mean-spirited behaviour that brought him to be the leader of the savages and cause copious amounts of trouble. The savage tribe's decisions under Jack's command resulted in the deaths of both Simon and Piggy. It was Jack's constant rumour-spreading about the beast that added the fuel to the fire of the children's fears that caused them to act irrationally murderous and beat poor Simon to death when he emerged from the bush. On the other hand, Piggy's death was caused by a large boulder that was mistakenly released from the top of Castle Rock, after Jack ordered it to be placed there as a defense mechanism.

Could he have acted to prevent any of the deaths?


Yes, I believe that he could have easily negated some of the problems he caused, including the deaths of the two innocent boys. In Simon's case, when the "beast" was brought up in conversation, he could have swiftly and effectively ended the rumours by telling his tribe that there was no such thing as monsters and that they had nothing to worry about. In Piggy's case, all that was required to prevent his death was a little forethought in designing the boulder trap, perhaps make it safer by securing the trigger mechanism.

Working together.

What might I have done differently?


I think that if I were put into Jack's shoes, instead of isolating myself and my choir from the group, I would ask them to help out and try to reach our goal to get rescued. Also, I would try to concede to Ralph's rules and co-operate with him, after all he was the elected leader.

Power Conflicts

Write about one experience in your life where you experienced a power conflict.


The logo for the Boy Scouts of Canada
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I used to be a member of the Boy Scouts of Canada when I was younger. Once, on a geo-caching outing, myself and another of my group had a conflict over where we thought the compass co-ordinates were directing us to. The other boy, whose name was Bill, thought that the co-ordinates were pointing us to 30° NNW and I thought that we were supposed to go 30° NWN. After deliberating our course, I convinced the group that we should go my direction because I was usually pretty adept at deciphering directions. Even though I succeeded in gaining power over the group, it turned out that I was wrong about the co-ordinates, and we had to double-back and find the right path again.

Indicate the type of conflict.

In this case I believe it was a cross between Person v. Person and Person v. Group. On the one hand, I was conflicting with Bill, but on the other hand I also had to convince my group that they should side with me.

What steps did you take to resolve this conflict?

I simply argued with Bill about which direction we should take and rested on my excellent past geo-caching record to resolve the conflict we had.

Is there something else you could've done?



If I had been a little more mature and a little more experienced with geo-caching, I think that I might have realized that Bill's idea of the correct path was—in fact—correct. Unfortunately, I was too hard-headed and competitive to comprehend that sometimes instead of doing everything by yourself, you have to put your faith in other people to get things done.

Two boys fighting
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What could have happened if you allowed the conflict to escalate?

I don't think anything drastic would've happened if I allowed the conflict to escalate. However, the possibilities are endless. Perhaps it would've ended in a shouting match or even a fight. I have no idea. Thankfully, it was resolved peacefully and even though we lost time, my group still won the geocaching hunt that day.

William Golding

Who is William Golding?

William Gerald Golding
(Image from here)

William Golding was an acclaimed 20th century English author and Nobel Prize laureate. Born in 1911 in Cornwall, England, Golding was raised by his grandmother. While attending Oxford University, he developed a passion for writing, which eventually prompted him to switch majors from Natural Sciences to English Literature. In 1954, Golding wrote his first novel, Lord of the Flies, which is still his most succesful work to date, despite writing more than 20 other novels, plays, non-fiction texts, and collections of poems. The tenacious author received many awards during his lifetime, most notably the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. William Golding retired from writing around 1990, and lived comfortably near his childhood home of Newquay until 1993, when he died of heart failure.

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What was it like to live during his time?

A view Golding may have seen as Commander
of a Britsh landing craft on D-Day.
(Image from here)

Through the childhood and adolescence of William Golding, the world was experiencing a renaissance of art and literature, including writers such as Ernest Hemingway and H.G. Wells, who would've influenced the young author while growing up. Throughout the 1930's, a bitter depression gripped the global society, creating tension between most of the countries of the Western world, which culminated in the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. This intense battle for order in Europe led to Golding joining the Royal Navy shortly after the war broke out. Golding also participated in the D-Day invasion at Normandy; this traumatic experience haunted him for the rest of his life, giving him a depressing outlook on the world, and inspiring him to write many of his works as political allegory on current issues. The world went from being a very happy place to a dark and violent one in William Golding's lifetime, with the threat of Communism and the atom bomb always hanging over everyone's head. Around the time of his death, the USSR had fallen and peace was restored to most of the modern world again.

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Why do you think Golding wrote the novel, Lord of the Flies?
I think that Golding wrote Lord of the Flies because he wanted to express his displeasure with the way society was changing, where good hard-working people would often lose out to people who had aesthetic appeal, but lacked substance. I believe that Golding saw the way the United States was moving towards idol worship during the mid-1950's, with the introduction of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. He wanted to bring people back to how he believed society should function, so he created a new society within Lord of the Flies, as a sort-of social experiment. The colony had the culture of modern society, but was missing the normal rules and regulations. Lord of the Flies was the result.