Locke And Lord Of The Flies Essay

, Research Paper

Locke s Ideas and the Parallels in Lord of the Flies

In studying the ideological government established by John Locke s Second Treatise on Civil Government (1689), a distinct parallel can be drawn to the contemporary film by Golding, Lord of the Flies. Each piece concentrates on man s struggle with power and his own interpretation of a workable and viable system of rules and codes of conduct. In order to adequately comprehend the nature of similarity between these two works it is necessary to have a firm understanding of Locke s views pertaining to political theory.

In his Second Treatise, considerably his greatest contribution in the realm of political theory, Locke specifically centers his view on a rather narrowly defined aspect of politics; the part, he explains, that is most concerned with The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government. While his major focus of thought in the Second Treatise is the framework of a justifiable and workable government, Locke also establishes the issues and viability relating to virtue. Locke believes the soul reason society degenerates to armed conflict and strife is because of a depletion of the essential ingredients of an individual or a community’s self-preservation. According to the Second Treatise the ingredients include: (1) The right to private property which is grounded in the exercise of the virtues of rationality and industry; (2) The powers of government must be separated because virtue is always in short supply, but prerogative, which depends on virtue in judgment, must be retained by the executive because of the necessary imperfections of the rule of law; (3) The right of resistance to illegitimate government presupposes the exercise of restraint and rational judgment by the people.

Locke also notes the family as the human organization, which is most central for the development of virtue in a governmental association that both reveres and promotes natural freedom and balance. (Locke, 29-34) Locke says that freedom from arbitrary power is so fundamentally essential to man’s preservation that he cannot live without it. The role of the individual and the individual worker must be reviewed within that context. Because a person is naturally free only when ruled by the law of nature, the individual is apparently free from any superior power on earth and from the will of all other men. According to Locke, the liberty of man in society is for him to be under no other legislative power but that established by his own consent in the commonwealth. This means being not under the control of any will, or under the constraint of any foundation of judicial decree, other than that enacted by the legislative power as it relates to the trust with which it is endowed by individuals.

In looking at Locke s view on politics and then trying to establish parallels to the film Lord of the Flies one can discover not only parallels, but also different angles or even some completely perpendicular lines. By this I mean to say that though the statements that Locke has made are proved in the film some briefly agree and some do not at all.

In the film, Golding uses a lot of symbolism to create a metaphorical society to prove his ideas on human nature. The nature of man, according to Golding, is that each person has an inner evil nature poorly covered by society. If the society is taken away, then the inner nature comes out, and chaos and lawlessness will erupt. For Locke, this is the perfect setting to test his theories of human nature and how they hold to his social contract.

Let us take this one statement at a time. In Locke s Second Treatise of Government he develops a theory of government as a product of a social contract, which when broken justifies the creation of a new government for the protection of life, liberty and property. He begins his argument by developing a theory of the state of nature, which is:

What state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man. The state of nature includes the law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone; and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it

In the film, Ralph was voted to be the chief, but even as they built the first fire, they abandoned their responsibilities to serve themselves. The boys start to move away from Ralph and were easily persuaded to follow Jack. One could perhaps view this as wrong and irresponsible but it actually goes hand in hand with what Locke believes, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man. Jack didn t like the way he was ruled and therefore started his own government. Believing that to hunt for meat was what he needed and not to be under a ruler he did not agree with. Locke believed government had more potential for being dangerous, and the individual should rebel if he felt his rights were being violated. Apparently, Jack believed his rights were being violated and by human nature he thus chose to form his own government. Locke considered the nature of governmental man s individual interests as they related to government structure. So on the island everyone had their individual rights and interests, and how they choose to act on