Lord of The Flies and Youth Violence

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="1daa11c3.gif"> <div> <IMG SRC="2707d600.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="96" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Yea, the picture is much different, but it goes along with the topic of this essay.  Lord of The Flies and How it relates to Youth Violence.  I got a B on this essay.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>Links 1</B></FONT>     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CCCC66" FACE="Arial" >|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links 1"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ESSAYS"><U>ESSAYS</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Where I Grew Up."><U>Where I Grew Up.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monster"><U>Monster</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="John Locke and Abortion"><U>John Locke and Abortion</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Plotand C.D. of The Vampire Armand"><U>Plot-and C.D. of The Vampire Armand</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ConAbortion"><U>Con-Abortion</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Courtney Love"><U>Courtney Love</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Choices My Death"><U>Choices- My Death</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Roosevelt and Hoover Opinion"><U>Roosevelt and Hoover Opinion</U></A>   |   <B>Lord of The Flies and Youth Violence</B>   |   <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="World War II Japan Bombing Opinion Essay"><U>World War II Japan Bombing Opinion Essay</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reading Reaction 1Anarchy"><U>Reading Reaction 1-Anarchy</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="03cf4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Lord of The Flies and Youth Violence</div> <div> There are many ways to address the issue of youth violence.  Music, television, movies, magazines and books are ways that violence is often expressed.  William Golding made a very fine example of youth violence in <U>Lord of the Flies.</U></div> <div>      In every culture there is a stage where the younger generation wishes to make it's mark.  This stage of "rebellion" as it is often called; it witnessed across the globe.  Fighting, drug abuse, and sexual promiscuity are characteristics of many of these teenage rebellions.</div> <div> The book <U>Lords of the Flies</U> takes a group of young British boys and places them alone on an island. The rebellion they experience there is less violent at first but grows worse with time.  Although they are young they are given an early chance to rebel.  The authority they rebel against though is not a strong force, but the force of Ralph, the appointed leader.  In doing so they create a form of anarchy that has not been observed in recent history.</div> <div> Anarchy is the "absence of cohesive principle, such as common standard or purpose" (Webster pg?).  In Lord of the Flies the anarchy present caused a great deal of violence.  To have no rules, especially at an age where rebellion is common, is very dangerous.  In today's world not having law and order would lead to tragedy, and it did in <U>Lord of the Flies</U>.  </div> <div> Inner city slums are the "home of gangs" as many would say.  Sadly this is not true as shown by <U>Lord of the Flies.</U>  To create a gang there has to be a common purpose.  In 37% of schools there are identifiable gangs (Howell, pg unknown.).  There must be a common purpose for all of the members to join the gang.  One common purpose is acceptance.  To be accepted for whom they are and what they believe in is a very important thing for teenagers.  Another reason is power and protection.  No one will fight or abuse a person if they have a strong group of others backing them up.  Other reasons include peer pressure, the offer of sex, and cheap drugs.  For one to be a part of the gang they have to give as well as take.  They give their individuality as a person to take the role of a member.  They often give up freedom of choice and movement.  A gang member cannot be seen dating a member of an opposing gang, or for that matter in an opposing gang's territory.  This giving and taking becomes a vicious cycle and is hard for many to get out of when the time comes.</div> <div> In <U>Lord of the Flies</U> we see two gangs appear.  Jack leads the larger and more violent gang, while Ralph leads the much smaller and more peaceful gang.  These two gangs engage in a type of warfare.  Fire is a large issue for them.  The gang led by Ralph uses the fire as a signal for help, while Jack's gang uses it to cook meat.  When Jack's group steals Piggy's glasses to make their fire, a more violent war begins.  Ralph, Piggy and a few other go up to Jack's area of the island, where Jack is quick to deny them fire and viciously kill Piggy without reason.   </div> <div> Like many other modern gangs, Jack's gang is ready to protect themselves by any means possible.  They view Ralph as a threat, and send a group to kill him after the rest of Ralph's group disbands.  In a way this mimics gang executions, where certain members of opposite gangs are hunted down and quickly killed.  It is hard to deny that the two groups formed are equal by almost all means to a gang and use gang violence.       </div> <div> William Golding may not have directly meant to show youth and child violence in his book, but he was able to.  He created a masterpiece out of a group of children.  It is impossible to deny that without the presence of gangs in our world that Golding could have used these techniques and told his story the way he did.  Golding was able to write about gang, specifically youth gang violence at its beginning, at its roots.  <U>Lord of the Flies</U> is a clear example of gang violence among youth.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>