Cruelty In Groups - "Lord Of The Flies."

In "Lord of the Flies", William Golding depicts a story of a group of boys who are stranded on an island. On this island, it is obvious that with the negative influence of Jack, the boys behave more cruelly in groups than they do individually. In this novel, William Golding shows the cruel state of the group that is led by Jack Meridew by integrating such factors as freedom, peer pressure and power. Freedom is …

…where he deliberately kills Piggy. This feeling of having power over the other boys on the island was a major factor to the cruelty that was demonstrated in the group. Therefore, it is seen that in "Lord of the Flies", many factors were used to show how an individual's kindness could slowly deteriorate into cruelty as they become part of a group. It is clearly seen that these factors are freedom, power and peer pressure.