Power Structure

   In Lord of the Flies, there was a power struggle between Jack and Ralph. Jack came power through promises of food, and also creating havoc, especially after stealing Piggy's glasses. He created many problems, and caused the death of two people in order to stay in control of the boys, in which he succeeded. Ralph had a different way; first he used the conch to call the other boys, who then voted him leader; later, he stuck with acting civilized, while he lost control of the boys who later joined Jack's tribe. When Simon and Piggy were killed, it seemed as though Ralph lost all power.
   In The Power of One, the power structure was mainly the German school boys. They gained power over PK when they peed on him (evil!) and killed his chicken. He fought back a little when he pushed over the German boy onto the little pointed Nazi flag. But again they gained dominance by tying PK up. They held onto power until PK left with his grandfather's friend.

Key Passage 4

In this passage, there were few symbols. One was Jack's behavior. Golding wrote: "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarl." It seemed as though it was symbolizing how he and the other boys were changing. Jack began to lose his humanity as days passed on the island. Another part of the passage was "He capered towards Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own." The boys were going somewhat mad, some faster than others, the longer they were stranded on the island. Jack was changing the fastest, as he went mad and started acting strange, almost hysterical. One other part was important, "The mask compelled them." It wasn't the mask that had told them what to do, it was the boys fear of Jack and what he might do if they disagreed. Everyone was fearful of Jack and his madness, as he was losing his sanity the quickest.

Key Passage One! Page 31.

"They were in the beginnings of a thick forest.." This shows how much different this scenery is than it was when the boys were back home."The piglet tore lose... He (Jack) brought his arm down..." Jack had failed at slaughtering the piglet, showing a possible weakness of his. "He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk." Jack seems easily angered and may not be able to control his temper, which could be a sign of weakness, and possibly a future conflict involving him.