Mob Mentality In Lord Of The Flies

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All perfect societies have potential for destruction and downfall without proper control and care. Mobs stript people of their individuality and responsiblity to do the right thing, making them a dangerous factor for many functioning democratic societies. Mob mentality is at the heart of destruction in both societies in William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Henrik Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. Both societies in each book have potential to be a paradise with the proper care and cooperation of the community, and mob mentality isn’t obviously portrayed at a first glance. Mob mentality is built up through a series of elements creating the destroying behaviors of a mob.
Each society similarly shares a light of hope, creating the potential for it to be a perfect society. The promise for a pleasing future in the society that’s being built by the young stranded boys in Lord of the Flies is Ralph and Piggy, the first two boys introduced on the island. With Ralph symbolizing democratic ideals and leadership and Piggy representing logical thought and reason, they give the hope for their society to be successful while they need it to be. When first realizing their situation on the stranded island Jack was …show more content…
Jack's constant desire to prove himself through hunting clashed with the democratic ideals and the way Ralph was trying to run the society. He focused on hunting over everything else, also displaying his enthusiasm towards the short term goal of having fun. He doesn’t want to hunt out of the concern for food, but out of self gain of wanting to kill, also bringing out his inner savagery. When Ralph is trying to ensure everyone that the beast is a made up myth, Jack constantly denounces his word by saying that, “[they’ll] make sure when [they] go hunting” (Golding 37). Similarly in Enemy of the People, self interest is a major contribution to the mob formed that destroyed the

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