Читать реферат по английскому: "Group Dynamics In Lord Of The Flies" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Group Dynamics In Lord Of The Flies Essay, Research Paper

The story, The Lord of the Flies was one that exemplified many aspects that we have studied in our Group Dynamics class. The Lord of the Flies is a story in which a group of children get stranded on an island by themselves with no supervision and no supplies. The group of children goes through a series of transitions that seem quite natural to the person who has studied groups and know how and why they work and don’t work. Each individual has certain needs that he needs to satisfy. When the children were put under the stress of being isolated on an island, the needs seem to be magnified and transparent for us to see. Most importantly to the story was that these needs caused the groups to be impacted in quite a considerable way. Lord of the Flies is an excellent story to describe the needs of certain types of individuals, how needs can change over time, and also how these inherent needs can effect a group of people.Individual Characters and Their NeedsWhen discussing this topic we must first describe the characters to some extent and also detail the needs of a few of the key roles in the film. There were three main characters to play three very different roles. First there was Ralph, who distinguished himself as the first leader. Ralph became assigned president on basis of rank in the Boy Scout club they were participating in. Ralph handled himself in a very mature manner. He was a leader that took charge immediately. He assigned different people to different teams. There was a team in charge of keeping the fire burning, another team was responsible for obtaining food, and other people contributed in all ways that were necessary. Ralph was in a position where he was given unquestioned respect and allegiance to. By the way he was respected by all members initially leads me to believe that his position with the Scouts previous to the wreck was one of high stature. His personal need was to have unquestioned faith in his decision making and leadership. He did not like to argue his position, and seemed that his feelings were hurt when he was questioned.One group that Ralph had begun was the group responsible for collecting food for all of the children. This group became known as the hunters. Simply out of performance in killing animals, Jack emerged as the leader of this sub-group. From early in the movie the viewer gets the feeling that Jack greatly looks up to Ralph. When the group is deciding on a leader, it is Jack who says first that Ralph is the worthiest person to lead the group. Jack realizes that food is the most important thing for this team of people, and quickly feels in great power as he is the leader of the most important group. Although Ralph is very intelligent and crafty, he does not bring home the food that everyone needs to survive. Jack realizes his power over Ralph and exploits that to its fullest when he becomes angry with Ralph. Jack turned the group of civilized children into savage beasts, which as hunters made them much more successful at what they needed to do.One more important character to the story is Piggy. Aptly named because of his overweight body. Piggy is Ralph’s most loyal supporter through the entire story. Piggy obviously has a high need of acceptance. Ralph was the only person to not make fun of Piggy, and as it turned out Piggy became valuable in the survival of the group. His most valuable possession was that of his glasses. Through magnification of the sun through the lenses a ray of light could be multiplied in power and light sticks on fire. Unfortunately Piggy had to pay the price of this advantage that he and Ralph held over the rest of the group.How the Group Matured To further detail the beginning factors of this paper, it is necessary to know how the group originally began, and eventually split. At first everyone was completely together under Ralph’s Rule. Slowly as I earlier described, Jack began gaining power as his hunters emerged as the most important group. First the original people of the hunters left when an argument between Jack and Ralph led to Jack announcing his departure from Ralph and encouraging those who had fought for food with him to join him. They did so feeling their loyalty to the person Jack who was in essence their team leader. Ralph was a very civilized boy and believed that through a mature way of behaving that all the things that were necessary to survive could get done. However as the people who were loyal to Ralph began to get hungry because they could not hunt for food because none of them were skilled hunters, his followers slowly joined Jack. Eventually all left Ralph except for Piggy and Simon. Jack’s group became consistently more aggressive as time went on. They turned into savage killing beasts. The first boy to die was Simon. When Ralph and Piggy were meeting with the hunters Simon unexpectedly came running across the beach with a light wand, and the hunters mistook him for a monster and brutally killed him. It had become their distinct nature to simply kill anything that stood in their path or anyway threatened them. Ralph possessed the power of fire in Piggy’s glasses, and Jack possessed enough food for everyone. Jack wanted to trade food for fire, but Ralph refused the offer unless Jack could agree to work together with Ralph. Jack having a taste of being the leader did not want to share his power. Jack also proved himself as a more effective leader when striving towards the survival of the group. Although the idea of two children losing their lives because of the carelessness of his team seems appalling to us, and it is, Jack did what was most important for that group. When you are stranded alone on an island with no food, the most important thing you need is food. Jack provided that for his people and trained them to be able to physically take care of themselves.

Change of Needs Over Time The most obvious need change

Похожие работы