Butterfly Revolution / Lord of the Flies Essay Example
Butterfly Revolution / Lord of the Flies Essay Example

Butterfly Revolution / Lord of the Flies Essay Example

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  • Pages: 8 (2193 words)
  • Published: June 1, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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Power has various meanings. It could mean authority or maybe strength. Either way power has a corruptive nature. In The Butterfly Revolution power is used to mean authority. With power comes responsibility and consequences. For instance too much power can lead to destruction. Rome is a perfect example that because Rome grew too fast and was too gigantic and with the lack of a sufficient government it lead to its downfall. Also, power is corruptive which is clearly shown in The Butterfly Revolution. An example of how power has a corruptive nature is how Hitler got many people to commit horrible acts because of his power.

Hitler not only used his power to do this, but gave other people power to do his dirty work as well. In The Butterfly Revolution Frank Reilley

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holds the power and is the authority after he takes over the camp. It became too much for just him and his partner Stanley Runk so they gave a little bit or power to other people. One person who was given some power was the main character Winston Weyn. Winston was corrupted by power just like how Frank Reilley and Stanley Runk were too. Frank was the one to cause Weyn to be corrupted. Reilley was corrupted because he wanted more power.

He did not just want to be in control of Low Pines and High Pines, but maybe the whole country. Frank wanted to start a real revolution. Although, a revolution was not even his idea it was Stanley’s. It did not directly say that that was Frank’s intentions, but you can infer that it was. “…wonder if he could make this game

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into a real revolution which might accomplish something” (Butler 213). With this quotation even Winston thought that Reilley wanted a real revolution. Winston was not corrupted complexly because he did come to senses of what he was doing and that it was not just a game anymore.

He was corrupted because he thought that what he was doing by being “chairman of the propaganda committee” (216) he was helping keep the fun going. Also, Winston thought by collecting money, taking down the flag, and getting the information from Wellberg he was helping out too. Weyn might not have been completely corrupted, but he was corrupted to a point. Another reason how power’s corruptive nature came up in The Butterfly Revolution is how George Meridel was voted as cabin leader and got corrupted by power by being in charge. George started making rules for his cabin to follow that were quite tupid.

Some people can handle power, while other people cannot. Power is a hard thing to grasp and has a corruptive nature to it. The corruptive nature of power is seen throughout history. With power comes responsibility and children usually cannot grasp that concept. In Lord of the Flies a group of school children evacuating and their plane crashed. All the grownups are gone and the oldest child is around twelve years old. “Aren’t there any grownups? ” (Golding 21). When the children realize that there are no adults they chose a leader.

They chose Ralph as the chief because he had a conch shell and blew it to bring everyone together. Jack did not like this. He wanted to be chief and was disappointed that he was

not chosen. Eventually as the story progresses Jack becomes so obsessed with becoming chief that he breaks away from Ralph’s group and creates his own tribe. Ralph’s main goal as chief is to keep a fire going to signal to passing ships so they can be rescued from the island. Jack’s main goal was to hunt and get meat to eat. The children with Ralph were not having fun so they went to Jack’s tribe so they could play hunting.

Only three people were left with Ralph. They were Piggy, Sam and Eric. With Jack’s tribe and him as chief they ended up killing Piggy and Simon. Jack became a savage along with everyone who followed him. They lost sight of things. Ralf tried justifying them. “No. They’re not as bad as that. It was an accident” (Golding 184). He tried to by saying it was an accident, but truthfully it was not an accident. Being in charge and having power corrupted Jack. Power also corrupted Roger too. Piggy kept Ralf in line. He did not let Ralf lose sight of what he was trying to achieve. Roger was cruel.

When, Jack’s tribe captured Eric and Sam Roger who was a follower of Jack beat them until they joined. He also deliberately pulled they lever to let go over the boulder and that boulder killed Piggy. Jack and Roger were also corrupted because they began to hunt Ralf down. They chased after Ralf like they would a pig and they were planning on killing him too. Power was too much for these children to handle. It set them against each other and with that people died. Death

could have been prevented, but power has a corruptive nature causing them to lose sight of their mutual bonding and putting them against each other.

Entry 2 Setting plays a huge role in plot development. If there are woods as the setting then you know that there will be trees and such in the story and somehow those trees will be mentioned for some reason or another in the story thus thickening the plot. The Butterfly Revolution takes place at a summer camp for the majority of the story. There is a camp for boys, High Pines and a camp for the girls, Low Pines. The two camps are close together making it easy access to get from one camp to the other, which plays a role in the plot of the book.

It plays a role in the plot because after Frank Reilley, leader of the revolution; takes over High Pines he then wants to take over the girls camp too. “… go out the front of the camp and down the road to the place where you enter the girls’ camp”(Butler 59). That quote clearly states that the girls’ camp is quite close to the boys’ camp. That makes it easier for the girls and guys to go back and forth communicating with each other. The only thing that makes it difficult to get to the girls’ camp is the woods. “It was terribly long way and through the bushes and around hilly paths” (59).

That quote states that it takes a long time to the girls camp through the woods. Before Frank Reilley started the revolution the boys could only get to the girls camp

through the woods because they were not allowed over there. If they were caught going over to the girls’ camp they would be expelled from camp. That is actually how the whole revolution got started in the first place because Manuel Rivaz was caught going to the girls’ camp and was going to get expelled from camp. The girls’ camp plays another huge role to plot development. Another, way the setting impacts plot development is how the camps’ distance from the town.

The distance keeps anyone from Wellberg from suspecting anything being amiss. Since there is no suspicion the revolution goes on for eighteen days. Lastly, the camps only had a few entrances and exits. Since the only had a few it made it easier for Reilley to place people to guard it so no one can leave the camp. With no one able to leave it also impacts the plot because it helped make the revolution continue longer. Also, if someone tried to leave they would get thrown into the big. Don Engris tried leaving camp and got caught. He was than thrown into the brig even though he was not sure if he was going to tell anyone or not.

Setting can either make a small or huge impact on plot development depending on how you look at it. All stories have a setting. Without a setting there would be no story. Setting has an impact on plot development. The reason it has an impact because without an elaborate setting it would boring. If a story only had a setting of just one rom there would not be much excitement to happen and little plot

development would happen. The Lord of the Flies setting consists of an uninhabited island. Throughout the story they children explore it. Since no one is on the island, but them it is quite a mystery of what the island contains.

That part of the setting impacts plot development. The beach in the story impacts plot development because lots events occur there. At the beach are where their shelters are and also where everyone gathers to and assembly to talk about what they have to do. Also at the beach is where everyone meets the first time. “By the time Ralph finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded” (Golding 32). The platform is also at the beach. When Ralph blows the conch everyone comes because they know there is going to be a meeting. Another setting that impacts the plot development is the forest. The forest contained a massive amount of thicket.

Thicket played a role in plot development because that is where Ralph hid whenever Jack’s tribe was after him. “…worming his way into the thicket…” (191). In the thicket Ralph was confident he would not be found, but he was wrong. Also, it plays a role because Jack’s tribe catches the thicket on fire which causes the whole forest to catch on fire with a whole bunch of smoke. A passing by boat sees the smoke and comes to rescue the boys. Another way the forest impacted the plot was because it also contain fruit trees and other source of food. Pigs were found in the forest which also played a role in plot development, but so did the fruit.

It was their only source of

food on the island. The mountain in the story also played a part plot development because a couple of events happened. First off that is where the signal fire was located until a beast appeared then the signal fire was moved to the beach. Jack’s tribe was located in a cave in the mountain. Where Jack’s tribe is located let them have the advantage by being able to defend themselves. Also the mountain is where Eric and Sam are frightened and chased by the beast. Jack and Ralf also see the beast on top of the mountain too.

William Golding was brilliant creating the setting the way he did because he made it possible for so much action to happen. Entry 3 When people think of symbols they think of a picture that represents something. For example a recycle symbol means that whatever it is on it can be recycled. Books are loaded with symbols. The Butterfly Revolution contains quite a few symbols throughout the book. Some examples for them are the bear flag. The bear flag was taken down by Winston Weyn, the main character and narrator of the story. By the bear flag being taken down it represents the start of the revolution of High Pines.

It meant that the adults were no longer in control. The boys were. Also, the reason why Weyn took the flag down was to keep the younger boys calm and make it seem lie it was just a fun game. “… leave them with the idea we were having a good game of revolutionary capture the flag…”(Butler 73). It was Weyn’s job to make the younger boys think that

it was just a fun game. Another symbol in the book was the butterflies. The butterflies symbolized humanity. As the revolution progressed everyone was slowly losing their humanity. The girls wanted to kill John Mason because he had harmed them.

Then, towards the end of the book they actually the girls killed Don Engris because they said he was the actual person who harmed them not John Mason, but that was a lie. The girls killed Don without a proper trial and they threatened Paul Indian because Frank did not hand over Don right away. “… girls told Frank to let them have Don Engris or they would take Paul Instead…” (202). Frank gave the girls Don to save Paul. A strong structure in life keeps people’s humanity, but when there is a shaky structured life like how the campers had in the book then people begin to lose their humanity and became savages.

The next symbol in the book is Weyn’s books. Weyn brought his books to camp with him, which included his bible, Herodotus, his political philosophers’ book, and his dictionary. The books symbolize Weyn’s intelligence. His intelligence is also what gets him in trouble. Frank Reilley chooses Weyn to be the chairman of the propaganda committee because of how smart he is. Also, the police believe that Weyn is “worse than anybody” (216) because he was the chairman of the propaganda committee. Symbols help make people think more in-depth about the messages in books.

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