Essay on Merridew in 'Lord of the Flies'

The Lord of the Flies is one of the considered essential books of contemporary literature, written by William Golding. Its title refers to a demon that in some gospels is also called Lord of the Flies for his evil. Early August 1945: the Hiroshima bomb had just exploded, the war was in full swing and a group of English children returned home to return to their lives when a terrible accident caused their plane to crash in half of a desert island. From the arena, two opposite boys introduce themselves: Piggy is an asthmatic and chubby young man eager to please Ralph: an athletic and handsome young man. Playing on the shore, both find a white conch that will become a very important symbol throughout the rest of their days. Blowing the conch, Ralph manages to attract the rest of the children to one of the main platforms of the island. There they all introduce themselves: Simon's shy and good guy, the evil Jack Merridew, the little ones under six, the Samyeric twins, etc. From that first meeting, the children make three great decisions that will mark the course of their history. The first is that, whatever happens, Ralph is the boss. The second is that the most important thing is to keep a bonfire lit with a lot of smoke to emit a rescue signal. And the last, and most important, is that everyone must remain united. However, throughout the novel, The Lord of the Flies has between the most violent and ruthless brutality provoked by the lack of knowledge of moral behavior and the fears among the characters.

The Lord of the Flies hides behind the story of these children on an Island, two topics of great importance. The first and most obvious of all is the loss of childhood innocence through deviance. The novel highlights any time that the protagonists are simple children without much common sense or well-formed logic. The children start by introducing a form of deviance as they build the idea of a group. The group becomes at first a vestige of social organization that in the end manipulates every single member. The children believe and articulate the idea that a group is the only possibility of survival. This form of deviance is later portrayed around the name of Piggy. At the beginning of the story Piggy's nickname or 'pig' is a mockery with which Jack Merridew, Ralph, and the rest get into the weird and repellent child. The children evoke a sense of deviance by looking down on probably the smartest character in the novel. Arrogance starts to gain control of the children and their behavior as they commit to having Jack as their leader. However, as the familiarity between Ralph and Piggy, the nickname deviates from its original meaning to become a close appeal.

Divided into two groups (the little ones and the older ones), most of the children speak like children and behave like children. Their ways of expressing themselves are simultaneously pure, innocent, and cruel. In a hostile and unfamiliar environment, from the outset, the children try to form small groups in which they feel protected. The kids do it because of their proximity to their age and play, but the older ones have it more complicated. Since none of them want to be weak and vulnerable in front of the others, their form of union is attacking Piggy, the thickest of all who have landed safely on the island.

This shared evil, in which the one who is most cruel to Piggy from the beginning is Jack, causes a collective sense of union during the beginning of the novel that accepts the introduction of new deviant norms. Afterward, their survival will force them to go through different situations that will cause them to deviate: the separate nights of an adult, the shortage of food, and the need to keep a fire burning.

Deviance brings to light the second theme discussed in the work, which is crimes committed by every member of the novel. As Hobbes used to quote, the phrase 'Man is a wolf to man' becomes significantly relevant to the novel as it talks about the accomplices of massacres, the most terrible and unexpected violence by children.

Spurred by Jack, little by little the children form a tribe that moves only by principles of violence and impulses. However, the participation of the accomplices in the generalized madness that Jack provokes, the denial of the crime itself, the disappearance of the bodies, and the fear mean that they do not have to face the consequences of their actions.

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In Golding's work, each of the characters is measured to symbolize one of the principles upon which societies are based. Ralph and his conch are metaphors of democracy, where everyone has the right to speak as long as they adhere to the mechanisms and procedures chosen in common. Ralph, the common and sensible leader, is also a symbol of rationality and pacifism at all times. Even at the end of the play, when the tribe chases him to kill him with the threat of the sharp stick on both ends, Ralph tries to convince himself that they are not so bad and would not harm him if they captured him but they do.

Simon, the good character of the novel who always volunteers for the most unpleasant tasks and who is the first to confess that the beast can be themselves, is a representation of goodness and the first attempt to follow humane conduct. However, as the children become lost in deviance, Simon's death opens the door to collective madness and unbridled evil.

Piggy represents, the voice of logic. He is always ignored when he speaks despite being the only one who has in his possession an indispensable tool to survive: glasses and access to knowledge.

Finally, Jack Merridew and Roger represent the most violent characters. Their form of authoritarian government is based on fear, violence, and a deep relationship in which they make it clear that they will punish those who dare to behave “improperly” according to their norms. Norms that provoke crimes like murders without any type of punishment or worse with no remorse. Jack Merridew, insecure and cruel, manipulates and misrepresents the truth so that it allows him to exploit the other children. And it’s the children less able that decide to obey the only one that allows them to see a chink of security, Jack Merridew.

The beast is the real trigger for the beginning of tensions among children. It is a completely irrational fear of the unknown that penetrates more strongly within the survivors. But it is that at the same time, the beast represents in the novel the fear of the unknown, what is not understood and that can be exploited. Jack Merridew uses the beast and therefore the fear it generates, to rise as the undisputed leader.

The children, desperate, attribute and follow the labels of Jack’s norms believing their actions are a sense of virtue. The children never face the idea of the murders they have committed since the bodies always disappear at the time of greatest tension. This allows the children to commit crimes without having to face what happened.