When first ‘seeing’ Jack in the novel, he and his group of followers are dressed in sleek black cloaks and hats, and are huddled together like a tight knit click. This could potentially represent nuns, another form of high clergy, or simply dedicated members of the Catholic church. Meaning that when Jack and his group start to become something else, something corrupt and secretive, that it is representing the present potential corruption of the Catholic church. Jack moves in phases, slowly manipulating his group to do horrible things, and then finally is drawn to killing, and this shows too how radical catholics manipulate Americans, and make their opinions biased. For example, radical catholics tend to bash presidents that don’t share the same views as them. “Roman Catholic bishops denounced President Obama’s policies as a threat to life, religious liberty and the traditional nuclear family” (New York TImes). This article is also claiming that because the millennials (18-22 year olds) at the time were mostly atheist or agnostic (neither denying nor accepting that there is a divine being) and that is the reason that a catholic president was not chosen (2012-2013), and the same is to be said when Jack bashes and attacks Ralph, who was threatening his authority.
In the novel, a large amount of objects and ideas point to the religion. For instance, the island could represent the world or what radical catholics potentially manipulate, and obviously Jack and his group represent the corrupted catholics and the religion’s followers. Piggy,Ralph, and Simon could symbolize many different ideas in general, like peacefulness, honesty, or free thinking. The loss of that free thinking/open mindedness in the novel leads to chaos between the boys. The same can be applied to Catholics disagreeing with the LBGT(lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans) community. An article claims that “While the Catholic Church does not consider “homosexual orientation” sinful in and of itself, it does have a very negative attitude toward it.” (Human Rights Campaign). This article also states specifically that “parishes have denied membership to LGBT individuals and families. There have also been recent instances of LGBT employees in the United States being dismissed from Catholic schools and parishes following the celebration of a same-sex couple’s marriage.” This could be considered as chaotic, to be “dismissed” from one’s job, just because said person’s sexual orientation is not allowed, or not morally “correct”, or “contrary to natural law”, which is similar to how Ralph and his group want to do things that benefit the group as a whole, but Jack views it as doing those things the wrong way, as he insists on constantly killing and hunting whereas Ralph is constantly looking after littluns’, making and perfecting the shelters, and keeping the fire going so they have a chance of getting rescued.
The chaos between the boys when Piggy or Simon is lost can also correspond the boy’s ability make their own choices, because from that point on, the “Lord of the Flies” so to speak, makes all their choices for them, and this takes us to the darkest part of the boys minds. Not allowing that free choice symbolizes in catholicism the fact that most are pro-life (against abortion), which yes, it is wrong to kill an unborn child, but isn’t it also wrong to rape a woman, get her pregnant, and then force her to have that child that she may or may not be able to afford or take care of on her own? Women should be able to make their own choices whether they want to give the child up for adoption or have an abortion, but catholics have been chosen for, just like the Lord of the Flies makes choices in the boy’s minds that may be morally wrong. They can’t help what they had done, because the Lord of the Flies is in control, and manipulates them to make decisions that make the group as a whole unhinged.
"'Which is better — to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is….Which is better — to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?'" (Golding Pg. 164) This refers to Piggy describing his frustration towards Jack’s egocentric ways, he seeks only to hunt, which is the right way to survive in his eyes, but for the group as one whole, it may not be the best option. Radical catholics potentially believe that the way they do things is the right way, and everyone else is worshiping incorrectly, and are going against what God wants. Jack is teaching his group that hunting and having food is the only thing that matters, when in all reality the best thing would be to get rescued. Jack’s group has secret meetings/parties, and does his best to keep Ralph’s group out because they don’t agree, and are on different levels of leadership.The same could be said about the catholic church, because they’ve followed the same traditions going back hundreds of thousands of years.
Despite the many plausible points that were found, Lord of the Flies by William Golding and the Catholic church are not the same but have been proven to be from similar origins. The way this group of boys are manipulated and how their fragile minds have been warped is simply horrific and sickening. What does that say about the world? People have become so unaware of the crookedness and mysterious planning that is happening in the catholic church, and should open their eyes to see the world as it is. Also, people have become oblivious to this horrible corruption that has been taking place and continues to take place, where they should be more apt to investigate these problems and not let it control them, unlike the undeveloped minds of this group of boys who were taken advantage of by the corruption under the control of the Lord of the Flies.
Works Cited
GoldingWilliam. Lord of the Flies: A Novel. New York: Perigee Book, 2006. Print.
Goodstein, Laurie. "Christian Right Failed to Sway Voters on Issues." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Campaign, Human Rights. "Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Roman Catholic Church | Human Rights Campaign." Human Rights Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
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