In studying the ideological government established by John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government (1689), a distinct parallel can be drawn to the contemporary film by Golding, Lord of the Flies. Each piece concentrates on man's struggle with power and his own interpretation of a workable and viable system of rules and codes of conduct. In order to adequately comprehend the nature of similarity between these two works it is necessary to have a firm understanding of Locke's views pertaining to political theory.

In his Second Treatise, considerably his greatest contribution in the realm of political theory, Locke specifically centers his view on a rather narrowly defined aspect of politics; the part, he explains, that is most concerned with "The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government." While his major focus of thought in the Second Treatise is the framework of a justifiable and workable government, Locke also establishes the issues and viability relating to virtue. Locke believes the soul reason society degenerates to armed conflict and strife is because of a depletion of the essential ingredients of an individual or a community's self-preservation. A

Let us take this one statement at a time. In Locke's Second Treatise of Government he develops a theory of government as a product of a social contract, which when broken justifies the creation of a new government for the protection of life, liberty and property. He begins his argument by developing a theory of the state of nature, which is:

Which is what the boys did in the beginning with taking a vote between Jack and Ralph and Ralph won by majority rules.

"What state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man." The state of nature includes the "...law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone; and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it..."

Locke also notes the family as the human organization, which is most central for the development of virtue in a governmental association that both reveres and promotes natural freedom and balance. (Locke, 29-34) Locke says that freedom from arbitrary power is so fundamentally essential to man's preservation that he cannot live without it. The role of the individual and the individual worker must be reviewed within that context. Because a person is naturally free only when ruled by the law of nature, the individual is apparently free from any superior power on earth and from the will of all other men. According to Locke, the liberty of man in society is for him to be under no other legislative power but that established by his own consent in the commonwealth. This means being not under the control of any will, or under the constraint of any foundation of judicial decree, other than that enacted by the legislative power as it relates to the trust with which it is endowed by individuals.

In the film, Golding uses a lot of symbolism to create a metaphorical society to prove his ideas on human nature. The nature of man, according to Golding, is that each person has an inner evil nature poorly covered by society. If the society is taken away, then the inner nature comes out, and chaos and lawlessness will erupt. For Locke, this is the perfect setting to test his theories of human nature and how they hold to his social contract.

Secondly there is no known and/or indifferent judge. This created the problem of trying to decide which was the correct law of nature, which will be followed in an impartial manor. In the beginning, all the boys agreed to allow Ralph to be the chief. However, when Jack showed the boys that they could hunt for their own food, and not listen to what Ralph had to say, the boys soon discovered they could be freer to rule themselves, and thus slowly began to switch sides. But who was correct in their choice of how to rule? Piggy seemed to be the voice of reason. In a symbolic way, Piggy's glasses could symbolize knowledge and insight. For example, when Piggy uses his glasses to create the fire, it was his way of giving advice to the group. However, after the glasses are broken, the group loses that insight they had.

...All men as members for the purposes of being ruled and only men of

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Approximate Word count = 2264
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)