Social Classes in Lord of the Flies

1. I feel that the social classes in Lord of the Flies are unspoken classes. At the beginning they had talked about having a leader and everyone else was equal below that leader, Ralph. However, later on as the novel progresses, they established a system of hierarchy within themselves without talking about it out loud. They had put the authority figure on the top of the totem pole, next was his most loyal followers, and at the bottom were the ones who didn't agree with him. Even though it was never established through words who was at the top of the social class and who wasn't, it was a known fact among them.

2. When talked about social status, I feel that Piggy was at the bottom out of everyone. He was put at the bottom because appearance and demeanor. He was described as overweight and ugly and because of that, people considered him as less than them and treated him that way as well. Even as the novel went on, they continued to taunt about things he could not control like his appearance. This showed that he was obviously considered a underclassman.

3. At the start of the novel, Ralph was considered to be high class. As the the novel progressed, he was downgraded because of his lack of followers. When the people began to see someone else as a higher authority than him, he was moved to the bottom of the social class. When he started to talk more about work than play, the people started to disagree with him so they revolted. This is when he was moved down in the social rankings.

4. Jack started at a normal spot in the social class, however as he gained confidence and power his spot moved all the way up to the top. He started with a small amount of followers and as more people started to agree with what he was preaching, they started to think that he would be the better leader and revolted against Ralph. Jack exuded confidence and this was the reason that everyone decided to follow him because they considered him to be strong. Ralph became weak throughout the novel and Jack became more powerful which is what the children at that time on the island. So I believe that the main reason for the social statuses of the boys is confidence/power and first impressions.