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“We need meat,” - Jack, from Lord of the Flies. “Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people,” - Vladimir Putin, in his address on March 18th, 2014 (Myers, New York Times). Just as Jack chanted “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill its blood,” (Chapter 4, Paragraphs 197-206) in a thirst for power and glory, Putin leads his people in chanting “Russia! Russia!” (Myers, New York Times), expressing excitement for the reconstruction of the Russian Empire.
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, uses political myth to control people (Oleg, Daily Beast) and build his empire in the same way that Jack in Lord of the Flies uses his ceaseless goals of hunting pigs and having fun to gain power over the other children and build his tribe.
After Russia annexed Crimea on March 21st, Vladimir Putin’s popularity rating rose to a whopping 75 percent. People were willing to forgive him for all of the disorder that surged through Russia’s government and economy if he could return the previously Russian-owned land, which dissolved to a state of Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s.
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“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”
A senior researcher of the International Law Department of the Russian Federation government argues that all the territories of the Soviet Union should return. “The next step is Moldova and all Ukraine!!! (Daily Beast)” he said, and writes that the Baltics, Finland, Poland, and even Alaska will be returned “because all these lands are Russian.” A political scientist writes that Putin isn’t concerned with rational, Western values like cooperation and trade.
Now, he has a revolutionary mindset, causing him to disregard risking the loss of Russia’s capital, and the risk of Russia’s assets being frozen and rendered useless for generating the income that Russia needs. The Russian President puts most of his focus on gaining as much public support as he can. He does this by putting emphasis on the impending glory of Russia and endorsing the sacrifice of practical matters. Putin weaves a web around Russia of what is essentially brainwash, making Russian citizens incredibly nationalistic to the point that they believe their country is superior to all others and that Russia deserves much more than they necessarily need. Russia is, in terms of politics as well as within the mind of the average Russian, being divided farther and farther from the West and the rest of Europe, calling many Western countries “venal and perverted”. Putin preaches glory over logic. With the revolutionary mindset of Russia, they can, and may try to take much more than Crimea--even without the approval of the United Nations.
Despite one being fictional, and the other being extremely non-fictional (unfortunately), there is undoubtable similarity between Jack in Lord of the Flies and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Throughout the whole story, Jack’s goal is to gain more power. He does this by denouncing the other children in the group, like Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, and creating an obsession for hunting (Chapter 3, Paragraphs 37-40) that transcends to many of the group. Jack and the others simply want to have fun and satisfy their desires. For this, Jack would even sacrifice rescue. This is obvious when Jack and his hunters allow the signal fire to go out so that they can leave and kill the pig, just as a ship appears in the ocean. Jack’s rash actions centered around immediate reward, with no thought of future consequences, nullify the chances of the ship rescuing them. In addition to this, Jack would even sacrifice the sustenance he and his tribe of course needs because he sets the forest aflame, consequently destroying all of the vegetation and fruit on the island as well as killing the last of the pigs. Had they not been rescued at that moment, everyone likely would have starved to death. This is all because Jack and his boys like to have fun. They find glory and pride in hunting and killing (Chapter 4, Paragraph 121) those they can eat, and those they don’t like. So what is the difference between exciting a group of children with the prospect of delicious food (Chapter 4, Paragraph 191) and happiness in order for Jack to achieve power, and Vladimir Putin promising millions of people the land and pride that they haven’t had for decades? Jack and his pigs is simply Vladimir Putin to Crimea and other lands. Not just within their adamant desire for these resources, but because of how they use them as goals for the people they lead, and the sacrifices they make to achieve them. Just as Jack lets the signal fire go out to hunt the pig and destroys all of their food to kill Ralph, Vladimir Putin annexes Crimea without United Nations consent, approaches the prospect of annexing other old Soviet lands, spreads his desires throughout the government and his people, and denounces the West as a corrupt entity. Which, in turn, risks Putin’s relationship with other countries that assist Russia, risks losing Russia’s capital, and risks rendering Russia’s assets totally frozen and unsellable. This is considerably like destroying a possibility for rescue and destroying desperately needed food. Call the rescue economic rescue for Russia, and call the food the resources Russia needs. Vladimir Putin is paying a massive price for his increased approval rating, his new land, and the glory of Russia that really isn’t as present as it seems.
Every character in Lord of the Flies symbolizes a different type of person in this world. Every event symbolizes the changes that occur within society; the rise, the fall, and the reasons why both happen. Because the story is an assortment of symbols of human history, the characters in Lord of the Flies will always be like humans, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This is why Jack and Vladimir Putin are so alike. It’s why their goals and their methods for gaining power are so similar. At the worst of human beings, we are selfish, corrupt, and irrational. People have desires, and some of us, or all of us sometimes, will do anything to achieve them. It happens, and unfortunately, it always will--until the end of us. You can double, triple, quadruple the sixty years that have passed since the publication of the Lord of the Flies. Even if the book is forgotten some day, human personality won’t change enough for people to be unlike the characters in the story and what they do to each other. Lord of the Flies was meant to be an allegory, and judging by how people still continue to be so similar to the characters within the novel, and how the events that occur within the story seem to be repeated by history, it is an incredibly successful allegory. True to history, true to the future, and most importantly, true to you and I.
Similarities revealed in Lord of the Flies' character Jack and Russia's President Vladimir Putin. (2024, Feb 16). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/similarities-revealed-in-lord-of-the-flies-character-jack-and-russias-president-vladimir-putin-essay
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