Kohlberg's Lord Of The Flies Moral Development Essay
812 Words4 Pages
Several British boys are stranded on an island. Little do they know the chaos that is soon to erupt among themselves. Lawrence Kohlberg, the celebrated professor at Harvard University studied the stages of moral development that people experience throughout the course of their lifetimes. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys are beached and left to fend for themselves on a remote island, where they demonstrate their stages of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. By understanding Kohlberg's theory, it could explain why people make the choices that they makee. As the novel develops, Jack, Piggy, and Simon, all display different stages within the six stages of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.
Jack Merridew appears to be a leader at first glance, however, Jack attempts to lead in a way that only benefits him. Stage two…show more content… Piggy is a character that may not seem as fit as the others on the outside, but his brain is developed significantly more than most of his comrades in the group. Piggy speaks up after Jack tells him repeatedly to shut up and suggests using Piggy’s glasses as a tool to start the fire, “I agree with Ralph, We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. Were English and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things” (Golding, 42). Piggy’s mindset is to keep law and order among them, which clearly exemplifies stage four. Subsequently, Piggy tries to establish order by telling Jack, “You didn't ought to have let that fire out. You said you'd keep the smoke going-” (Golding, 71). Piggy attempts to tell Jack what he did wrong, and several hunters agree with him, but Jack finds a way to humiliate Piggy. Piggy believes that the group should follow the rules accordingly to Ralph, the designated leader, demonstrating aspects of stage