As a result of the obliteration of society, people resort to savagery to survive in anarchy, succumbing to evil and disorder. Although the key causes for the destruction of mankind are thoroughly interrelated, nevertheless “mankind’s essential illness” (Golding 89) is jealousy because jealousy causes the direct triggers of the eradication of social order in civilization. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, jealousy prompts arrogance, desire for superiority, and lust for power.

Jealousy causes arrogance by prompting tensions in the relationships between people in society. Even though Piggy knows what the boys need for survival, Jack despises him and considers him inferior, causing hostility in their actions toward each other and destroying society. When Piggy scolds Jack about letting the fire go out and about keeping promises, Jack “[takes] a step and able at last to hit someone, [sticks] his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Piggy [sits] down with a grunt. Jack [stands] over him” (71). Jack physically bullies Piggy by punching and hitting him because he knows that Piggy is not as athletic as Jack is. By standing over Piggy, Jack symbolically portrays that he is superior to Piggy. By taunting Piggy and saying, “‘you would, would you? Fatty!” (71), Jack emotionally bullies Piggy and questions whether Piggy should talk at all. By calling Piggy “Fatty” and a “fat slug” (91), Jack illustrates that Piggy reluctantly acts upon what Piggy says. Jack purposefully acts arrogantly toward other people to cause them to follow his ideas out of fear because he is jealous of Ralph’s position of power. When people are jealous of others, they act more arrogantly to exemplify their abilities, but they also alienate those who can help them and accelerate the downfall of society.

Jealousy prompts arrogance, which in turn causes fights between people. Jack’s arrogance, coming from his jealousy, toward Ralph causes fights between them during assemblies, and they lose control over the boys. When Ralph tries to enforce the rules over the assembly and tells everyone to listen to what Piggy has to say about the group to help the civilization develop, Jack ridicules Ralph by saying that Ralph “favor[s] Piggy as [he] always do[es]” (91). Jack does this to demonstrate that Ralph does not favor hunters. Instead, Jack portrays Ralph as mistakenly favoring those who talk but do not act upon their proposals. Ralph later approves of Piggy and Simon because of their contributions to society through their intellect. Jack uses arrogance to exhibit his dominance over Ralph to the outcasts of society and how Jack favors the right people. Physical and verbal fights follow immediately when Jack treats Piggy or Ralph as outcasts of society. These fights break down the rules of the society, causing most of the boys to transform into savages. Jack’s jealousy of Ralph being the chief causes Jack to become more arrogant towards those who do not follow him. This causes violence that triggers the destruction of civilization.

The desire for superiority is a direct effect of jealousy because those who are jealous find opportunities to prove themselves to be the best, causing hostilities between people in society. Jack wants to demonstrate his competence as a better leader when the boys first vote for the chief of the entire group of boys. Jack says “with simple arrogance” that he “‘ought to be chief…because [he is] a chapter chorister and head boy…[and] can sing C sharp” (22). Jack’s qualifications for being chief are useless, but he exemplifies his superiority over Ralph because he has qualities that Ralph does not have. By talking with “simple arrogance” to the group, Jack exhibits his desire for superiority. He mentions his being a “chapter chorister” to establish his capabilities so the others will look up to him. Instead, he alienates the boys outside of the choir because they immediately vote for Ralph to be chief. Jealousy is the source of supremacy, which causes people to unconsciously isolate themselves and turn away from those who can assist them.

The desire for superiority often leads to violence because those people often demonstrate their pre-eminence over the rest of the group through violent acts. Jack wants to prove to Ralph, who has more power than Jack, when Jack “snatch[es] the knife out of the sheath and slam[s] it into a tree trunk” (31) because he wants to illustrate that “there would be no mercy” (31) for the pig. This is a violent act because Jack “snatch[es]” the knife and “slam[s]” it, exemplifying his strong desire to prove himself as a hunter. Jack displays his superiority over Ralph and Piggy when he approaches them with the dead pig. Ralph demands an apology from Jack for letting the fire go out, and some of the other boys agree with Ralph. Ralph’s comments cause Jack to “[draw] his knife” and “[hack] and [pull] at the pig” (70-71). Jack violently mutilates the pig because Ralph makes him feel inferior as Ralph still has power over him. Jack turns into a savage as he “transfer[s] the knife to his left hand and smudge[s] the blood over his forehead as he push[es] down [his] plastered hair” (71), demonstrating his violent nature after Ralph disregards Jack’s attempts to prove himself worthy of being a leader. The transfer of the knife signifies the devil inside of Jack. When “he push[es] down [his] plastered hair,” Jack becomes uncivilized because long hair is a symbol of savagery. In civilized societies, boys usually keep their hair short, but on the island, the boys’ hair grows longer as society begins to fall apart. Jack’s violent nature causes him to initiates violence on the other boys on the island, halting the progress of society. People’s cravings to prove themselves better than others trigger violence among the people as society falls apart.

Jealousy causes lust for power when people envy the power others have, causing confusion among the people. Jack is tired of being told what to do because he is jealous of the power Ralph has over the group. In order to gain authority, Jack decides to break off from the group, but this instigates confusion and disorder as the boys must decide which leader they support. Jack wants more people to join his group, so he tries “‘to get more of the biguns away from the conch’” by planning to “kill a pig and give a feast” (330). He uses “a pig,” and “a feast” to persuade people to join his tribe, knowing that the “biguns,” the older boys, like meat. However, he takes them away from Ralph and Piggy, who know how to survive on the island. Those who hope for rescue but also want meat cannot decide where to go. Bill hopes for rescue and wants to have more people to keep the fire going, but he also thinks that “‘being savages…must be jolly good fun’” (142). Bill thinks that living a savage lifestyle is “jolly,” “good,” and “fun,” but he also thinks the fire is essential for any likelihood of rescue. Bill cannot decide whether to live a savage lifestyle and have “jolly good fun” with Jack’s tribe or to follow Ralph’s orders, which aim toward being rescued. The want for more power triggers the separation of different groups, causing uncertainty and destroying society because people in the liminal do not know what group to support and divides the once peaceful society into various factions.

Jealousy causes breakdown of society as jealousy triggers chaos and destroys the foundations of order in society. Arrogance, supremacy, and lust for power are direct effects of jealousy. These effects later cause the breakdown of social order, leading to the obliteration of civilization. When people are jealous of others with more power then they have, they attempt to prove themselves better than those they are jealous of. Arrogance and supremacy allow for people to exploit others. These tensions trigger the destruction of social order when the arrogant people resort to violence to gain power. Jealousy turns people against each other for trivial reasons and obliterates society and mankind. One must not be jealous of others or one will cause chaos in society and destroy mankind.