Mobs are disorderly groups of people who usually have simple goals and motives to make there life of crime easier. Mobs have become abundant in our society and even in our novels, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is no exception. In this novel Jack (one of the main characters) used mob mentality as well as mind control devices to control his tribe. Mob Mentality and mind control is prevalent in our society as well as American literature.

                    For those who do not know what Mob mentality and mind control devices are, here is a quick run down. Mob mentality is when you can control everyone that’s associated in your “mob” by a few simple steps. Step one, “the members of the mob share one thing in common” (Ellis 1). Step two is make the group operate outside of there normal behaviors, so that there individual qualities start to go away (Ellis 1). Step 3, ” counter measures like police just escalate the violence” (Ellis 1). This is what mob mentality is and also this is extremely common in society and literature. Also there is the mind control devices. Mind control is when you control a group of people. There are some simple steps for this as well “1. Have a clear and simple outcome. 2. Create a shared experience in a location where the actions should take place . 3. Create a heightened emotional state in the group. 4. Isolate potential mob leaders who would more freely act if protected by the anonymity of the crowed . 5. Call to action make it simple. 6. Keep the group together.”(Ellis 1). Mind control functions are used in real life as well as modern literature. Now that you know what mind control and mob mentality is you can see how it is use in society as well as Lord of the Flies.

              There are couple good examples of mob mentality and mind control in society. One of the best examples would be the saint valentines day massacre. What happened this day in short, is that Al Capone tried to smuggle booze across the state, but he got caught so him and his mob started killing people and the death toll ended at 7. (Troy, Tailor). So mob activity is clearly in our sociality. But, what was truly remarkable is how exactly he followed some of the steps of mind control and of mob mentality. For example the gang all wanted to “smuggle whisky across the state (Taylor 1). Also when 5 police officers showed up to the garage that they were operating out of the mob went crazy and killed all five of them (Taylor 1). The gang all sheered a simple goal, had a shred location created a heightened emotional state and stayed together, just like the mind control steps said the would. Witch proves that the gang used mob mentality and mind control in society.

In Lord of the Flies Jack used mob mentality and mind control to seize control of the tribe. First off the Mob mentality. Jack was originally just “a choir boy” with no control but what little he had over the choir (Golding 20). As the tribe got a little bit out of control and more bloodthirsty Jack started to take control. The hunting of the pigs started and jack was the one who was in charge, more and more people wanted to join him. They just obtained a shared goal. Jack started to wear war paint as well as make a hunting chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his thought! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152). The boys liked this very much so they painted their faces and chanted along. The mob lost their individual qualities. When Ralph (the former tribe leader) and Piggy tried to talk to Jacks tribe and tell them they are getting out of hand Roger (one of the boys that jack was able to manipulate at his will) threw a rock and killed piggy, something that he would never do before. Counter measures only escalated jacks tribe. He used the steps to mob mentality well, but he also uses mind control. Jacks simple goal with the simple outcome, as well as his shared experience was to hunt. There was a heightened emotional state when jack initiated the chant. The chant was also his call to action. Throughout the story Jacks tribe never split up. Jack clearly used mob mentality as well as mind control to turn his once simple tribe of innocent children and choir boys into savages.

            In our society as well as our literature mob mentality as well as mind control is used. Its important that we realize when someone is trying to use these tactics at any point in time, so that you can prevent situations like the valentines day massacre and situations similar to Jacks control over the tribe from happening. Mobs are disorderly groups that use crime to get what they want, but if you can identify one then you can steer clear of that kind of life.