Bullying - Lord of the Flies

Human Nature and Lord of the Flies-I.S.U.

# 13) Bullies

Bullying is when a person or group frequently harms someone who is weaker or more vulnerable then themselves. They do this by means of physical, verbal, or mental abuse. Bullies can be male, female, young or old. The nature of a bully depends on many factors such as sex, age, and past experiences. Depending on the nature of the bully, their actions can have many negative effects on others. Bullies display many characteristics such as aggression, rivalry, and competitive behavior. Bullying occurs in many different places, a good example is in the novel The Lord of the Flies. Jack, the antagonist in this novel, displays many characteristics of a bully. Many children have been victimized by the terrible acts of bullies.

There are bullies everywhere you go some noticeable and others not at all, you may not recognize a bully because they come in many different forms. The abusiveness of bullies’ is usually deliberate and not accidental. There are bullies at work, online, in the public and mostly school. So who is a bully? A bully is a person that causes emotional, psychological, or physical harm by using two different types of attacks. The first type being direct attacks, this consists of threatening, teasing, taunting, name calling, stealing, damaging of belongings, and hitting. Studies say that this type of attack is more common between males. “While both boys and girls say others bully them by making fun of the way they look or talk, boys are more likely to report being hit, slapped, or pushed”( Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, Scheidt 2001). The other type of attacks are indirect, they are spreading of rumors and encouraging others to reject someone else. Studies say that this type of attack is more common between females. “Teenage girls are more often the targets of rumors and sexual comments” ( Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, Scheidt 2001). Bullies usually target people who are different, it may be physical differences or even intelligence, and also they tend to target people who won’t retaliate back. They usually harass the person by attacking at there differences and imperfections. So a bully is someone who causes harm to others over and over again.

Bullying has many negative effects on many people such as the victim, the bully himself, and society. Studies show these effects may turn out to be short-term or long-term. There are many short term effects bullying can have on the victim. Usually victims dislike going to school, have problems making friends, and in extreme cases develop depression which may lead to suicide. However bullying can also have long term effects on a victim. Luckily the majority of victims who receive support from others tend to not have any long term effects. Believe it or not bullies also face short term effects from their actions. Although bullies are often popular they usually don’t have many close friends and don’t do well in school. Unlike victims, bullies who don’t change their behavior often do encounter long term effects. Due to their aggressive nature bullies will often become involved with criminal activity as well as drug and alcohol abuse. This is how the bully’s actions in the long term can affect society. They break the law, steal, and in some cases may also physically harm other people. Bullying may start out in a small environment such as school people but if it is not stopped then it can end up affecting the entire community.

A lot of people say that bullies are terrible people who have no friends and act tough to hide emotions and other insecurities. Although some bullies are hiding their true feelings and are insecure recent studies show that it is more popular that a bully is really self-assured individuals with a lot of confidence with many so called friends. Although they may have much confidence they still may be bullying because they need a victim to pick on due to family problems, they are used to the abusive behavior, or just to gain more or keep their power and authority. Friends of bullies usually deal with similar cases in sense they are bullies also. When it comes to bulling males and females have different approaches. So what characteristics do bullies really share? First of all, male bullies tend to confront a victim more direct, not only do they insult their victim but they may also physically their victim. Females tend to bully their victims indirectly. For example it is common for female bullies to spread rumors about their victim or force others to shun the victim. Also while male bullies tend to bully people of both genders female bullies tend to attack that of the same gender, female. All in all both male and female bullies assert power over the victim by hostility.

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