The theme that mob mentality causes people to get carried away and band together blindly allowing the worst impulses to surface from Lord of the Flies is also apparent in The Lying Game. In LOF the boys would get way to confident chanting together in their large group and playing their wild games that they got carried away and ended up killing Simon. This mob mentality made the group more comfortable doing terrible acts because everyone around them was participating and they felt as if they were blending into their group by acting savagely also. This mob mentality thinking and getting carried away is apparent to how the Sutton, Laurel, Madeline, and Charlotte get while playing their special game called the lying game. This game they created was meant to pull harmless pranks that did not truly hurt anyone, but as this game progressed the girls got carried away trying to impress one another with new bigger prank ideas that actually hurt people’s feelings.
Charlotte had planned a prank to impress her friends with the support of the lying game members. The prank was tricking a girl named Nisha that she was the suspect of a murder crime scene and the girls went all out putting a knife and fake blood in Nisha’s locker and even hiring a fake cop to scare Nisha. “Her face! Charlotte said between breaths. Priceless! Madeline cried,” is how the girls reacted after they witnessed Nisha’s scared and crying face after the prank. The girls weren’t playing a harmless game anymore; they were actually getting joy out of harming someone’s feelings. “Charlotte waved her hand in front of Emma’s face.’ Well A-plus or F-minus?’ ‘A-plus,’ she managed to say, trying to channel her sister. ‘It was awesome.’ The girls smiled with relief. The bell rang, and they linked elbows and started down the hall” (Shepard 157). The approval and support of the lying game members is what caused Charlotte to create this prank in the first place. No one would feel comfortable pulling such a mean prank alone, but in a group you can feel protected and do things you normally aren’t daring enough to do on your own. Emma giving Charlotte praise for her prank also supported her decision by thinking that the prank was a good idea. Mob mentality causes people to commit harmful crimes against others and banding together in groups causes confidences to rise high.
Charlotte had planned a prank to impress her friends with the support of the lying game members. The prank was tricking a girl named Nisha that she was the suspect of a murder crime scene and the girls went all out putting a knife and fake blood in Nisha’s locker and even hiring a fake cop to scare Nisha. “Her face! Charlotte said between breaths. Priceless! Madeline cried,” is how the girls reacted after they witnessed Nisha’s scared and crying face after the prank. The girls weren’t playing a harmless game anymore; they were actually getting joy out of harming someone’s feelings. “Charlotte waved her hand in front of Emma’s face.’ Well A-plus or F-minus?’ ‘A-plus,’ she managed to say, trying to channel her sister. ‘It was awesome.’ The girls smiled with relief. The bell rang, and they linked elbows and started down the hall” (Shepard 157). The approval and support of the lying game members is what caused Charlotte to create this prank in the first place. No one would feel comfortable pulling such a mean prank alone, but in a group you can feel protected and do things you normally aren’t daring enough to do on your own. Emma giving Charlotte praise for her prank also supported her decision by thinking that the prank was a good idea. Mob mentality causes people to commit harmful crimes against others and banding together in groups causes confidences to rise high.