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Justin Halpern on the Power of Storytelling

17 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:12

In this monologue, Justin Halpern reflects on the narrative mechanics of Lord of the Flies, focusing on how the character Jack transforms the boys' underlying fears and homesickness into palpable anger, which he then directs at Ralph. Halpern highlights the timeless principle that “hurt people hurt people,” arguing that a skilled storyteller can deliberately channel such anger for personal gain or broader narrative effect. He suggests that this dynamic is a blueprint for understanding how emotions can be manipulated within stories and, by extension, in real life.

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You know, it's like these kids are obviously, after a certain amount of time, they feel it, right? Like at the start, it's, this is the dream. 13-year-olds, nobody tells us what to do. We're doing whatever we want. Our parents who obviously sent us off to boarding school, they can piss off. We're having fun. And as reality gets tougher and tougher, like instead of dealing with those feelings of like, I miss my family. I want to get out of here. I'm scared. That can, all those things can be channeled into anger, which is what Jack does is he takes all of those fears that these kids have and he turns it into anger and then he points that anger right at Ralph, right? And that's what I love about that book is that's, it's just the blueprint has always been there. Hurt people hurt people. Hurt people hurt people. You can channel someone's anger if you're shrewd enough. You can channel it for your own gain towards anyone you want. If you can, if you're a good enough storyteller.