Order in the World vs. Savagery Essay

Choose a theme and explain how that theme influences the system of rules and order the boys establish when they arrive on the island, and what happens when the rules disintegrate. Order in the World vs. Savagery Among Men In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the characters demonstrate what can happen when the fear of the unknown sets in. Giving up the familiarity of authoritative figures and domesticated surroundings can put some people, especially adolescents and children, into a state of shock. If this state of shock does not set in immediately, it is inevitable to set in with time. This novel, filled with allegorical references, is a prime example of how the cultures and values set up by people and evolving over time can be ruined by crisis, creating our main theme of Order in the World VS. Savagery Among Men. The novel starts out with our main characters, the school boys, who have been marooned on a completely deserted island. Being that these are mere children, it doesn’t take too long before everyone starts to realize that not only do they no longer have the structure of adult supervision, but they must also learn to fend for themselves. Conflicting human instincts begin to arise, and we all know that without structure in our world, instincts can be a terribly scary addition to this chaotic mix. It is quite interesting to see that even given their crisis of a situation, one of the boys still clings to his former civilized lifestyle. He still has the urge inside of him to work toward order and their pre-existing domesticated, cushy lives. Living in our sheltered world for such a very long period of time, in this case his whole life has created a barrier between him and reality. Given that he is just a boy, this is not unusual but rather expected of him. On the other hand, we have the majority of the boys, who have resorted to their primordial instincts. They start off with a sort of structure: the conch shell. This is their only form of order in their new life, a symbolic sign of civility which they have brought with them from their old lives. This was, at first, a sense of security. The conch was once used to summon everyone together as a group after their plane crash. However after Jack the leader was chosen to run the group, he became relentless, spouting demands left and right, expecting his group to agree at every whim or else. Ralph, one of the other main characters, opposed the barbaric ideas proposed by Jack, and created his own group. When Jack hears of this disruption to his overruling, he makes sure to convince everyone that they need to be on his team and that he can help them more than wimpy Ralph will be able to. When his teachings are unleashed, Roger rolls a giant boulder onto Piggy, which also crushes their conch shell. I believe that this is a symbol of the disintegration of all civility among the boys. As these rules continue to diminish, the representation of our theme becomes more and more clear. For example, Simon encounters the beast that frightens all of the boys to no end, only to find that the beast does not exist; it is imaginary. The beast, we find, is simply a symbol which lies inside of each and every person because it represents human primitive instincts. When Simon went to alert the rest of the group about the beast, the boys with their newfound savage ways of living attacked Simon immediately without any hesitation whatsoever. The boys tore his body limb from limb until there was no life left. This part of the novel is an extremely important part of the theme because the behavior of the boys is what brought this â€Å"beast† to life! In conclusion, as you are able to see, our theme of order and reason in the world versus savagery and impulse influences the system of rules (or lack thereof) throughout the entire novel. In the beginning, many clung tight to their lives of order, while the remainder of others decided right away that because there was no supervision, they needed to have a leader as soon as possible. Toward the end of our novel, as their rules began to dismantle and leadership turned to a god complex dictatorship, we are still able to see the influential theme in the story line as savagery among men takes over all order when the killing begins.