Sarah Whitlock
Ms. Butler
Period 1
10 December 2007
Lord of the Flies:
Decline of an Island Society
As many people have said, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a story about society. It is about life, and about how people and situations affect it. Perhaps if Ralph had not been on the island, Jack would have turned out better. Perhaps if there had been some girls or adults on the island, things would not have gotten so bad so fast. But he wasn’t and they weren’t. There are many ways in which the island deteriorated, and Golding explains why and how they were throughout the novel.
“Democracy: the state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it” (Benjamin Lichtenberg). In the case of Lord of the Flies this is a very true quote. Either way the coin falls, someone is going to loose. Although not everyone realizes it, the first blow to the island society is when the society is created. A leader has to be chosen; there are two boys to choose from. Neither boy is the best for the job, nor does anyone wants to vote the wrong way. How the boys voted would establish their fate on the cursed isle.
Ralph was chosen as a leader, and thus named a protagonist. But even his first decision was a mistake: Jack became leader of the hunt. This meant that Jack thought that he had as much power as Ralph. This belief, in the end, actually caused his true dictatorship to reign. At first he did not have much power. Soon enough, though, his green becomes known and he begins taking over.
Jacks domination scheme begins with the hunt for the pig. He takes his followers and goes on a mad hunt for a pig. Then when the hunters (who were supposed to be wetching and tending the fire) returned back, they found Ralph and Piggy leading angrily against them. This is the first show of disobedience and defiance from Jack and his followers, and the first glimpses of Jack’s insanity growing. “Jack, his face smeared with clays, reached the top first and hailed Ralph excitedly, with lifted spear.
“’Look! We’ve killed a pig—we stole up on them—we got in a circle’…
“Ralph spoke.
“’You let the fire go out.’
“Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance, but too happy to let it worry him.
“’We can light the fire again.’…
“Ralph spoke again, hoarsely. He had not moved.
“’You let the fire go out.’
“This repetition made Jack uneasy. He loked at the twins then back at Ralph…..
“(Piggy said,) ‘You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home—‘
“Ralph pushed piggy to one side.
“’I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts—then you go off hunting and let out the fire—‘’’ (Golding 69-71)
Golding uses this to show that he thinks the island began breaking down when there was too much mixed power and friction.
A little bit after this encounter with Jack and the fire, Ralph calls an assembly. The assembly did not go quite as planned, because the littluns began voicing doubts about the safety of the forest. They began talking about a “beast”, and this caused fear and confusion. Fear is always a large factor in breaking down society. It causes people to worry more than necessary, and to accuse people of more wrongdoing. Terror is a simple way to cause chaos. It was not what caused all of the chaos in this case, but it lit the flames of turmoil.
I do not believe that what had happened so far in the book is likely at all. First of all, this is nothing like the typical behavior of boys ages about seven to twelve. Frankly, they would most likely have gotten into some sort of mud or dirt fight immediately. What kind of child recognizes a conch shell and immediately thinks to use it as a calling device.
It is also completely implausible that they would revert to savagery so quickly after landing. Within days of the crash, Jack has gathered a crew of hunters to forage the island for meat. He was completely obsessed with the blood and hunting and it would have been near impossible for him to just instantly become so feral.
Next in the novel comes the arrival of the dead parachutist. There had already been fear and caution spread among the boys, and a slightest upset would cause them to do something feckless.
So, as you can see, i am not at all happy about the novel in any way shape or form, and i thought it was so pitiful that i liked the twisted MOVIE better...But oh well. I will get the stupid essay done, and i already have the other project for Butler done, so i can just do my uber fun Science element project.
Gtg now, 'cus of my annoying, pestering, brother, but i will write more later.
~Sarah
Tired and with Sniffles (and annoying brothers...)
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