Society Exposed In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

No parents, no curfews, no rules and you can have as much food as you want. Every kid’s dream is to live without the rule of an adult. It would be, of course, paradise. Right? In the novel Lord Of The Flies by William

Golding, a group of English schoolboys crash on a deserted island miles away from any type of civilization. What starts out as a “paradise” turns into a dystopia. The boys are isolated from any supervision and understand that they can do whatever their hearts desire. Their surroundings are what cause their descent into savagery and their loss of civilization. There are no parents, which cause the boys to turn on each other, and they’re completely surrounded by the silence of nature. The environment in which the boys live

So who’s to stop one of the boys when they get into a fight or when they start to do something they know is wrong? The only adult like figure on the island is Piggy. And he’s not that affective when it comes to stopping something bad from happening. Piggy runs along the same age with the other boys. So why in the world would they listen to a boy that’s their age?

“The fair boy said this solemnly; but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him. In the middle of the scar he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy. ‘No grown ups’” (Golding 8)! In brief, the boys understand they can do whatever due to the fact that there’s no adult to tell them otherwise. No adult to tell them what to and not to do. Without any adults around, the line between right and wrong becomes very thin. Due to the fact that there’s no adult around, the boys turn on each other.

To repeat, there’s no one there to tell the boys what’s right and what’s wrong. Jack, takes full advantage of that fact and breaks from the group to start his own tribe. From that moment on it’s a war between Jack and

Ralph. Not only is it a fight between Jack and Ralph but their tribes

What was Jack and Ralphs war becomes the rest of the boys war. “ ‘I’m not going to be a part of Ralphs lot’ He looked along the right-hand logs, numbering the hunters that had been a choir. ‘I’m going by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too’ ” (Golding 127). To conclude, the boys turn on each other only because no one can tell them not too. The boys fighting each other is a character vs character situation. Especially Jack and

Ralph.

However, just the fact of them being on the island is what affects the boys the most. Nothing but sand and trees surround them. And isolated islands can get awfully quiet. As a result of the unwanted silence, the boys begin to put use to their imagination. Their imagination is what causes the boys to even come up with the idea of the “beastie”. They’re scared of the new surroundings. So whatever you hear go “bump” in the night could be anything. It’s ultimately up to the boys to decide. “ ‘ So this is a meeting to find out what’s what. I’ll tell you what’s what. You littluns started all this, with the fear talk. Beasts! Where from? Of course we’re frightened sometimes but we put up with being frightened’ ” (Golding 82). In