Society In Lord Of The Flies

Living in the well-structured world of the modern day, it is difficult for one to truly understand how difficult it is to achieve an ideal society. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of schoolboys who become stranded on an island after their plane is shot down. With no adults around, the boys attempt to maintain order while they await rescue. Two of the boys, Ralph and Jack, emerge as the prime candidates for leader. Ralph is elected leader, and for a short time, their society runs smoothly. However, the two boys have different ideas of how they want the island to run. While Ralph wants to remain civilized and try to get rescued, Jack’s focus is on hunting and short term survival. After some conflict, the boys break

While Ralph and Simon work on building huts, most of the other boys either play or attempt to hunt. The hut they are building falls down as Jack returns for a failed hunting attempt. Ralph becomes angry at the lack of work that the other boys are doing. “‘When the meeting was over they’d work for five minutes then wander off or go hunting’... Jack flushed ‘We want meat.’ ‘Well, we haven’t got any yet. And we want shelters’” (51). This conflict occurs very early in the story and is relatively peaceful. Still, the basis of the argument has potential to spiral out of control and become something much bigger. This threat is always present in any group in which the interests of its people are conflicting. While playing on the beach, Piggy and Ralph notice a ship in the distance. They look to the signal fire, only to see that it has gone out. They frantically try to get the ship’s attention, but they fail and it sails away. Jack’s tribe emerge from the other side of the island, chanting and carrying a pig. Ralph goes to confront them for abandoning the fire. Ralph says, “You let the fire go out”. In response, Jack proposes, “The fire’s only been out an hour or two. We can light up again” Ralph shocks Jack and the rest of his tribe when he tells them, “There was a ship” (70). Once again, the conflicting interests of Jack and Ralph cause the entire group major problems. Jack becomes so caught up in hunting and killing a pig that he completely abandons the thought of rescue. However, food was also a high priority. Though the two objectives should have been of equal importance, the two leaders didn’t communicate well. As a result, food was prioritized over rescue, and an opportunity to get off the island slipped away. In modern society, many people or small groups of people put their wishes, like Jack’s want for meat, ahead of the good of a larger group. Decisions like this will often cause the group