William Golding's The Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies, there are many characters, objects, and events that display the fact that when rules in society are absent, chaos is present. Within these events and objects are examples, which lead us to believe that absence of rules destroys organization and structure within the boys. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the conch shell, the fire, the beast, Simon’s death, and Piggy’s death to show that without rules in society, there will be chaos.

Golding uses the conch shell to display the idea that without rules in society, there will be lots of chaos. The conch is a symbol of authority and lack of communication. When holding the conch shell, Ralph decides: “Ill give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (Golding 33). The boys knew that they needed to have some sense of authority and structure within themselves so they used the conch shell to portray who had authority at the time. It is used as a speaking tool; whichever boy was in possession of the conch in that particular moment was the one who was allowed to speak. This system of individualistic decision-making did not turn out to be something that worked out for the best. The conch was not the only semi-controlling decision they made; they also wanted to have one selected person to be in charge. When discovering early chaos and a sense of disorganization, Ralph says: “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things” (Golding 32). The boys need to figure out a way to be organized and try to create in a sense, a government to run things smoothly on the island. They decide to elect a “chief” to be in charge of things. The conch shell symbolizes a sense of authority in the group and helps the boys decide ...

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...island with no rules, no parents, and no controlled government. Simon’s death gives us the idea that the innocent English boys turned into savages without any set laws of restrictions. They had to let go of everything they previously knew and make do with what they had, which is extremely difficult when there is a group of people running around freely being allowed to do whatever they want without any rules. Piggy’s death shows lack of respect and equality. Piggy was in the same position as all of the other boys and just because he was not an authority figure, did not mean that he had to get picked on. Without parents, the boys could do whatever they wanted to do and with no rules Piggy became the center of their torture, causing chaos on the island and also causing his tragic death. All of these examples are proof on how without rules in society, chaos is ramped.