Preview

Order and Disorder in Lord of the Flies

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
921 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Order and Disorder in Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
How does Golding develop ideas about order and disorder in the first 6 chapters of the novel?
The main theme and concern in the novel Lord of the Flies is the conflict between civilisation and savagery. Golding develops this idea about order and disorder by using the two main characters Ralph and Jack, symbolism of the conch shell and foreshadowing to portray the instinct to live by the rules employed by the boys on the island, and value the group against their own desires, to rule over the others and act violently.
Golding’s portrayals of the main characters in the novel contribute to the main theme of order and disorder. Ralph is used to represent democracy on the island, civilisation, morality and leadership. Jack stands for desire, power, selfishness and amorality while Piggy represents the intellectual aspects of civilisation, which in turn leads him to be the outsider of the group. In the first few chapters of the novel we see how the boys try and bring their own societies morals and rules into their civilisation but already the boy’s savage instincts of desire, power and violence has diminished them. The first sign of democracy on the island is the voting of Ralph into power over the island, he elects Jack and his choir boys to be hunters. Piggy the outsider is already finding it hard on the island, he is teased by Jack and his followers because of his body shape. These are the first signs of the boy’s instincts which pose to destroy the society they have made. Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell and decide it will be used to gather every one on the island and who ever is holding it shall be able to talk. Everyone agrees on this and this is the first rule on the island.
Throughout the first 3 chapters the boys on the island are still relating to civilisation, they have implemented rules and started up a fire that will signal passing ships. In these chapters the society the boys have created resembles a political society, with the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “Language fits over experience like a straight-jacket” William Golding believes. In Golding’s book Lord of the Flies language and communication is the key to survival for the boys that crash land on a deserted island. At the beginning several English boys crash land on a deserted island, then with a central symbol found, the conch, they elect a leader for the group. Jack and Ralph want different things so the group splits into two later, in the novel. Jacks group hunts while Ralph’s group is hunted. Several boys die, and when Ralph is the last good-hearted one on the island a navy ship comes and reluctantly rescues the boys. Lord of the Flies depicts savagery and destruction of marooned British boys. Golding wrote this book as a post-war humanistic, allegorical book with analogy to the Bible. Through biblical references in settings, symbolism, and overall meaning, Lord of the Flies becomes a religious allegory.…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Golding emphasizes the conflict between two opposite impulses that are inside every one of us: whether to follow the rules and be in order, or to go into violence and turn into savages. Golding expresses this by using the protagonist and antagonist of the story, Ralph and Jack.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main theme that is explored throughout the novel is how civilised and savaged over time. Golding wrote this novel during World War 2 to show that over a period of time humans can lose their sense of civilisation and care for immature concepts e.g. Jack and his need for hunting. During war and hatred times the worst of man is expressed which is what happens in “Lords of the Flies.”…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piggy lord of the flies

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At this point in the novel, the group of boys has lived on the island for some time, and their society increasingly resembles a political state. Although the issue of power and control is central to the boys’ lives from the moment they elect a leader in the first chapter, the dynamics of the society they form take time to develop. By this chapter, the boys’ community mirrors a political society, with the faceless and frightened littluns resembling the masses of common people and the various older boys filling positions of power and importance with regard to these underlings. Some of the older boys, including Ralph and especially Simon, are kind to the littluns; others, including Roger and Jack, are cruel to them. In short, two conceptions of power emerge on the island, corresponding to the novel’s philosophical poles—civilization and savagery. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy represent the idea that power should be used for the good of the group and the protection of the littluns—a stance representing the instinct toward civilization, order, and morality. Roger and Jack represent the idea that power should enable those who hold it to gratify their own desires and act on their impulses, treating the littluns as servants or objects for their own amusement—a stance representing the instinct toward savagery.…

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that demonstrates how boys will act when there is no authoritative figure. When the boys find out that there are no adults, they become very excited. As time goes by rules and order are needed, but some of the boys choose to respect the rules and others are reckless. Ralph is one of the characters that enforces rules after he realizes that they need them, and it proves how he respects rules when there are no adults; on the other hand, Jack's defiance towards rules validates how he dislikes them. The conch is a symbol for rules and order because of the way it is used at assemblies, described by the author, and destroyed; therefore, the theme the novel sends is that certain people will follow the…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies is an allegory used by the author to demonstrate the instinctive evil within all of humanity. A group of British schoolboys are in a plane crash, and left stranded on a deserted island with no adult help. The boys attempt to create their own civilization, but it fails when certain members of the group let their dark sides take over. There are many intriguing characters among the schoolboys. Some of the characters include the leader, Ralph; the intellectual outcast, Piggy; and the religious mystic, Simon. William Golding creates the memorable character of Jack Merridew in The Lord of the Flies through the characteristics of, being a hunter, being a dictator and being hungry for power.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel, where a group of young British boys are lost on an island after their plane crash lands. Throughout the novel William Golding utilization of literary devices are in place to reveal a theme of the novel, civilization and innocent are destroyed due to the savagery of the boys', desire for power, and fear of the unknown. William Golding utilizes three important literary devices throughout the novel, symbolism, of when the conch is destroyed civilization on the island is gone, foreshadowing the deaths of the boys on the island and irony as the civilize British boys turn savages.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The central theme of the Lord of the Flies is the influence of others. Each boy had to pick between a set of rules and morals to live by, dividing them into two groups. The conflict consisted of Civilization versus savagery. In one group the influence of Ralph was a sense of order and everyone lived by rules. The influence of good beliefs and values generated these boys from committing sinful crimes. In Jacks group, the boys were influenced by evil. The killing of animals empowered them to become sinful people. Jack would measure value in the group by ones immediate desire to kill coldblooded. To obtain authority you needed to act violently. These acts shaped how the boy’s mental state developed. Damaging the human they will grow up to be.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Golding, the author of the book The Lord of the Flies uses multiple literary devices such as setting, symbolism, imagery, and characterization to convey the theme. Golding also uses the ideas of nature versus nurture in The Lord of the flies. Through out the numerous chapters and conflicts one main theme portrayed itself as something that should be noticed. The theme of this book is, once a person is taken from the judgment of society their true character emerges almost as vividly as a sunrise in tropical skies. Back home Ralph was the leader and things were functional, but when placed in savage like situations Jack begins to lose all senses of civilization. Ralph is logical with his decision where as Jack is not. Despite savage like behavior some remained sane, but ones true character comes out when they are placed in unusual circumstances, because in some the conscience is stronger than the current freedom.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the beginning of time, man’s inbred lust for power has been the driving force behind the destruction of civilizations throughout human history. As illustrated in the novel Lord of the Flies, civil order and a progressive society simply cannot coexist with conflict among its leadership. The boys, fleeing the unimaginable conditions of a war-torn Europe, find themselves stranded on an island without any adults to guide them. If the “grown-up” world cannot effectively resolve their conflicts in a peaceful manner, how could one expect a group of children to do so? With no adult influence or authority, the boys have unbridled reign of the island and its resources. Developing a hierarchical structure comes as first…

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    {In chapter one, how does Golding represent the struggle between the “ordering” elements of society such as morality, law and culture and the “chaotic” elements of humanity’s savage animal instincts e.g. anarchy, bloodlust, desire for power, amorality, selfishness, violence?}…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lord of the Flies

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    n William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys is trapped on an island that seems like paradise. However, when fear spreads through the paradise it takes charge of the boys’ lives and their innate fear destroys. Ralph’s fear destroys his hope of ever being rescued. Jack obliterates what civilization is left on the island when he splits the tribe due to his own fear, but this could also be shown through Piggy’s glasses. Finally, the boys’ fear of someone more powerful than them drives them to kill Simon and Piggy. Golding develops this theme throughout the novel.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lord of the Flies

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The theme of human nature is the most important and the cause of the all of the chaos among the boys. Jack and his hunters are the evil ones who love to start conflicts between them. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are the good ones who just want everyone to work together so they can get off the island faster. But for some reason, without either good or evil neither of them could survive. There are three major conflicts that the boys face while they are on the island.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    they started out with a good governing system based mostly off of a dictator ship but allowing some voting as in democracy this lead to the group working together to build houses, gather food, create weapons and finally set up fires for both cooking and signaling a passing ship. This system worked for the majority of the book allowing the children to solve their problems as a group effort with all contributing to what they could.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The boys try to maintain order by setting rules yet they forget to keep their clothes on and keep their order. In the beginning of the book, the boys are going to England which is a cold place. With this info, we can assume that the boys are wearing thick or multiple layers of clothing. On page 8, the author describes the morning’s atmosphere similar to a desert. He wrote that the heat is almost visible and it’s a never-ending heat during the day. Therefore, Ralph quickly adapts to his surroundings and the heat by ripping off his clothes which symbolizes the detachment from society on page 8. This symbolizes rules and order stripping away for the boy thus this is the start of chaos and their evolution of being a savage. Whereas, the choir is…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays