Lord of the Flies Chaos vs Order

Categories: Allegory

Essay, Pages 4 (846 words)

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The conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

Topic sentence isputed leadership and infighting between the two dominate powers (Jack and Ralph) cause a disputed leading to the separation of the tribe into two separate tribes each determined to destroy and ruin the other showing how government (power) can deteriorate to nothing if the following “citizens” don’t go along with the ruling power 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. The evidence showing this is as follows, when they first landed on the island the idea of government was first brought up by the conch shell which symbolized power and eventually lead to the election of a leader (Ralph), leading to the children coming together and working towards survival and hopefully their salvation this as we know failed as the tribe split in two and became democratic and dictatorship ased with Ralph as the democratic leader and Jack as the Dictatorships leader.

Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them. Used in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power.

As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack’s camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island. Now on to the dictatorship Jack set up with his symbol The sow’s head is a symbol of savagery and destruction.

The boy who introduced the idea of the sow’s head on a stick was Jack, and Jack too is a symbol in the book. Jack stands for savagery. You know right from the start of the novel the Jack is not like the other boys, and that he’s a savage because of what he tells Ralph that he wants him and his choir to be. When asked what he would like to do on the island he replies “Hunters” showing he only cares for killing and wants to be the only provider on the island this then gives Jack the theoretical power he wanted from the start (the leadership of the tribe)

The power the sow’s head holds over the boys is more of fear than a power. The sow’s head is a constant reminder that they are living like savages. I think it also reminds the boys that if they can kill a pig then they would probably kill one of the others. This once again shows how Jack is willing to kill for his power and take what he wants from Ralph (later shown when he splits the tribe and attempts to become supreme ruler) To Simon the sow’s head holds a completely different power over him. To Simon the sow’s head represents craziness.

Simon is different than the other boys, so that might by why the sow’s head is different for him. When the other boys are fighting, Simon goes to his private glade in the forest. The thing that gave me the idea that the sow’s head represents something different to Simon is because Simon has a conversation with it. Also because the conversation sounds like something that would’ve came out of Simon’s head, because Simon never really believed in a beast on the island and after learning the truth sets off to tell the others ultimately leading to his own demise as the boys mistake him for “the beast” and kill him during a ritual.