Lord of the Flies William Golding\'s Novel

Lord of the Flies

William Golding's novel Lord of the Flied tells the story about what would happen if a plane full of young proper English school boys crash landed on an island without any adult supervision whatsoever. It is extremely important to the narrative that there are no adults on the island with the children. As adults, people are accustomed to the laws and moral rules of the society in which they live. They would be far more likely to keep up the rules of their society in this new location. Children only know legal and ethical issues because of the adults around them. They mimic the social structure instead of becoming a true part of it. When the boys land, Ralph the leader, and his companion, Piggy try to create a social order which falls quickly into disrepair. One of the reasons that people behave morally or ethically is because there are ramifications for their behavior. If they commit a crime, they are imprisoned. If they perform an action that is unethical, then the society judges them socially unacceptable. On the island, there are no punishments for not behaving in certain ways and so the rules that are created fail.

Golding intends for the reader not just to witness the social disintegration of the boys, but also to understand that this could happen to anyone at any time where there is no social structure to prevent the world from falling into disarray. Ralph represents the desire for order and for structure. Jack, on the other hand, represents the wild and animalistic desire inside every person, whether they wish to admit it or not, to commit acts of violence. This discrepancy leads directly to a falling out between the groups and a stratification of the children on the island. Either they can side with reason and Ralph or animal instinct with Jack. The story is set during the Second World War, a time when many members of the human race decided to turn the world into a graveyard. The boys on the island do in some ways reflect the international conflict, but in a larger sense, they actually represent any time in history when human beings forget their humanity.

One example of the descent of the characters is the fact that initially Ralph convinces the boys to gather drinking water. He also tells the others that they must keep the drinking water fresh and free from disease and bacteria. So, human waste materials must not touch the drinking water. Jack and the rebellious boys reject this rule early on. They no longer care about the logic of Ralph's orders, that the reason for keeping the drinking water clean is for their own safety, and instead see it as residual domination by the responsible, adult world. Water cleanliness is rejected because it is logical and beneficial; an act of rebellion simply for the sake of rebellion.