Order vs. Savagery
William Goldings Lord of the Flies suggests that without order, savagery will emerge. Through his writing, he explores the idea that there is a wild and evil sense of savagery within us all that without order and civilization, can and will consume us. For any civilization to flourish and prosper, order must exist. With order, comes a hierarchy of power within society and for a hierarchy of any kind to function, all parts of the system must know their purpose and carry out their duties. If any part of the hierarchy was to fail or get corrupt, order will cease to exist, and savagery will emerge and society would fall into ruins. Order is needed to keep a civilization intact, and without it the civilization would fail and amend to savagery.
Within Lord of the Flies, the boys seemed to have a sense of understanding of this ideology of being civilized upon their first arrival on the island. They did this through assembly and they attempted to imitate the structures which they knew existed in the world which they came from. There first act of hierarchy was of power was electing Ralph as leader and soon after, Ralph delegated other roles and positions of power. For example, Jack became in charge of the choirboys and Piggy became in charge of the littluns. Different levels and positions of power are essential within a society to provide guidance and leadership to the weaker and less superior ones therefore establishing order. However, each level of the hierarchy must know their purpose and carry out their duties. Towards the middle of the story, Jacks power-hungry and blood-lust nature gets the best of him. He accuses Ralph of being nothing more than a coward and says, Bollocks to the rules! Were strong-well hunt! And with that, Jack goes off to create his own tribe, thus thinning his ties with his civilized nature.
As a mean of stabilizing order, Ralph calls upon frequent assemblies on the beach. In reality, politicians and other important figures of society do the same. These mass congregations act as a form of democracy where all sorts of matters are discussed. Specifically in Lord of the Flies, matters of safety, food, and progress of rescue are discussed. Without these frequent gatherings, a sense of community would not be established; the children would grow apart and begin to separate. Moreover, any sense of separation is fatal to society because it may lead to potential rebellion and conflict as was evident within the book when Jack and other members of the choir abandoned the assembly. For society to function, all must be unified. Without these frequent discussions, matters of concerns also would not be resolved. In reference to Lord of the Flies, when Ralph decided to ignore the matter of the beastie during an assembly by dismissing it as nothing more than a nightmare, the boy with the mulberry stain across his face vanished.
Another essential key to a civilized society is leadership. A leader provides guidance to his people by constituting a series rules and systems and Ralph does this instinctively upon his election as chief. One of the most significant rules which he implemented was the conch rule. The conch rule allowed only Ralph and another person holding the conch to speak without interruption at any one time. This rule signifies order. However, whenever this rule is forgotten, Golding describes the assembly to erupt into a chaos of yelling, shouting and argument. An example of this was when the boys first attempted to light a signal fire. Their disregard of the conch rule resulted in them nicking Piggys glasses in a manner that can only be described as barbaric and then, caused a large wildfire to be set upon the bushes.
Systems that were established to keep order included the water system where water from the river was to be frequently collected to be placed beneath the fresh leaves in coconut shells. Specific lavatory areas were also set to be used for hygienic purposes. However in Chapter 5, these systems were revealed to have been neglected; water was being drunken straight from the river and the specified lavatory areas were being ignored, even near the shelters and platforms were used as places for littluns to relieve themselves. Also when Ralph reprimanded the children for their primitive behaviour, the assembly merely roared in laughter.
The conch eventually grew to symbolize the meaning of order itself. It represented Ralphs authority, a sense of morality and civilized living. To call assemblies, Ralph blew into the conch and in the beginning, the boys responded to this. However, towards the end, the conch slowly lost its power. When the majority of biguns and choirboys abandoned Ralph to join Jacks tribe, the conch was blown but almost no one gathered onto the beach. This signifies the boys abandonment of the conch and ultimately, order. They have transformed into savages, painted out of recognition and were more interested in hunting, and breaking things up. The destruction of the conch itself later in the book signifies the boys definite fall into savagery. This occurred when Roger committed intentional man-slaughter and kills Piggy and along with him, the conch.
In conclusion, what Golding suggested in Lord of the Flies was true; without order, savagery will emerge because societys systems and laws are what keep the savagery that exists within us all at bay. Rules are there to provide us a sort of moral compass so that we do not lose our way. Without a sense of the conch, the beastie inside us will, just like it did the savages, do us.
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