Lord Of The Flies: Civilization

In Golding’s novel, the lack of civilization and the corruption of power results in the deterioration of the boys’ morals and the loss of their integrity. Due to the lack of authority the boys seem to have no direction and can barely survive. Although, the boys do adopt civil rules and civility among each other, but with authority and power comes rebellion and a desire for more power. Lord of the Flies suggests that tyranny is the antithesis of civilization and the desires of power disintegrated the unity of the boys’ group and caused many unnecessary deaths.

Answer: In the beginning the boys are civilized and try to build some structure in this little group they have. Unfortunately, however, as the book goes on, without adult authority and laws put in place and enforced by that adult authority, the boys start to fight and lose hold of a civilized society. Without anyone disciplining them the boundary between being civilized and being a savage slowly starts o fade away and some of the boys get out of control. This is an example set to show us what will happen if we don’t have laws and rules in place with people of higher power and authority to enforce them. It’s a warning for us, showing what can and will happen if we are not able to keep these rules and remain civilized.

The human mind is made of up two instincts that constantly have conflict: the instinct to live by society’s rules and the instinct to live by your own rules. Our civilized will has been to live morally by law and order, and our savage will has been to act out for our own selfish needs. We each choose to live by one or the other depending on how we feel is the correct way to live. In this allegorical novel, William Golding represents the transformation from civilization to savagery in the conflict between two of the main characters: Ralph who represents law and order and Jack who represents savagery and violence. Lord of the Flies has remained a very controversial novel to this day with its startling, brutal, and truthful picture of the

Lord of the Flies has been considered a literary classic throughout many generations, in spite of it’s perplexing and depressing aspects. Written in 1954 with the timeframe of the next world war, a novel such as this is bound to have some out-dated concepts,language, and elements. The characters are a great example of this.

Will Durant, an American writer, historian, and philosopher, once said, “Civilization begins with order, grow with liberty, and ends with chaos.” If civilization is lost within a community, all order can vanish. Every community has some sort of civility and order in place. Without out it, the community would crumble and conflict would break out. Although all communities are flawed, most have something to keep peace. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding gives several examples of various things that keep civilization in order, when a group of boys get stranded on an island. Golding uses a conch to symbolize the boys’ civilization and order and as the time spent on the island increases, that order slowly disappears.

Several laws and regulations are put into place by the government to prevent humans from behaving without caution. Without these laws, humans would engage in activities which could potentially harm the community, slowly abolishing peace and order within society. At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Ralph takes charge and attempts to maintain order and peace on the island by conducting meetings and assuming leadership. However, the absence of a legitimate government gradually resulted in the boys turning into savages. Furthermore, it created conflicts between different characters such as Jack and Ralph that could not be resolved in an orderly manner due to the lack of a strong law-making body. However, a society with an active government develops the necessary regulations needed to establish justice amongst individuals. Several people may argue that many laws put forth by the government do not promote peace; however, these regulations keep society organized by having a systematic way to control people while also providing the peace and freedom citizens seek in society. Without a strong government, people would not feel obligated to behave correctly, making it more likely for them to break order and disrupt

Anarchy fallen over the once peaceful land and all but one has returned to their savage ways. In William Golding’s, Lord Of The Flies, The character of Piggy is a symbol of civilization. To commence, Piggy symbolises civilization because of his glasses as the fire is started by thm, and fire is the first sign key to civilization . Secondly, by insisting the continuation of the rules to be enforced on all of the island, Piggy demonstrates the ideals of civilization. Finally, Piggy idealises civilization by wanting to advance in technology on the island. In William Golding’s, Lord of The Flies, Piggy symbolises civilization on the island, while others turn to primitive, savage ways.

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys find themselves stranded on an island as a result of a failed attempt to escape England during the war. There is a constant theme of civilization versus savagery throughout the story. The concept of civilization starts out strong in the beginning when the conch shell is discovered by Ralph and Piggy. “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing.(22)” The kids are voting for their chief leader, and since Ralph finds the conch shell that bring them all together, the kids, especially the littleuns, are drawn to him. Immediately the conch symbolizes power to the boys, whoever holds the conch has the power to speak his mind, and the one who blows it, Ralph, is the leader. The conch represents civilization, but slowly the importance of the conch starts to disappear as the need for law and order fades away and savagery takes over.

What makes humanity civilized? The combination of laws, rules, discipline, and being able to have a reality check. In the novel Lord Of The Flies, The boys who are stranded on the Island face a hardship meeting those expectations of a civil society. In the beginning, they were dealing with knowing what they had to do to stay civil but slowly over time they began to showcase characteristics of savagery. Unable to meet these needs the Island became chaotic. The lack of a humane civilization would result in a catastrophe and the loss of lives.

Legal rules drastically affect people every day without even realizing. We sit at home without fearing that someone will walk through the door and murder us. We walk down the street without the fear of being abducted. Legal rules are important in every society for our health and safety. In ‘Lord of the Flies’, because there were no legal rules, nobody was afraid to break the rules that have been put in place by one of their own. There was nothing to be afraid of if they decided to rebel, which is what soon happened. Because no legal rules were established, this severely affected the lives of all those living in the island. When the pilot was killed, as well as two other children, Jack was praised for it, as there was no code of conduct to be

Civilization plays a major role in shaping lives. It controls an individual’s behavior, manners, and way of living. It plays an especially important role in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is about a group of British boys who are stranded on a deserted island without any adult supervision. Immediately after landing on the island, the boys develop basic rules to keep order and elect one amongst themselves, Ralph, as chief.. The boys are then faced with challenges, inciting a deep fear of a beast inhabiting the island. This contributes to the breakdown of their society. Slowly, the youths lose their roots of a civilized society and by the end of the novel, most of the boys do not recognize themselves. Throughout the story, many boys develop negative changes, demonstrating the profound effects a lack of society can have on a people.

“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” The posed question is if society is controlled by people, or are people controlled by society. Some may argue that society is controlled by people, but if you step into the light is that really the case. If you were to look at society, really look at it, who is being controlled. Its not society itself, sure people affect the directions society turns, but that is a small group of people who represent societies movement and trends. People do not really affect what society truly is. Society is, as said before, a mental concept, the popular, important figures in the world are the physical representation. The world is full of unique individuals, although everyone is under influence of society. It is subconscious, but always there. These next paragraphs will express how society controls people by elaborating on three main ideas that show up in the book Lord of The Flies. Society controls our actions, we learn from society and use it to try to be in control of others, and it is always there and so we have no idea what to do apart from it.

The gist of what is going on in “The Lord of the Flies” is that as time goes on the boys are becoming more savage and less civil. What this means is that the kids are straying further from the civilization that they once lived in and are abandoning the rules of society just because they are alone on an island and have the power to do so. Also, it doesn’t help their case that there are no adults to teach them what is erroneous and what to do in order to actually survive. Some of the boys don’t know too much about how society functions because they are too young to realize what goes on in society. You can see when multiple boys try to form some sort of a society, but some just don’t want to follow rules and split off. This is a prime example of what some of the boys are doing to stay further from society.

Civilization today has become almost completely reliant on technology. Almost the entire planet is connected by phone lines, roads, air travel, or the internet. People converse with others thousands of miles away through modern connections, watch live broadcasts of news in foreign lands, or talk on wireless phones by use of satellites. We are governed by laws designed to protect us. We live in heated homes with fresh water and electricity. We commute to work by car or mass transit. We live by rules, values, and ideals that keep the peace. Our world is organized, convenient, and technologically advanced. What would happen if suddenly our civilization

Order in a society creates a structural environment for individuals to thrive. Lord of the Flies depicts how madness occurs once the decimation of order begins. Ralph reflects on how the civilization of the island degrades as savagery overwhelms the children: “the world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away” (Golding 91). Golding describes how without order, a group of individuals can fall into anarchy. He urges a world where leaders enforce reasonable laws and maintain control because it provides people with a structure to build their lives upon. Consequently, a world that lacks this organization can produce savagery among individuals.