Lord of The Flies: The Inherent Savagery of Society

Introduction: Society is necessary in the world. This is because society is such an important part of our world, because without it, there would be chaos. If there is no society, then there is nothing set in place to tell people how they should act or to punish them for their actions. With society, we have all come together and agreed on what is right, and have each other to keep us in place and to act correctly. William Golding wrote the book, Lord of the Flies in 1911, which takes place on a uninhabited island, with a group of young boys crashing onto it and are forced to survive. Background: They create their own “tribe” which is like a society as it has rules and places responsibilities onto the kids. However, starting with a few kids, the tribe begins to crumble and lose its hold on the kids, and they fall into chaos and become savages, with no rules, even commiting murder. Thesis statement: William Golding shows in Lord of the Flies that every person is born evil and that without society to keep people in check, they will fall into chaos, commit horrible crimes, and follow their greed.

Topic sentence: Society is necessary as humans are naturally drawn towards violent ideas and actions. Evidence & citing: While most people will always try or do the right thing, this is only because of society’s grip on people. Commentary: This is not always true though, as it usually is only this way in societies that rewards people’s good actions, but even then people still commit crimes and are violent. People are constantly trying to do the morally right thing, but without society to watch over us, who is there to tell what is morally right or wrong? Without society saying something is bad, is it really considered bad? Because of society, we all can agree that murdering someone is a horrible thing, but without society, would we still be able to come to that same conclusion? In the start of Lord of the Flies, the children start out with good intentions, they create a tribe with someone in charge, rules, and responsibilities. They all agree that they need to work together to keep a fire going in order to signal any passing boats, and to turn turns to maintain it. Over time, the boys start shifting away from their responsibilities in order to do what they feel like, even having a ship go by the island because the fire went out because the people who were supposed to be watching it, the Hunters, were out hunting a pig. Ralph, who was elected as leader, suggested they should build shelters as they had enough food and water, but Jack and his Hunters just want meat. Eventually, a whole ritual and savage tribe emerges lead by Jack, and because it looks like “fun”, everyone decides to join that tribe. However, at a “festival” the tribe was holding, everyone gets riled up into killing a “beast” they believe is hiding in the dark woods, chanting “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill her blood” so when a boy named Simon stumbles out of the woods, all the other boys converge onto Simon. On page 153, it states, “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.... Presently the heap broke up and figures staggered away. Only the beast lay still, a few yards from the sea. Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand.” There are even instances of this day. There are often times when people will do horrible things they regret doing in the moment, just because others did it. People want to fit in and be a part of something, so they will often do things they know they should not of. Commentary: This quote shows how without society to keep us in check, we would fall into chaos and commit horrible crimes, such as the children in LOTF did.

Topic sentence: Another reason that humans need society in order to keep them in check is because of attempts at peace and unity tend to fail without society to back it up. Commentary: We always talk about striving for world peace and unity in order to better help the world, but if there was no society would people still be urged to try and find peace, equality, and unity in the world, or would people rather have the world fall deeper into chaos and troubles so it benefits them. Evidence & citing: In LOTF, the boys attempted to be united when they created their tribe, and had Ralph as their leader with the conch representing the authority and leadership Ralph help. The conch represent democracy, as in the book whoever held the conch was allowed to speak and be heard. Over time however, as the boys became more savage and move away from the tribe, the conch lost its power. They did not respect or see the conch as the authority any more, and when it was destroy on page 181, saying “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” Commentary: The democracy they had was completely destroyed and they fully fell into anarchy, even killing Piggy afterwards. At the start of the book, the boys held a vote to see who would lead their new tribe, two boys wanted to be leader, Ralph and Jack. Ralph is much more calm and fair, while Jack is rash and aggressive. Ralph is elected the leader by popular vote, and Jack is not happy, but Ralph allows Jack to have some say. By doing this, Ralph and Jack form a friendship between them, and everything is well. After some time, they both begin to realize that they have very different views on how things should go and happen, and their friendship began to become strained. Evidence & citing: Eventually, the two different tribes, one ruled by Jack that is chaotic, and one that has the few remaining members ruled by Ralph, go to “war.” The savage tribe then captures Sam and Eric, some of the last members of Ralph’s tribe, and kill Piggy. Jack then tries to kill Ralph, as on page 181, it states, “Viciously, with full intention, [Jack] hurled his spear at Ralph. The point tore the skin and flesh over Ralph’s ribs, then sheared off and fell in the water.” Commentary: This just goes to shows how the unity and peace on the island did not last, as society began to wither and die, it all eventually boiled down to chaos and murder.

Topic sentence: While some people like to argue that human are good at heart, and that society is the reason they are corrupted, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies completely disproves this. Evidence & citing: For starters, everything on the island was fine at first, they were able to create their tribe and elect a leader with no problem, the tribe was democratic as everyone had a say, they just had to hold the conch, they were able to find food and water, and finally they were able to work together to get things done, such as build the fire. Over time, as societies grip on them began to weaken, they became more savage and chaotic, such as rather killing pigs than trying to get home, as Jack and his Hunters let the fire go out in order to kill a pig, which in turn allowed a ship to sail by the island without knowing anyone was on it. In the end, they completely fell into chaos and commited murder and were only saved when they were saved by adults who brought society back with them. Some people may argue that if society is the reason we strive to be good, then shouldn't crimes not be committed? While society is the main reason many people are good people, some people just don’t care, but society is there to punish them for their crimes. Evidence & citing: In LOTF, Ralph failed to punish people for not following the rules, so the people began not to care as they knew they would be punished for doing something wrong. For instance, Ralph held a meeting with the conch to try and have all the boys finish building shelters, for their own good. However, after a few minutes of working, most of the boys would get bored and run off to do something else. Ralph never inflicted any punishment on them, giving them no motivation to follow the rules. Commentary: Rules are useless if no one remembers them or even cares about them. Evidence & citing: On page 81, it states, “He paused, feeling for his next point. ‘And another thing.’ Someone called out. ‘Too many things.’ There came a murmur of agreement.” Commentary: This just goes to shows that in order for a society to function properly, it must inflict punishments and have a clear set of rules in order to function correctly.

Conclusion paragraph: At heart, humans are evil. Human instinctual want not only to survive, but to thrive. We as humans don’t just want to live, we want to live well. We want to do things, some of which those things are absolutely horrendous things. If we did not have society to keep us in check, then many people would be committing those horrible acts, because they feel an instinctual need to. Even the great Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures.” Even the ancient Jewish and Christians believed this, in the bible in Genesis, it says,“The intent of man’s heart,” God says, “is evil from his youth.” William Golding tries to show us this in Lord of the Flies that without society to keep us in check, we will fall into chaos and savagery, as humans are naturally and instinctively want to thrive, no matter what.

Works Cited

1. Golding, William, and Edmund L. Epstein. Lord of the Flies. Putnam, 1954.
2. Jacoby, Jeff. “People Are Truly Good at Heart? Sadly, No - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 2 Jan. 2013, www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/01/02/people-are-truly-good-heart-sadly/SXE0h0vqU0l72OX5NGA42L/story.html.
3. Westcoast. “What Would Happen to Our Society without Laws or Law Enforcement?, Page 1.” AboveTopSecret.com, 1 Mar. 2010, www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread547784/pg1.