“What would you do if you were ever stuck on an island?”
This is a question often discussed by many people. Writer William Golding helped us put into perspective the reality of this scenario. He argued that once we allowed ourselves to break our moral code once, it became much easier to slip into savagery as the shame that once came with breaking these moral codes diminishes. The breaking of one’s moral code can be attributed to a number of things ranging from fear of rejection within a group, the loss of faith in the effectiveness of the rules and even challenging times can tempt one to deviate from or abandon their morals and those established by society.
Firstly, Loss of faith in the effectiveness of the rules can lead to savage behavior
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Jack sensed the rising frustration of the group and appealed to the boys with the promise of exciting hunts, food, dances and the freedom to not have a care in the world. Also, unlike Ralph, Jack could hunt. This could have been viewed by the boys as a symbol of power as emphasized by Jack; “He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing. All this talk—”. Also, as the boy’s priorities focused more on survival, Jack’s hunting ability started to appeal more to the boys rather than Ralph’s ability to lead and organize as it promised them immediate access to food, shelter, and celebrations, meanwhile Ralph’s campaign if you will, was simply based on keeping the fire up and the hope of finding a ship to rescue them, which tired the boys out fast. Later on, The shattering of the conch symbolized the fall of reason and Ralph’s rule; “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist...This time the silence was complete. Ralph’s lips formed a word but no sound came.” After the boys killed Piggy and ultimately the conch, this could be seen as a clear defiance against Ralph and his rules. The boys no longer believed in the rules as they haven't seen any …show more content…
If the other boys left then Jack’s side can’t be that bad after all. Plus the original goal of having rules was to ensure the inclusion and safety of everyone. Yet they found themselves isolated from the majority of the boys and highly vulnerable. This tempted them to leave and enjoy the comforts of being part of a society even if that meant abandoning their original beliefs. This was because at this point survival was prioritized more than morals. Later Sam and Eric refused to leave castle rock with ralph as they knew the three boys would not stand a chance against Jack and his vast amount of hunters, especially Roger;“ 'Won’t you come with me? Three of us—we’d stand a chance.' After a moment’s silence, Sam spoke in a strangled voice. 'You don’t know Roger. He’s a terror.' ". Sam and Eric were no longer afraid of the lack of acceptance from the group, rather the punishment they would receive if they rebel against the group. They had to trade their morality for safety as they valued their safety more than holding on to their values. We can conclude that fear of isolation can be enough to tempt us to let go of our morals, eventually making the rules a distant memory of the
They often obey his destructive orders just to avoid being punished. Jack tells Ralph, after Roger kills Piggy, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—’ -He ran forward, stooping- ‘I’m chief!’ ” (Golding 181) Jack threatens Ralph and the boys by reminding them of the consequences of not succumbing to his authority. They are physically and emotionally tormented, forced to participate in Jack’s violent acts. As time goes by, they willingly join in on Jack’s brutal endeavors, such as hunting Ralph down in an attempt to sacrifice him to the beast. He
-Piggy is still hanging on to the slim amount of civilization left, as he forces Ralph to blow the conch even though there are only four boys left, proven when he says, “It’s all we got.” This shows that although ineffective, calling an assembly with order and talking in turn still comforts Piggy, and ultimately shows that he is still civilized.
He tries to keep a democracy, but Jack's aggressive nature does not allow it to last very long. Ralph is probably the most likable person in the book, because of his good nature and his handsome looks, "His size and attractive appearance". Ralph means "counsel" in the Anglo- Saxon language, and he's the one who calls all the meetings by blowing the conch, and he's chosen as the leader. The conch is seen as a powerful symbol, and he holds it. Ralph does not specialize in any area of human behaviour, except maybe for having common sense (building shelters, climbing the mountain to see if it is an island) and Jack can be seen as his opposite.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got there. However, Ralph was able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch shell. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (p. 31) By making this rule, he gains respect from the boys and becomes for confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to tries to make the boys better people. He shows his by building them shelters. "They talk and scream. The littuns. Even some of the others." (p. 53) Ralph is saying that the boys need the shelters because they are afraid and the shelters will help the boys feel more secure. This shows he has better knowledge of people making him a better leader than Jack who does not understand this. Jack does not realize that the boys need to feel secure and need someone in control.
“Then there was a vicious snarling in the mouth of the shelter and the plunge and thump of living things… They’ve got our fire… They stole it!” (167) Jack and two of his hunters made a plan to steal Ralph’s things, especially the fire that Ralph treasures most. “I’m going to him with this conch in my hands. I’m going to hold it out. Look, i’m goin’ to say , you’re stronger than I am and you haven’t got asthma. You can see, i’m goin’ to say, not because you’re stronger, but because what right’s right.” (173) After the stealing of Ralph and Piggy’s things, Ralph made a plan to give up his position as chief, but the plan never ended up
Both Ralph and Simon did not think the ideas of Jack and the rest of the children were very good because their ideas involved bad choices and horseplay. In the novel, Golding writes, “Piggy urges Ralph to blow the conch shell and summon the boys back
The idea of a simple society in which everyone follows the rules and they work together in unison happens at the beginning of the book. “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are the best at everything.” –Ralph (Chapter 2 p.48). Ralph believes a functional society will be easy to run because they are English. This quote proves that it is not about who the boys were it is about human nature and we are all savages at heart according to the author, which is dramatic irony in a way. The children want a society to follow rules but this society they want to follow and be a part of eventually becomes a barbaric one. "'Which is better -- to be a pack of have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?'" –Piggy (Chapter 11 p. 164). The barbaric society Jack and Roger run is based solely off of freedom and not having to do anything. This society makes them savages by not having rules or guidelines to follow by not being able to keep everyone inline. This freedom they achieve installs fear into everyone besides Jack and Roger. “They’re not as bad as that. It was an accident.” –Sam (chapter 12 p.186) Sam is a good character in this novel but he has a deeply rooted fear of Jack and Roger that he forces himself to believe they accidently killed Simon and Piggy. This fear of speaking out against people in fear of being killed is truly anarchy. Overall, the need for more freedom and no rules creates a barbaric society where murder is
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
Imagine the world without judgement, rules, and those who enforce them, the key principles in a civilized society. How long would it take until desires and craving rebel against morality? With an authoritative power ceasing to exist, civilization would turn to chaos as the glory and thrill of savagery override ethics. In his novel Lord of the Flies, Golding demonstrates that without the restrictions of society, human instinct causes the boys to defy and shun social morals.
It is understandable that they joined as they might of been killed had they not, but when Ralph says “Won’t you come with me? Three of us- We’d stand a chance”(Golding, 189), But they only gave him excuses, and would not leave because why both gave up hope, which was a missing necessity to their lives. We do not understand the importance of hope in our day to day lives. Hope keeps us moving, breathing, and having the will to
When anyone thinks of the word “evil” they do not think it is within themselves. In reality, without a structured and well-followed society, people are apt to follow their own corrupt desires and neglect the thought of consequence. In the allegory, Lord of the Flies, William Golding reveals that man’s selfishness and sinful nature will be unmasked when the structure of a society deteriorates.
Under Jack's rule, the boys become uncivilized savages. They have no discipline. Ralph, however, keeps the boys under order through the meetings which he holds. At these meetings a sense of order is instilled because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. When Ralph says, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (Golding 36) he enforces his role of leader by making rules and gives the boys the stability of an authority figure, mainly himself. By doing this he wins the boys respect and confidence in his leadership abilities. Ralph uses his authority to try to improve the boys' society. By building shelters he demonstrates his knowledge of the boys' needs. When he says to Jack, "They talk and scream. The littluns.
However, at the end of the book, he simply stood for a common human being. In the beginning of the story, before a formal introduction, Ralph was described simply as “a fair boy.” This already sets him out in a favorable light. Then it further describes how he is apparently good-looking and has the natural air of leadership. Of course, the conch played a big role when the kids voted him for leader, but his appearance played a large role as well. For the good first part of the book, Ralph has always symbolized leadership. As the story progresses and the kids became more and more distant from the idea of civilization, Ralph became more like a representation of common sense. Golding wrote, “‘I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts-then you go off hunting and let the fire-’ He turned away, silent for a moment. Then his voice came again on a peak of feeling. ‘There was a ship-’” At this part, Ralph criticized Jack for not doing the necessary civilized things in favor of quenching his thirst for a hunt. As more and more of the kids become more and more uncivilized, Ralph became one of the last voices of common sense. When Simon and Piggy died, Ralph was the last one who retained that common sense and yearned for civilization. He had no leadership powers left anymore, and he stood for nothing more than a