Lack Of Authority In Lord Of The Flies

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“The Lord of the Flies” is a skillfully crafted novel about the struggle for power when there is a lack of authority. Author William Golding weaves an elaborate story about a group of children struggling to survive on a remote island with no adults. As the characters are developed and the plot is progressed, the manners and customs from society that the boys had grown up with slowly fades from their lifestyle. As the time the boys spend on the island increases, their decline towards savagery becomes increasingly evident. As a direct result of the lack of adult supervision on the island, the children decline into savagery and the customs of civilization are slowly eroded. The initial factor that drives the decline of civilization is fear. Despite …show more content…

The oldest of the boys are only 12 years old. Therefore, they are unprepared to survive on an island where there were seemingly no consequences to their actions. Ralph attempted to implement a set of rules and customs to live by, but this is soon met with resistance and disagreement. With no governmental system to live by, the boys do not have to assume the lifestyle of their previously efficiently functioning society. This leads to the decline of civilization more so than any other factor on the island. Ralph is adamant about upholding the rules and displays his displeasure towards people breaking them when he yells “ ‘The rules! You’re breaking the rules!’ ” (Golding 91). His fury towards Jack is for disobeying the governmental system he attempted to implement is an idea that continuously reappears. As the boys continuously display a lack of caring for the rules, the chaos increases dramatically. Jack’s influence over the boys helped him dissolve some of the rules Ralph had installed, and as a result, they sway away from the appearance of a well functioning civilization. This conflict between Jack and Ralph is the beginning of the decline of civilization and underscores how pivotal rules are to a well-functioning

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