The Reveal of Society in 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding

The Reveal of Society in 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding

What is Golding telling us about society in Lord of the Flies?

William Golding is trying to show savagery through the children in

this novel. He is telling us that anybody could have a savage side to

themselves and it is how you control the savagery in yourself.

In the first few chapters, the first point made is that there is a

sense of normality and civility in the beginning that is occurring.

Firstly the boys make one of the first rules which is to call

assemblies with the conch and whoever is holding the conch can speak

without interruption, ‘We can use this to call the others. Have a

meeting. They’ll come when they hear us’. This shows that Piggy’s

thinking will lead to rules they will be setting and it shows a sense

of order, early on in this novel.

With the conch in the hands of Ralph, he calls an assembly, and a

leader is chosen which is Ralph. This again shows order and civility.

This shows that the boys can organise themselves and they are capable

in peace.

Later on in the novel they decide they have to get a fire going in

order to be seen so they could be rescued. This is organisation as

this shows:- ‘His specs – use them as burning glasses’. This soon

turns into tragedy as they lose a boy in the fire, ‘The boys looked at

each other fearfully, unbelieving. - where is he now?’

In chapter four, things start to go wrong, firstly little things.

Roger was throwing sand, kicking sand, and throwing stones at Henry

were examples of this.

In chapter five, the civility is slowly decreasing as no one is

letting the person holding the conch speak. The ...

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...g that he meant to kill Piggy. All of the other deaths

were kind of ‘accidents’ because the group regrets it afterwards. In

the killing of Piggy, Jack does not regret it.

The final chapter sees the end of all this savagery and violence among

the group. The group are rescued by the Naval Officer. The

significance of the Officer in this final chapter is the way he turns

a blind eye to the boys and waits for them to pull themselves

together.

In conclusion the Lord of the Flies is the picture of our society

today. It shows the darkness or savagery of a man’s heart and where

the lack of control over this savagery can result in killing and

violence. When laws and morals no longer apply to us then the savagery

will be released. The picture of our society is a picture that exists

and will remain with us wherever we go.