Lord of the Flies: Establishing A Social Order
In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, he shows how a group of young schoolboys on an uninhabited island establish social order in the absence of adults. Golding also shows how when the boys stop abiding by the rules, that they destroy their society and that their savage side appears.
The main character, Ralph, is selected as the leader by the others voting. The only reason Ralph is elected leader is because of the conch, which he used to assemble everyone. It is shown that Ralph is the leader because of the conch because one boy said, “Let’s vote- … Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing (22).”
Jack wanted to be chief. He even said, “I ought to be chief, because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp (22).” After not being picked to be chief, Ralph wanted to offer something to Jack. Ralph let Jack decide that since he was the leader of the choir, that he would make his choir boys hunters, and he would lead it.
Another little group that Ralph formed was some kind of a group of explorers. They were to go and see if they really were on an island. The formation of this group is seen when Ralph said, “So we’ve got to decide if this is an island. Three of us… will go on an expedition and find out. I’ll go, and Jack, and, and… and Simon (24).” The only reason Ralph decided on who would go and that they needed to find out if they were on an island, because he was chief.
Later in the book Jack decided to break off from Ralph’s society and make his own tribe. When Jack first breaks away from the others he said, “I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot- I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too (127).” So Jack leaves and tries to recruit people to join him. In the end everyone is a part of Jack’s tribe except Ralph and...