The Degeneration of Order in the Lord of the Flies
The Degeneration of Order in the Lord of the Flies
"...Lord of the Flies is not, to say the least, a simple adventure story of boys on a desert island" (Epstein 204). The elements of Lord of the Flies--a tropical island, a group of schoolboys without adult supervision, a herd of wild pigs--may seem to be the elements of a perfect Utopian fantasy. Instead, they are the elements of a nightmare, a Utopia that quickly disintegrates into, first, chaos and then a dictatorship based on fear and ritualized brutality. However, the novel is also not a horror story written merely to shock and titillate the reader. William Golding says about Lord of the Flies that "[t]he theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature" (Epstein 204). In the novel, Golding suggests that attempts at social order are doomed to fail as greater personal freedom leads to a society which is ruled by the strong and filled with violence. Each of the three main characters--Piggy, Jack, and Ralph--represents an aspect of this degenerative process.
One of the first characters to emerge as a distinct personality is Piggy, who represents law and order. One of Piggy's first inspirations is brought about by the sight of a conch in a tidal pool. When another boy, Ralph, retrieves the conch, Piggy realizes, "We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting" (Golding 16). Piggy's first instinct is for organization, and the conch which he spots becomes a symbol of the fragile system of order that the boys create. Piggy is critical of the kind of freedom that leads to disorder and chaos. When the boys agree to build a fire on the mountain to send a smoke signal, the first meeting breaks up as everyone rushes towards the mountain. Like the crowd of boys, the fire quickly gets out of control, and one of the younger boys appears to be missing--probably trapped in the burning jungle. In a temper, Piggy tells the others that they have acted "[l]ike a pack of kids!" and asks, "How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper?" (Golding 45) The only salvation Piggy can envision comes from behaving in an orderly...