Savagery in Lord of the Flies Essay Sample

People can end up going too far in life, and like snakes, break into their new skin, a skin of evil, corrupting themselves and others in the world. The ability to cross the line of humanity and evil in just one step is distinctly conveyed in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. With war in England, a group of boys are removed onto a plane to fly to safety. But their plane is shot down leaving them stranded with no way off the deserted island. In the England society, there were rules in order to keep everyone in place, so the boys implemented their own, and order was represented by a mere conch shell which they believed to hold great power. However, after realizing that there were no authoritarians to force the rules on them, the boys stop listening to them, and a pandemonium erupts from them as they drift farther away from civility. From proper and polite to savage and barbaric, the kids managed to ruin their innocence as they knew it, all because of not following the regulations set in front of them. The symbol of the conch and the characters’ breaking bond to the obedience of rules creates a realization that without enforcement through consequences, people drift out of order making their own one-man society of self destruction and savagery.

At the outset, the conch holds a lot of order considering that it brings all the boys together, but as they venture on and discover the ability to do as they wish with no consequence, the conch quickly loses its symbolism as mayhem breaks out among the boys. Traveling further into the novel, the boys learn about the beast’s appearance and it is seen as a serious issue, so “Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat” and “held the shell up” calling the meeting to order and “they understood” (Golding 99). Although the conch is not blown, the power radiates off of it and the boys are held to silence and command. The words display the intensity the conch sheers into each one of the boys, bringing them to a stand still, readily respecting the order it brings. Not only is the conch full of power, but it holds a special place as the heart of civilization, standing in as an authoritarian figure guiding rules to the boys. Order disintegrates the possibility of savagery as it holds people to certain expectations. The island boys are lost but found as the conch is blown for the first time, leading to it being the object of savior and structure. In addition, looking at the positive aspects of a situation can sometimes keep a person from seeing the bad arising on the other side, in this case, the conch losing its hold over the kids. Moreover, as the boys dive deeper into the world of savagery, Jack clearly states that “the conch doesn’t count at this end of the island” when Ralph travels over to Jack’s group to try and persuade him into listening to the dying power of the conch (Golding 150). Since Jack distinctly abandons the rules made by the conch, it creates a wave of disturbance as order breaks. It is realized that there are no consequences from ignoring the conch, which leads to the disobedience of the boys as they frolic around doing what they please. Creation of rules is only able to be put in place with ramification waiting if one were to break the rules. But on the island there is no such thing. Jack makes sure that Ralph knows the conch will no longer order them around. The boys all break the character of polite English boys to turn wild and neglect the rules that were set up to keep them in place. Furthermore, the consequential actions of not having a punishment for not following the rules is also shown in daily life through the people that rebel. For example, in the city of Seattle, police have been defunded in the past and the crime rates have shot up once there was impunity put in place. The measures taken by the city were immensely out of place, thinking their actions would do no harm, when actually the megalopolis was put in great danger. The exertion taken here exhibits the true act of what occurs without enforcement. The boys of the island slowly start realizing punishment is nonexistent, exempting the rules from their mind. On top of that, humans act on will and instinct. Sometimes morals are confused, and wrong or right no longer has a difference and is fused together. A world without chastisement is a world full of cruelness and no future, while a world with it, is one where humans can live in harmony with one another, understanding the boundaries of what must and what must not be done. The idea of peace is without punishment, but to get to the level it must be used or the society created can fallout, like the island boys when it is revealed that nothing had to be done of the rules as long as consequence was fictitious. 

For the duration of the novel, the characters rupture their connection, becoming explicitly different from one another with disparate goals in mind as Jack is the first to form a crack in the rules; while Ralph tries to remain civil and follow the established regulations, which creates a pull on either side, ripping the order slowly. When the boys are having a meeting, Jack starts “shouting against [Ralph]” about how the rules do not matter and “gave a wild whoop” landing on the sand, leading a “random scatter” of kids across the island (Golding 91-92). The exploration through Jack is driven through his careless way of perceiving the rules. Although Jack tolerates order at the beginning, he no longer sees eye to eye with rules without enforcement. The idea of savageness starts forming around the time Jack begins fighting back against order. The consequence of not having punishment makes a group of mutineers come to life. Since Jack produces a temptation to the other boys by acknowledging their needs to want to be free, they follow in his footsteps. Not only does Jack become a traitor to the rules, he gets the other boys to join in as well as they make a break against humanity. In spite of the fact that Jack is continuously turning evil, Ralph tries to remain civil, obeying what is left of the rules. Even though Jack has left with his batch, Ralph decides to “build the fire now” so they have “something to be done… with passion” (Golding 129). The oscillation of Ralph is very slow to enact unlike the other boys, since he gives austerity to the axioms all were once on board for. The display of necessitating a feeling of comfort exposes the desperation as he tries one last time to fight for humanity. Since Jack and others are gone, Ralph needs something fulfilling in order to push down the savagery to stay civilized, and the fire is his safe place. He feels very in debt to the fire, wanting to dedicate all his time on the island to it. Meanwhile, in the life all humans are living now, the acts of people on both sides of the rope are showing through. In particular, in the state of California, there is a law stating that it is illegal to set up tents on the sidewalk, but many homeless still do. Homeless are aware of the regulations, but they still set up their camps in illegal spots. There has been no known punishment for them doing so, so they continue to do it for many years. The consequences are non-existent so they are fine with breaking the law. People will follow their instinct, doing whatever is needed to survive. By doing so, they run over the rules, and they keep going until the orders are merely a suggestion. It can tear the civility of human nature, presenting off savageness. Humans are known for evolving from the primitive state to a courteous state respecting the order put in front of them, but it is possible that people become subversive ignoring every beckoning call of society if enforcement is not there. 

The boys’ capability of losing to the battle of ferocity corroborates that if order is taken away, the situation of the person could ruin them forever, never leaving them the same again, if they are not careful. Further, the order of edification for decorous individuals dissolve entirely when the impetus of enforcement with penalization is infirm. Humans, like the ones of the US in a democracy, do not deliberate much of the rules, do not take them for granted or even like them. But they are what keeps this world together and not falling apart. With no sense of direction, finding the right path to follow can be very hard, sometimes losing ourselves in the process. Individuals all believe in themselves to act right without knowing what would happen under the pressure of having none. There is a potentiality of evil inside each person, waiting to be let free so it can wreak havoc upon all and sundry, producing savage behavior through the shattering of rules.