Novel essay 30.11.09

Law and order

”We need an assembly. Not for fun. Not for laughing and falling of the log. Not for making jokes or for cleverness”, Ralph said in Lord of the Flies after seeing the lack of law and order within the group of boys on the Island. William Golding’s book describes a situation where a group of boys have been stranded on a deserted island, without adult supervision. The boys from Golding’s novel have to survive on their own. The English author tells a story about how the boys manage, how they create a set of laws and how the children have a hard time following them.

In the beginning of the book the boys chose two leaders, Ralph and Jack. They each have their own group of boys to look after. The only important thing for these boys is to survive. The boys have an entire island to them selves and has an opportunity to create their own new world, but they seem to be unable to do anything right. Ralph is a good leader, but he lacks the knowledge of survival. Piggy on the other hand is a bright, but shy young boy who seem to be the only smart one on the island. He is overweight and is constantly bullied and overlooked. The other leader, Jack, is in charge of the choir. His only concern is to hunt pigs. After a while on the island, when Ralph realises that the boys are unable to do their chores, Ralph calls in an assembly to get their priorities right.

As soon as the boys ended up on this island they chose a leader and delegated different chores. At the same time they all agreed that they needed rules as they had in school. The laws that where passed made it easier to work as a group. As time went by the boys stopped doing their chores, and ended up playing in stead. “We have lots of assemblies. Everybody enjoys speaking and being together. We decide things. But they don’t get done”. A reason for this could be the age fact. The boys are young and used to adult leaders. Instead they got put in an island were they had to learn how to survive on their own. The assembly was a place where the boys got together and talked. They debated different issues and voted if there was a disagreement. They had a very democratic way of doing things, and all of the boys had a say in different issues. At the same time the rules and chores they made didn’t work for very long. Even tough they tried for a while, the boys where to young to cope without adult leaders and supervision

Lord of the flies is in many ways a book about surviving. The boys in the island had every opportunity to do exactly what they wanted, but somehow they manage to do things wrong. The book shows that children need adult supervision, laws and order, same as every community in the world does. At the same time children have a lack of knowledge about surviving and leadership. Having two leaders can be confusing for many. In our modern world we only haven one. This could also be another reason for way it went so wrong. The beast which everyone is afraid of also creates a tense situation. All these factors play a big role in way things went so poorly on the island. The book is a reflection of everyday life. It shows how things can go very wrong without good leaders and knowledge.

- Siri