Chaos In Lord Of The Flies

Jayden Le

Bustillo-Booth

Period 5

Jan 12, 2023 Order in Society

Max Gunther once said, “Chaos is not dangerous until it begins to look orderly.” In the story the group of boys stranded on the island split into two groups one of war and chaos, and one of peace and survival. One group being the side leaving the rules governing their previous lives behind while the other being the side sticking to the norms of society. Near the beginning of the book the boys try to maintain order and try to hold on to the lives that they remember so well. However as the book progresses there is a group of boys that decide to abandon this mindset and start a new group where chaos is their ruling; this new “order” leads to the creation of violence and the loss

Firstly before the conch shatters Ralph decides to have a meeting which ends with him becoming chief, seeing Jack’s humiliation Ralph looks at him, “eager to offer something. "The choir belongs to you, of course." "They could be the army--" "Or hunters--" "They could be--" The suffusion drained away from Jack's face. Ralph waved again for silence. "Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be--what do you want them to be?" "Hunters." Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking,” (Golding 17). With established order in the first chapter the boys start off much more tame and are overall more kind. This leads to a low tension between the boys and no violence ensuing. However, near the end of the book chaos ensues with both Piggy and Simon dying at the hands of Jack’s group leaving Ralph by himself; he then visits Jack’s base of operation, castle rock, where samneric tell him, ’"Roger sharpened a stick at both ends,"’ (Golding 149). This scene is an allusion to the point in the book where Jack’s group created The Lord of the Flies. All of the chaos up to this point in the book leads only violence, danger, and the deterioration of human morals, with the chaos leading to a critical point where Jack’s group hunts Ralph. The group’s split leads to trouble in maintaining order because of the large divide; this in turn leads to tension and violence

After rallying everyone together using the conch Ralph, “...lifted the conch.” and says ‘"Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things,"’ (Golding 16). By being the one to bring everyone together Ralph is an immediate leader and establishes himself quickly as an important figure. With the new found order on the island peace and stability is found amongst the boys. However, Ralph near the end of the story comes to the realization that, “There was no chance of rescuing them and building up an outlaw tribe at the other end of the island. Samneric were savages like the rest; Piggy was dead, and the conch smashed to powder,” (Golding 145). The conch being broken into pieces represents the fall of Ralph’s leadership and that chaos is to take over the island. This is especially relevant through both Piggy and Simon’s deaths and Ralph being hunted. All in all, the events before and after show the loss of not only order and leadership on the island but the newfound violence that now governs the