Lord Of The Flies Civilization Vs Savagery Analysis

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by William Golding that explores the relationship between civilization and savagery as a group of young boys crash on an inhabited island. Throughout the book, society holds less of an importance as the boys grow increasingly focused on hunting rather than law and order. Ralph, the elected chief of the boys, continuously portrays how laws will improve their society but he slowly grows primitive and begins losing power to a regime calling for no societal pressures.
William Golding shows the impacts of the lack of society on the island by describing the appearance of the boys and how they have altered throughout the book. Ralph’s appearance is vital to the novel as Golding illustrates through his beginning
At first, the boys maintain a community governed by a uniform chief with the conch used as a symbol of laws, but due to a fear concerning a ‘beast’ the boys put more of a precedence on hunting. The elected chief of the boys, Ralph, places emphasis on civilized behavior. In meetings Ralph states that the boys must use the conch in order to speak and places basic necessities such as building shelters as a main priority: “How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished? … All day I’ve been working with Simon.()” Ralph places precedence on basic necessities such as shelter and rescue although the other boys are preoccupied with hunting. Despite this, the conch, a symbol of civilization, remains powerful for the lost children: “I bet if I blew the conch this minute, they’d come running...When the meeting was over they’d work for five minutes, then wander off or go hunting.()” The boys respect the conch and listen when it is blown therefore Ralph continues to hold some power with the boys. Although, as the boys grow scared of the ‘beast’ they begin to rely on Jacks power and grow farther from a civilized society. Ralph is greatly affected as he begins seeing hunting as good.