Order vs. Chaos

By:

Chester Martinez

Matthew Peavoy

Pascal Theriault

Thomas Golczyk

General Discussion

• Lord of the Flies is all about the concepts of order vs. chaos, civilization vs. savagery, and law vs. anarchy. Our theme is the central basis on which this novel is based upon. There is an ongoing battle between good, which is represented by Ralph, and evil, which is represented by Jack. In the first few chapters, order was the prevailing tone because the school boys still maintained their grasp on societal values.

Chapter 1-3• At the beginning of the novel, the boys establish duties, a government system,

and priorities. The blowing of the conch calls everyone together and is the main symbol for order in the story. Everyone respects it and recognizes its importance. Jack’s choir is wearing a very formal uniform, with Jack’s gold badge showing aspects of respect and leadership. Ralph, Jack, and Simon go exploring.

• The boys all run up the mountain to make a fire after a boy brings up the idea of a beastie. The fire gets out of hand and we never hear of the young boy again.

• Jack goes hunting but the pigs are too fast. He comes back and sees Ralph and Simon trying to build a third hut. Ralph shares how every one has given up and left to play. They argue about which duty is more important and decide to go for a swim. Meanwhile, Simon goes to a very beautiful place that seems like a paradise.

• We see in these chapters that these are nice, young British boys that do want to return and maintain order and the concept of civilization. Yet as we progress, we see that Jack is getting very hungry for blood and that all the boys are quite immature and do not want to work.

Chapter 1-3 quotations• “He fair by stopped and jerked his stockings with an automatic gesture that made

the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties (1)” At the start, Ralph is most definitely attached to reality and order because a tangled jungle even seems civilized when compared to Ralph’s normal behavior. He, along with the other boys still retain there learned and automatic gestures. A good example of this is of Percival still being able to recite his name, address, and telephone number.

• “The note (of the conch) boomed again: and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before…. The birds cried, small animals scattered… A child had appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach.” (13) The conch signifies order and civilization in the way that it is a powerful and protective sound and it reunites the children. On the other hand, it disturbs the island-life. It is strengthening and gives the group the courage to strive to remain alive and together at first.

• We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here (on the mountain) as down there (on the platform).” This moment signifies that Jack is already breaking away from civilization. Ralph is trying to maintain order by establishing more rules and more of what is important. Ralph here easily represents order and democracy. We now see how fast the boys, especially Jack, are breaking away from there former lives.

Chapter 1-3

Chapter 4-6

• In Chapter 4, the boys are fooling around, abandoning their structured duties for other to do. Roger kicks over the littluns sand castle and is starting to lead to aggression.

• Chapter 5 involves Ralph dreaming of his former structured lifestyle, with peace and people working together, and this is when the idea of the beast become prominent. Ralph dismisses the beast as nothing, and Simon believes it’s only them. Ralph ends the chapter asking for some sign or message from adults

• Chapter 6 involves the boys mistaking their supposed sign as hope as a beast, and their fear of it makes them not be able to have a signal fire on the top of the mountain, changing the priority from rescue to hunting.

• In these chapters, chaos becomes more and more in control. Jack is becoming even more savage to the point that he forgets the fire and misses a chance to go home. The beast (fear)is the main reason for this

chaos

Chapter 4-6 Quotes

• Ralph was dreaming. He had fallen asleep after what seemed hours of tossing and turning noisily among the dry leave. Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back from where he came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall.” (107) Ralph knows that chaos is erupting and his desire for order is so overwhelming that it shows up in his dreams.

• “Kill the Pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in”. (79) This phrase becomes a chant for them, and develops into an almost ritual chant for when they hunt. This chant starts the mob mentality in all the boys.

• ‘“You’re breaking the rules” “Who cares” “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got” “Bollocks to the rules! E’re strong, we hunt”. (99). This is a complete change from the beginning of the novel, which them wanting strong punishment for those who broke the rules. They are abandoning their own morals and concepts of society. We see though that some people have still retained their morals and are still fighting for order on the island.

Chap. 7-9 Quotes

• “He would like to have a pair of scissors and cut his hair… He would like to have a bath, a proper wallow with soap. He passed his tongue experimentally over his teeth and decided that a toothbrush would come in handy too.” (119) some boys are still attached to civilization and they realize how far they have drifted away. It is a bit ironic though because after Ralph says this, a boar comes out and Ralph gets caught up in the frenzy of killing as well.

• “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws’(169) All the boys that have gone on the hunt are becoming complete savages as they chase an animal down a path. Shortly after this, they put on a play hunt and “the desire to squeeze and hurt” (125) is overwhelming and they almost kill a boy.

• “The spear moved forward inch by inch the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her”(149) The boys have forgotten about motherly figures in their lives and kill a sow The way they kill it is so brutal that we see the boys much closer to savagery than to civilization.

Chap. 7-9 Summary

• In chapter 7 all the boys but Piggy descend into chaos. Ralph at the beginning realizes they are becoming more savage-like and wishes for simple things from civilization, but when the hunt begins even he becomes a savage like the other boys. When the pick escapes the boys reenact the hunt and almost kill Robert,who was playing the pig, which is very chaotic compared to our society.

• In chapter 8 the hunters become more chaotic. Thrilled with the idea of killing a littlun the hunters go out and kill a sow with piglets, which is frowned upon in society. Then they become to offer some of the pig to the beast which has taken upon a god role. They stuck the sows head on a stake in hopes he beast will leave them alone. This becomes the Lord of the flies.

• In chapter 9 the boys chant around the fire and when when Simon stumbles out of the woods and the boys swarm him and in the chaos Simon gets savagely beaten to death the let to drift into the ocean. He had discovered that the Beast was actually a paratrooper but he is never able to tell them. His death can be seen as the final shift from order to chaos because he was such a gentle human being and they, extremely brutally killed him. Pig blood is becoming not enough to satisfy the boys.

Chap. 10-12 Quotes• “We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.174”: We see Piggy here

not able to explain the chaos that they have all experienced. Piggy is throughout the novel the one person who does not understand the savagery and bloodlust in all the others. “Call an assembly?188”: Ralph, who understands that chaos has taken over the island knows that assemblies are a thing of the past. He laughs when Piggy suggests it because he knows that, apart from their camp, civilization is gone.

• "Which is better--to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?200”: Again, Piggy is so attached to order, which almost all boys have forgotten, that he is asking the boys to make a choice. He knows that there must be sacrifices in life for there to be any sense of civilization but the rest of the boys are still too immature to understand this. They have almost all chosen pleasure and unruliness, which is easier, but have many more consequences.

• “We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?” 223: Just as the story comes to a climax and Ralph, along with order, is about to die on this island, he falls to the feet of a naval officer. The officer is surprised to see all the other boys running after Ralph and he assumes it is just a game. It is Ironic that he came now because he was not intentionally lured as the boys were trying to do before. Ralph had always been going on about order and trying to maintain a fire but the action that saved him was born out of chaos. “Should have thought that a pack of British boys... would have been able to put up a better show than that.”224: This is ironic as well because he is a bit mad at the boys for their foolishness but at the same time, he and his troops are fighting a war with many other countries. We see that the ability to kill and be merciless is not something you lose as you mature but rather a innate characteristic that all humans have.

Chap. 10-12 Summary• Chap. 10: Ralph and Piggy are ashamed of what happened the night before with

Simon’s death. They, along with Samneric, decide to tell people that they weren’t actually there. Almost everybody has joined Jack’s camp, which is stationed at Castle Rock. He rules over all and even has the power to punish for no reason. When Ralph’s camp is trying to fall asleep, and letting the fire go, they are attacked by Jack and a couple of his hunters who steal Piggy’s glasses.

• Chap. 11: Ralph’s camp is discouraged because their fire is out and they have no means to start it back up. Piggy steps up and tells Ralph to man up and lead them to Jack’s camp so they can set things straight. The two camps have an argument and Roger pushes a Rock which kills Piggy and breaks the conch, thus destroying rationality and order completely. Ralph runs for his life and the twins are captured and tortured into submission.

• Chap. 12: Ralph sees the twins as guards of castle Rock and they tell him that Roger is sharpening a stick at both ends. They give him a piece of meat and he goes to hide in a thicket. The next morning he wakes up to voices whispering about him. They have tortured Samneric and now they are going to kill Ralph. He runs away, hunted like a wild animal. He seems safe but realizes that Jack has set fire to the whole island. He runs away and just as he falls down, exhausted, he sees that he is at the feet of a naval officer.

Chap. 10-12 summary

• In these chapters we see that power has shifted completely to Jack and that order is disappearing. Piggy’s death is also the death of order on the island and Ralph is now a complete outcast treated like an animal. We see that they also want to make Ralph a sacrifice to the beast. When the naval officer arrives we realize that these are kids who had all lost their way of life. Ralph should be extremely happy but he starts to cry because he realizes that his life will never be the same and he will never forget how chaotic life had become for all the boys

Human Nature

• Do people naturally desire order or do they instinctively crave individual freedom at the expense of group security?

Our Answer

• People have always taught their offspring how to behave in an appropriate manner. Yet everybody has an instinctive tendency towards either a peaceful nature or to a warlike nature. This shows us that there is no right or wrong answer to this question because mankind is so diverse. Golding tells us this by creating a microcosm with democracy (Ralph), intelect (Piggy), moral good (Simon), savagery (Roger), and dictatorship (Jack). We see most of the boys gravitate to group security as they follow Jack into a safer camp, but some, like Jack, are sometimes not happy with what they have and do anything to gain more.

Real life• How long does it take before the class erupts into

total chaos when Miss Hay leaves the classroom? Why?

• If you were in a snowball fight and they all ganged up on one person, would you join in?

• Which is easier? To shove a paper into a binder, or to properly place it where it belongs (in an organized fashion)?

• Would you rather be cold in a crappy hut with no fire and no meat, or be at a party where theres meat and a party and fun?

Final Thesis

• When taken away from the societal structure of civilization, people will try to create a new form of government which will help them cooperate. This works until one or many people become hungry for power which creates violence until that person is satisfied with his supremacy over the others. This shows that although everybody wants to survive, people will attempt different ways to do so. Human beings can not be described in general because there are so many behaviors that differentiate one person from the next. With these differences, it can almost always be difficult for everyone to have the same opinions and ideas which will cause conflicts.