Consequences In Lord Of The Flies

“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” A quote from Thomas Hobbes, a great philosopher of the 17th century, could not more perfectly express the concept that William Golding portrays in his first novel, The Lord of the Flies. A story of boys abandoned on an island, Lord of the Flies was first published in 1954. This book shows that human beings need the restraints of a civilized society or they will eventually destroy themselves because of the lack of rules, savagery, and the lack of a proper authoritative figure. In every society, consequence is guaranteed with every broken fundamental rule. This fear of consequence keeps the majority of members from breaking the rules, maintaining the order for the good of the society, and ultimately, for the good of the people. Once elected chief, Ralph tries to create rules in order to maintain the structure of the …show more content…
While one leader, Ralph, rises to the occasion and becomes responsible and looks out for the best interest of the boys, the other is irresponsible and looks out for his own immediate needs. This can be seen when Jack uses fear to manipulate the boys when he explains to them about Simon and “the tribe considered this and then were shaken” (Golding 160) and feeds off of their reactions. Jack does not let the boys face their fears with rationality, he instead instructs them to “do [their] dance” (Golding 151) which is a prime example of irresponsible authority. Society gives the opportunity for irresponsible authority to rise by the lack of a government to properly elect the needs of qualified leaders representing the needs and wants of the people, showing man’s the desperate need for