People define the society they live in. Society depends on thoughts toward different concepts that shape the culture of the group. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys stranded on an island form their own culture as a small scale society of their own. One theme derived from the story can be *morals of the individual determine the culture of a population of which political systems cannot influence. Throughout the book, the characters show that the civilized behavior they know can grow or diminish over time, indicating the different values the boys have.
The boys start out civilized, remaining from their lives before. Once they get all together, “Ralph made a meeting. So as we can decide what to do” (21). Ralph thinks of order …show more content…
After the first couple of meetings,the boys decide they need a fire to help them get rescued. The blaze that ensues results in part of the forest set ablaze. Piggy points out “How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper? ...Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isn't no use. Now you've been and set the whole island on fire” (45). The fire going awry is a first sign that these boys are not as composed as they seem. Their thought processes do not think about ideas as orderly as it seems. As the days go on, some boys hunt and chase after the pigs. Jack and some other boys find face paint, which they put on and found ”the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (64). They find this and they feel no need to think about the bad things to or from them. With this liberation, the boys morals become unimportant, degrading the society they live in. After a while, even the meetings degrade into problems. Ralph is mad about the fire going out and Jack only thinks of hunting the pigs. The rule of the only speaker holding the conch seems worthless, as Jack speaks out against Ralph, their chief. As the book states, “the world, that understandable lawful world, was slipping away. Once there was this and that; and now-and the ship had gone” (91). Their ideas of order slip away as the group divides. With only some of the boys respecting the rules, clearly the rules don't work and only the integrity of the boys fuel the discipline of the group. The culture is slowly deteriorating as the boys diverge into a group trying to keep order and the hunters that only think of hunting the
The boys start out civilized, remaining from their lives before. Once they get all together, “Ralph made a meeting. So as we can decide what to do” (21). Ralph thinks of order …show more content…
After the first couple of meetings,the boys decide they need a fire to help them get rescued. The blaze that ensues results in part of the forest set ablaze. Piggy points out “How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper? ...Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isn't no use. Now you've been and set the whole island on fire” (45). The fire going awry is a first sign that these boys are not as composed as they seem. Their thought processes do not think about ideas as orderly as it seems. As the days go on, some boys hunt and chase after the pigs. Jack and some other boys find face paint, which they put on and found ”the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (64). They find this and they feel no need to think about the bad things to or from them. With this liberation, the boys morals become unimportant, degrading the society they live in. After a while, even the meetings degrade into problems. Ralph is mad about the fire going out and Jack only thinks of hunting the pigs. The rule of the only speaker holding the conch seems worthless, as Jack speaks out against Ralph, their chief. As the book states, “the world, that understandable lawful world, was slipping away. Once there was this and that; and now-and the ship had gone” (91). Their ideas of order slip away as the group divides. With only some of the boys respecting the rules, clearly the rules don't work and only the integrity of the boys fuel the discipline of the group. The culture is slowly deteriorating as the boys diverge into a group trying to keep order and the hunters that only think of hunting the