Lord Of The Flies-society And Ethical Nature

Essay, Research Paper

Neal Rohrbach

AP English 3rd

02-01-01

Flies Essay B

Lord of the Flies clearly defines society as being shaped by the individuals ethical nature not by what political system is intact. Any sanction of people or land my attempt to establish a type of government or monarchy. The government or political system may try to shape society how the “leaders” want it, but it will never work out unless the “people” abide. The maturity of the people can play a large factor as it did in the book. The kids would get side-tracked and or bored with the dictatorship, especially the “littluns.” They didn?t appreciate the order nor understand how it may help in the future. The lack of grown-ups really made this impact because the grown ups would have maintained society?s order and enforced it amongst the kids as they typically do in our own society.

Some of the different functions of the island?s system included the signal fire, hunting, and the assemblies. Each of these shows how the society was effected by the nature of the kids (the immaturity of child in each case). Hunting effected the behaviors and the fire. The kids, especially with Jack, intensified the feelings and created quite an aggression, one that would even cause murder. As Jack felt more and more hatred and desire towards the things he hunted, his entire attitude was affected. As hunting was prioritized, the fire lost some of it?s value to the kids. It was forgotten and left to smolder, completely disavowing its purpose. Finally the assemblies showed the lack of respect and carelessness that the immaturity and nature caused. Less and less kids began responding to the blowing of the conch. One time it wasn?t even sounded in fear that no one would come in response to the call. Eventually, no one really cared. it was last used like a battle signal, and shattered as did the idea of assemblies.

You can have a written law, but it won?t do any good unless the people are rational enough to abide and enforce the standards of the system. The people are what makes or breaks a society. The need for political systems is enough to prove that the human nature of the people is what will control a society.