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Essay / Lord of the Flies: The Savagery Inherent in Society
Introduction: Society is necessary in the world. This is because society is a very important part of our world, because without it there would be chaos. If there is no society, there is nothing in place to tell people how they should act or to punish them for their actions. With society, we have all come together and agreed on what is right, and we have each other to hold us together and do the right thing. William Golding wrote the book Lord of the Flies in 1911, set on an uninhabited island, on which a group of young boys crash land and are forced to survive. Context: They create their own “tribe” which is like a society in that it has rules and imposes responsibilities on the children. However, from a few children onwards, the tribe begins to collapse and lose its hold on the children, and they fall into chaos and become savages, without rules, even committing murder. Thesis Statement: William Golding shows in Lord of the Flies that every person is born evil and without a society to control people, they will fall into chaos, commit horrible crimes, and follow their greed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Topic Sentence: Society is necessary because humans are naturally drawn to violent ideas and actions. Evidence and Quotes: Although most people will always try or do the right thing, this is only due to society's hold on people. Comment: This is not always true, as it is usually only the case in societies that reward people's good deeds, but even then people still commit crimes and are violent. People are constantly trying to do what is morally right, but without society to watch over us, who is there to say what is morally right or wrong? If society doesn't say something is bad, is it really considered bad? Thanks to society, we can all agree that killing someone is a horrible thing, but without society, would we still be able to come to the same conclusion? At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, children start with good intentions, they create a tribe with a leader, rules and responsibilities. They all agree that they must work together to maintain a fire to signal any passing boats, and turn around to maintain it. Over time, the boys begin to stray from their responsibilities to do whatever they want, even going so far as to sail a ship past the island because the fire went out because people who were supposed to watch him, the hunters, were hunting. a pig. Ralph, who was elected leader, suggested that they build shelters since they had enough food and water, but Jack and his hunters just want meat. Eventually, an entire ritualistic and wild tribe emerges led by Jack, and because it seems "fun", everyone decides to join this tribe. However, during a "festival" held by the tribe, everyone gets angry and kills a "beast" they believe is hiding in the dark woods, chanting "Kill the pig, slit its throat, pour his blood.” So when a boy named Simon stumbles out of the woods, all the other boys converge on Simon. On page 153 it is written: “Immediately the crowd rushed after her, poured themselves onto the rock, jumped on the beast, screamed, struck, bitten, tore. There were no words, no movements, except for the ripping of teeth and claws... Soon the pile broke apart and theThe characters staggered away. Only the beast lay motionless, a few meters from the sea. Even in the rain, they could see what a small beast it was; and already his blood stained the sand. There are even cases of this day. Often people do horrible things that they regret doing at the time, simply because others have done them. People want to fit in and be part of something, so they often do things they know they shouldn't do. Comment: This quote shows how, without society controlling us, we would descend into chaos and commit horrible crimes like the kids in LOTF did. Topic Sentence: Another reason humans need society to keep them in check is that attempts at peace and unity tend to fail without society supporting it. Comment: We always talk about fighting for world peace and unity in order to better help the world, but if there was no society, would people still be motivated to try to find peace, equality and unity in the world, or would they prefer the world to descend deeper into chaos and turmoil, which benefits them. Evidence and Quote: In LOTF, the boys attempted to be united when they created their tribe and had Ralph as their leader with the conch shell representing the authority and leadership that Ralph helped. The conch represents democracy, because in the book, whoever held the conch was allowed to speak and be heard. However, over time, as the boys became wilder and moved away from the tribe, the conch lost its power. They no longer respected or saw the conch as authority, and when it was destroyed on page 181, they said that "the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Commentary: The democracy they had was completely destroyed and they completely descended into anarchy, even killing Piggy afterwards. At the beginning of the book, the boys voted to see who would lead their new tribe. Two boys wanted to be leader, Ralph and Jack. Ralph is much calmer and fair, while Jack is reckless and aggressive. Ralph is elected leader by popular vote, and Jack is not happy, but Ralph allows Jack to have a say. By doing this, Ralph and Jack form a friendship with each other and all is well. After a while, they both begin to realize that they have very different views on how things should be and happen, and their friendship began to become strained. Evidence and Quote: Eventually, the two different tribes, one led by Jack who is chaotic, and the other whose few remaining members are led by Ralph, go to "war". The Wild Tribe then captures Sam and Eric, some of the last members of Ralph's tribe, and kills Piggy. Jack then attempts to kill Ralph, as on page 181 it states: “Viciously, with full intent, [Jack] threw his spear at Ralph. The point tore through the skin and flesh of Ralph's ribs, then it tore away and fell into the water. Commentary: This shows how unity and peace on the island did not last, as society began to wither and die, it eventually all boiled down to chaos and murder. Topic Sentence: While some people like to claim that humans are good at heart, and that society is the reason they are corrupt, William Golding's Lord of the Flies completely refutes this. Evidence and quotes: To begin with, everything was fine on the island at the beginning, they were able to create their tribe and elect a leader without problem, the tribe was democratic because everyone had a say, they only had to hold the conch, they were able..