In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a plane full of juvenile boys crashes on an island with no adults, and the boys are obliged to reconstruct civilization from scratch. They attempt to create a democracy by voting Ralph -the oldest boy- as the leader, but their order promptly dies out as Jack, a tyrant among the boys, takes power. He slowly guides the boys into savagery with his unhealthy obsession with hunting, lust for killing, and ignorance of the rules. The longer the boys keep away from civilization's law and order, the quicker they descend into savagery as their natural instincts come out.

Resisting Savagery Through Law and Order

At the beginning of their crash on the island, the boys can keep their savagery restrained because they remember the law and order of civilization. After Ralph crashes on the island, he blows into a conch as a way to get all the boys together. After the boys all gather around, they have a vote and elect Ralph as their leader because of "his size, and attractive appearance; and… the conch" (Golding 22). The boys voting for a leader displays their attempt for order on the island- as they remember how their society works and try to model it. The conch Ralph blows into also becomes a symbol of law and order of the island, for Ralph rules that "[he gives] the conch to the next person to speak" and only those holding the conch can speak (Golding 33). That is one of the boys' only rules; therefore, it becomes increasingly influential through the boys' constant reinforcement of it. Another clear example of the boys' remembrance of law and order is when Maurice throws sand into the eyes of the littluns, and "though there [is] no parent to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still [feels] the unease of wrongdoing" (Golding 60). Maurice begins to throw sand into a littlun's eyes but immediately stops after he remembers that he would get punished for that. There is a similar occurrence when Roger tosses stones at a littlun, "yet there was a space around [the littlun]… into which [Roger] dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life" (Golding 62). In both cases, the boys remember the rules of civilization, and it pushes them to contain their wrongdoing. The boys are able to keep their savagery contained at the beginning only because of the law and order they strive to have on the island, and their recollection of the law and order civilization imposes.

The Decline into Savagery

The boys' venture out of their restraints of law and order slowly leads them into savagery. A while after the plane crash, Jack begins breaking the rules by neglecting the conch and ignoring Ralph. This leaves Ralph frustrated because the rules are the only thing the boys got. Ralph continuously tries to contain Jack's wrongdoing by calling assemblies and enforcing their rules, but when Jack forms his own tribe, inviting others to join as well, it marks the beginning of the path that Jack takes in breaking law and order. One example of this happening is when Roger- after joining Jack's tribe- "with a sense of delirious abandonment, [leans] all his weight" on a lever that holds a rock, consequently killing Piggy (Golding 180). Earlier, when Roger remembers the rules of civilization, he does not dare to throw rocks directly at the littlun, but now that he forgets those rules, he kills Piggy with a rock. During this event, that rock also crushes the conch into a thousand white fragments hence destroying the conch. The conch symbolizes the law and order of the island, so by destroying the conch, it also destroys the remaining law and order on the island. After the conch breaks, all the savages in Jack's tribe no longer have any order; they kill and hunt for fun and almost kill Ralph. Ralph attempts to bring back order by recruiting his friends to join his side, but he realizes that "Samneric were savages like the rest” and that he no longer stood a chance in bringing back the law and order that the boys have earlier (Golding 186). The boys' decline into savagery is caused by the loss of law and order on the island, for they no longer have any recollection of the rules of civilization.

The Contrast Between Law and Savagery

At the beginning of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, when the boys have law and order on the island, they are able to be civilized, for law and order keeps their savagery subdued. As their law and order fades away, the boys quickly decline into savagery, for there is no law or rule to stop them from doing what they want, therefore losing their civilized nature. Through this evidence, it is clear that humanity is inherently evil, but humanity's evil can be contained by the law and order enforced by civilization. The boys' loss of law and order leads to their natural instincts coming out, which steers them towards savagery.

In conclusion, Lord of the Flies by William Golding illustrates the theme of the inherent evil in humanity and its contrast with the containment of that evil through law and order. The boys' descent into savagery due to the loss of law and order on the island serves as a powerful symbol of how human nature can quickly shift towards the primitive when left unchecked. Golding's masterful use of symbolism and character development successfully conveys the timeless message of the fragility of civilization in the face of human nature's darker tendencies.