Rules and order are crucial to us who live in a structured society. In our time, numerous countries are ruled by democracy and modern forms of government. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an island after a plane crash, leaving teenagers all by themselves. Through democracy, rules are set within the group initially; however, a turn of events force the boys to disband, fall into insanity and kill each other. Golding conveys that if not protected, rationality and democracy might be suppressed by cruelty and the power-hungry nature of humanity. He sends us a warning sign that our world might not be too different from the boys’ island.

Ralph and Piggy maintain structure and order through the ideals of democracy and rationality on the island. After getting chosen as a leader in a democratic vote, Ralph calls for a meeting for all of the boys and sets the priorities straight for all: ‘There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.” Piggy, on the other hand, is the intelligence that informs Ralph’s rule, encouraging him to take a conch and use it for everyone to have orderly opportunities to speak. These two boys continue to try to conform to their ideals to the later part of the story, when chaos is rampant. Piggy states, “I got the conch. I’m going to that Jack Merridew an’ tell him, I am. What can he do more than he has? I’ll tell him what’s what. You let me carry the conch, Ralph. I’ll show him the one thing he hasn’t got.” Piggy believes that what should be right or wrong should not change according to arbitrary power, and that he is willing to confront Jack for this - while it leads to Piggy’s death. 

On the other hand, Golding conveys the idea of imperiousness and chaos through Jack’s bloodthirsty character. Initially, Jack is scared to kill a pig when hunting: “‘I was going to,’ said Jack. ‘I was choosing a place. Next time-’ He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy.’” Towards the end of the book, however, the absence of adults takes away discipline from Jack, and he starts enjoying the feeling of inflicting pain on animals. He chases a family of pigs and kills a mother sow whilst hunting: “Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.” For Jack, the mother sow is not a life that should be protected or respected, but is simply a means for fulfilling his desire for blood. Later, he puts the sow’s head on a stick, calling it the Lord of the Flies, as a sacrifice to ease his terror, which would set him ‘free to kill.’ Jack’s domineering cruelty influences his “tribe” of boys to dance, chant, and to be bloodthirsty. In a chaotic feast towards the end of the story, the boys chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” as they brutally murder one of their friends: “there were no words, no movements, but the tearing of teeth and claws.”  

By the end of the story, Ralph is stripped of everything but himself, as Jack’s tribe had taken over the island, disrupting all order and rules. He gets rescued by an officer fighting in the on-going world war in the outside world, which perhaps means that the story of chaos and terror is not yet over. As Ralph leaves the island and ventures out to the real world, it can be seen that conflicts for power and personal gain continue to happen in the outside world, ruled by adults. Golding is conveying through the tyranny of Jack’s tribe that our society replicates just this, and oftentimes ideals such as rationality and democracy are replaced by humanity’s power hungry instincts.