We all need some kind of authority with us, or our society could be a disaster, as shown in the book ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding. In this novel, a group of boys is stranded on an isolated Island at the time of an imaginary nuclear war with no connection to the adult world. These children with no rules, civilization, or guidance have their true nature exposed. On the island, we see conflicts between the boys. This affects the rest of the boys throughout the novel as they dive further into savagery, while the boys are struggling to survive without any authority figure due to their fighting, bullying, and show of emotion.
One of the ways Golding has shown the conflict between fighting is when Jack and some of the other boys are killing their first pig. “They surrounded the covert but the sow got away with the sting of another spear in her flank. The trailing butts hindered her and the sharp, cross-cut points were a torment. She blundered into a tree, forcing a spear still deeper, and after that any of the hunters could follow her easily by the drops of vivid blood” (Golding, 135). Jack chants: “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood” (Golding, 69). Expecting praise from Ralph, Jack proudly announces, “I cut the throat” (Golding, 69). From that point on in the book, Jack never washes the mask off. This suggests fighting as the boys are becoming more violent and aggressive when killing the pig and at the end of the killing they show us that they don’t care about it. Jack talks about cutting the pig’s throat, which makes it sound like a savage action while reinforcing the lack of care and feeling shown towards the pig. This shows that the boys no longer feel guilty about what they do. Jack kills the pig wanting the littluns to see that he can bring advantages to the table, such as hunting to overthrow Ralph's earning power as the chief. After this violent scene, Ralph is extremely upset that they were 'playing around' hunting and managed to let the signal fire go out. Ruining a chance of rescue starts the conflict between Jack and Ralph.
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We can see the conflict between bullying developing in the book when Piggy’s glasses are broken. “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy's head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks” (Golding, 71). We are told, “Piggy cried out in terror: ‘My specs!’” (Golding, 71). This shows us that the boys’ savage natures are beginning to overrule their moral sides. At the start of the book, Jack would never have dared touch Piggy or even speak to him, but during this part of the story, he actually snaps taking advantage of Piggy's glasses without any consistency. We can tell that Piggy is really scared as the author chooses the word ‘terror’ to describe Piggy’s reaction to this scene. Piggy sounds like he is terrified about what Jack might do to him and the loss of his sight, leading up to the way Jack has treated Piggy himself and the other boys.
We can also see the rise of the conflict between the boys showing their emotions. “The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding, 186). The children show their emotions to each other by the officer’s presence. They show that they are shocked and are now psychologically so far removed from the real world that they do not instantly celebrate his arrival, rather all the boys stand before him baffled. Even Ralph, whose life is literally being saved by the presence of the officer’s ship, weeps tears of grief rather than joy. For Ralph or the other boys, nothing can ever be as it was before coming to the island.
In conclusion, ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a novel that shows a group of boys at a time when society is breaking down in front of their eyes and with no authority around them, in which the theme of savagery is shown everywhere, including the conflict of the boys' fighting, bullying, and the show of emotions. Through the boys’ actions it's clear that we need rules, and morals and to impose them to make our society function properly. Morals and rules are what makes societies possible, without which there wouldn't be any or much direction of good.
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