Lord of the Flies
Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man (Henry B). Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies there is a dramatic transformation from order to chaos. Chaos; extreme disorder (Chaos). Chaos easily can be turned into violence. You should have seen the blood! (Golding 70). William Golding establishes a theme of order versus chaos in the classic novel Lord of the Flies through symbols such as objects and the actions of characters.
William Golding establishes his strong theme of order versus chaos using symbolic objects. At the beginning of the novel the boys, Piggy and Ralph, realize there are no grownups who survived the plane crash. However, they do know there are plenty of young boys who survived; they just need some way to contact them. We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. Theyll come (Golding 16). Piggy and Ralph use the conch to communicate to the other boys where they are on the island. The conch is now symbolic of order because the boys held a meeting under its influence. The meeting sets some order in stone, but nothing is permanent. As the novel continues, order slowly starts to crumble under the grasp of the developing chaos. Most of the boys, except Piggy, Ralph and Samneric, leave for Jacks tribe -- which thrives off chaos and fear. The boys bring the conch, the only object of order, to the front door of the savage tribe. After a heated argument, the feud of chaos versus order hits the breaking point. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked. The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch shattered into a thousend pieces and ceased to exist (Golding 181). William Golding uses the rock to symbolically show how much momentum chaos has gained through the novel. So much that it kills the intellectual Piggy, and destroys the conch; the only symbol of order on the island. After this traumatic event, Samneric are taken prisoner and Ralph flees to fend for himself. Through chaos the symbol of order was destroyed.
William Golding does not use just objects in his novel, he also uses the actions of characters for symbols. Through the characters actions, order was lowered deep in to the dark crevasse of chaos. Jack became rebellious and defiant against the leader Ralph. Jack created disorder and wanted Ralph revoked of his status. Bullocks to the rules (Golding 91). By Jacks action of saying this, he made room for more anarchy that paved the road to disorder. Jack soon created his own tribe which mostly all of the boys followed. This choice lead them from order to chaos and fear. After the meeting between the two tribes, Samneric became in charge of keeping guard of the cave under the rule of the savage Jack. Ralph, now alone, confronts Samneric to gain some information about what has been going on. Samneric do not have a pleasant response. Theyre going to hunt you tomorrow (Golding 188). The plan of this hunt is one of Jacks actions, which is very symbolic of the theme. The hunt symbolizes the maximum level of chaos because they will be trying to kill the creator of order. All hope of order could be completely lost. Chaos, to the point of taking a human life, shows how far its grasp has reached. Chaos now filled most of the island, order seemed completely lost.
William in his classic novel Lord of the Flies successfully used symbols to create a powerful theme of order versus chaos. Ralph tried to keep everything together but the boys become carried away and out of control. His laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling
(Golding 58). Order is not itself, but another underlying figure. What we imagine is order is merely the prevailing form of chaos (Kerry). In a time of chaos all that remains is disorder.
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