Lord of the Flies Theme of Rules and Order

At the heart of this novel is the question of whether the problems of society and all its ills can be traced back to the defects of human nature. Golding seems to be saying that yes, this is the case. The ethical nature of any society depends ultimately on the morality of its individual members, and in Lord of the Flies, humans are basically corrupt and inherently evil. It seems that rules and order are the only boundaries keeping people from their true, violent natures. As soon as you take those people and put them outside of a system with punishments and consequences, they will revert to primitive attitudes and actions, and destroy themselves in the process. Man needs the structure provided by civilization.

1. Ralph’s attempted system of law goes to the dogs. Does Jack take over with anarchy, or with his own system or laws? Is anarchy really just another system, no different than any other arbitrary set of values?
2. What makes the system of laws disintegrate on the island? Whose fault is it?
3. Sam and Eric teeter between Ralph’s orderly camp and Jack’s rebellious one. Are they good, law-abiding guys, or do they just end up being bad guys?
4. Are there any “good guys” on the island? Or, are there really any ‘bad guys?” Is there such thing as good vs. bad at all? Or there just humans, and that’s how we are, and we should all stop passing judgment?

In Lord of the Flies, male values are the cause of the disintegration of the boys’ society. Lord of the Flies argues that man cannot survive in society without laws.