Do We Need Adults? (Lord of the Flies Analysis)

 Do We Need Adults?

Kabir

Lord of the Flies is a 20th century book written by William Golding. Ralph and several other boys crash land on a tropical island, without any adult in sight. On an isle with feuds, bullying, and chaos can a group of boys beat the odds and learn to survive by themselves. Golding inadvertently hints at many reasons adolescent boys can and can't be trusted to survive without adult overseeing. This blog will take into account stories from the text to form an answer to the focal question.

Soon into the novel, the separated Ralph and Piggy discover a way to assemble all the boys in one place by blowing on a conch horn they found near a body of water. Already a sign of high intelligence, yet it only precedes the more impressive unity and logical skills that an unmonitored group of boys show after meeting. They propose a vote for leader, Ralph, who then unselfishly delegates another leader in charge of the "hunters." For a group with ages as low as six years old, they've thought up very rational ideas, and Ralph specifically showed lots of compassion gifting a leadership role to Jack, who just lost the vote to Ralph himself. 

Functioning and Just Government ✅

However, a working government doesn't necessitate a sense of camaraderie between the still immature boys. For one, this handing over of a large section the boys (hunters) will only create more division, fueled by the developing rivalry between Ralph and Jack. Consistently, Jack ignores Ralph's commands, crazed with his new persona around hunting. This went to the extremes of them missing a chance to escape on a passing boat, because Jack refused to light a signal fire. Along with Ralph's trouble, Piggy as he's is unfortunately nicknamed receives lots of abuse from the other boys. He is described as a fat boy, which is why the nickname stuck, who also suffers from asthma. Constantly he is picked on for both of these things, too often the butt of the joke. Near the end of the book, Piggy is pushed off a cliff by the deranged, violent hunters, while trying to calm everyone down. Not only is this lawless act horrifying, but it almost discredits any power and control this once ingenious government system was supposed to have.

Order and Unity ⛔

Finally, we must look into the ending result of the island. As Ralph and Jack fought and divided more and more, so did the island. Boys were forced to choose a side in who to trust their lives with, because make no mistake, this was a life or death ending. Many sided with Jack out of desire to feel free or out of pure fear. A war ensued on the island and slowly the hunters savagely took out Ralph's friends one by one. Without a doubt the actions of the hunters was barbaric. Roger, a chief of the hunters, even carved out a double sided stick, likely where he would put Ralph's remains if he was caught. Reading the last couple pages of the chase could make someone peek behind themselves out of sheer fear. Golding describes the hunters as emotionless beasts that only want blood. It is at last an officer who saw the commotion and ended up saving Ralph. 

Sanity ⛔

While savagery can't solely be accredited to the lack of adults, Golding's text certainly infers the tribulations and chaos ensued in the absence of adults. Certainly adults would remain sane much longer, and could control the kids' immature fantasies of being wild, blood thirsty hunters. If adults were on this fantastical island scenario, in all likelihood, they would have significantly bettered the situation.