Lord of the Flies - Essay 14

Through my reading of Lord of the Flies, I have concluded that the subject of the novel is adulthood. The focus of this novel is on peoples desire for a more civilized and structured society. In this novel, adulthood does not represent a state of existence, but life that seems to exist as rational and structured. At the beginning of the novel after the reader is introduced to Piggy and Ralph, they discover the beautiful conch, resting in the weeds of the shoreline. Piggy says, “We can use it to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us. (p.12)”, gleaming with pride. This quote illustrates the adult imbedded in him, drawn from the influence of society. Living under the influence of leadership and politics, the suggestion of holding a meeting was instinctive and automatic. Piggy drew upon his lifelong experiences gained from his parents and other adult influences and applied it to a situation. Piggy decided that the situation lacked the order and structure that he was accustomed to.



After the boys gathered into a mock assembly by the sounding of the conch, one yelled “A chief! A chief! (p.18)” in desperation for leadership in the midst of an awfully boisterous crowd. “Lets have a vote, (p.18)” yelled another. The boys were not accustomed to a society that was ungoverned as it was in the adult word. They wanted to recreate that structure to maintain that sense of order in the group of boys. Ralph won the vote for chief in account of his image. The boys’ saw that “there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out (p.19)” and they sensed a certain hint of adulthood in his manner that they relied on at home. Under the constant leadership of adults, a child grows acquainted to their temperament and the boys saw this in Ralph.



“With a convulsion of the mind, Ralph discovered dirt and decay. (p.82)” At home, the boys were raised with and became habituated to proper European mannerisms and dress passed...