The Dystopian Society of Lord of the Flies

       Lord of the flies began as a utopia. The boys were in this new environment without any adults and rules hence they could do whatever they liked. There was food, water, and all that they needed to survive. Although  they thought that they would be rescued soon, they made rules and elected a chief. The rules of their society were fairly simple. The chief, Ralph, held assemblies where everyone could voice their thoughts, and problems were discussed. Only the person who held the conch could speak at the assemblies.

      

       What turned their society into a dystopia was a series of events that slowly made their society crumple. It started with greed and then followed with the urge to hunt and kill. It was the slow transition in the boys, combined with the fear of the "beast” that completely destroyed Ralph's well-kept society. When Jack, leader of the hunters, created his own tribe, he used the boys' weaknesses against them by telling them that he can hunt the beast. Even though they felt safe that Jack could kill the beast, they were still scared. Why? Because Jack became the beast, he abused them and tortured them to control them with fear.

       Jack went on his first pig hunt in chapter three and even sharpened a stick to create a makeshift spear. When Ralph confronted Jack about choosing to go hunting over building the shelters, they got into a heated argument. Jack said that they needed meat, not shelters, while Ralph believed that Jack was simply using hunting as an excuse to not do the other work. This was when the power struggle between Ralph and Jack became more noticeable.

       As the days went on, Jack became more and more obsessed with wanting to kill and even began to paint his face with clay and charcoal. In chapter 4, Jack went on a pig hunt joined by a couple of other boys. This caused the signal fire to go out and a passing ship to ignore the island. When they originally lit the fire, they were hoping to be rescued, meaning that they still wanted to return to civilization. However it now seemed that Jack would rather kill than get rescued. This was the beginning of how the boys ended up turning from a democracy like civilisation into complete chaos.

       While the daily tasks were being neglected, so was the power of the conch. The conch was the symbol of order and law in their society. Every time, it was blown, the boys would answer this call and gather down by the beach. Whoever held the conch, could speak while everyone else was quiet and attentive. However on more than one occasion, when Piggy had the conch, he was ignored. Piggy, overweight and weak, was quickly made an outcast by the other boys. He was even punched in the face by Jack because even though Piggy had the conch, he wouldn't shut up when Jack told him to. In chapter 5 the issue of a "beast" is brought back up at one of the assemblies. Jack immediately declared that if there was a beast, he and his hunters would kill it. After that,  the meeting, became complete chaos as the boys followed Jack and ran off dancing and chanting with him. While Piggy and Simon encouraged Ralph to blow the conch to get the boys to return, Ralph refused as he fears that if he does, they would simply ignore it.

       The first time Ralph went on a pig chase was in chapter 7. Although Ralph was usually against hunting, he got caught up in the excitement of the chase just like all the other boys. He threw his spear at the boar only managing to graze its snout but nonetheless was just as proud. The boar managed to get away but the boys are still re-enacting the events among themselves long after the chase. Robert was the boar in the re-enactment with all the boys dancing and chanting around him jabbing the end of their spears at him. The boys began to beat him and they nearly kill Robert before they seemed to remember that this was a human they were hitting, not a pig.  Robert suggested that next time they should use a real boar in the re-enactment but Jack said that they could just use a "littlun". So far, none of the boys had actually considered killing one another until Jack brought it up. Although, he didn't carry out his plan, the fact that he had though to kill a child for such purposes is horrifying enough. The moment when the boys, Ralph included, went on that hunt, the part of them where the urge to just become savages surfaced.

     The twins, "samneric" (Sam and Eric) claimed to have seen the "beast" back in chapter 6 at the top of the mountain where the signal fire. However they did not realize that the "beast" was actually a fallen paratrooper. Since they were both asleep at the time, they had not seen the soldier fall from the sky and instead they only saw a dark figure looming in the shadows. When Ralph, Jack and Roger went to the top of the mountain to see if there really wass a beast, they had gone in the night. Therefore, they also failed to see that there wass no beast and like "sameneric" they mistook the dead soldier for the "beast"

       Jack held an assembly thinking that Ralph should be replaced by him. The other boys refused to vote Ralph out of leadership so Jack, furious, ran away and created his own tribe where he was Chief. Without Ralph or Piggy to stop him from doing anything, him and a couple of other boys who have joined him go hunting. This was where the ''Lord of the Flies'' was created when they impaled the head of a sow they killed on a stick and stuck in in the ground. They had intended it as an ''offering'' to the beast.That night, more boys sneaked away to Jack's camp as they were unable to resist the offer of meat at the feast. 

       Simon was the only person who realized that there was no "beast". That the only reason the boys thought there was one was because they chose to believe there was one. However just as he is about to tell all the boys, he is killed by Jack's tribe. They see Simon but they thought that it was the beast, so they attack him with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tried to tell them that its just him but the boys could not come out of their trance. Simon tripped, and fell over the rocks and the boys who land on him, ended up killing him. When Simon died in such a brutal way, it just showed how chaotic things had become. The only proof that there was no beast was gone. Ralph and Piggy had lost all control over the situation and Jack could now rule with absolute power.

       When the conch was crushed by Roger, who was the least understanding of the concept of civilization, it marked the 'end' of any equality. Piggy who was the "adult-type figure" on the island, the rational one, the one with the intellect was crushed by a boulder, also released by Roger. Ralph was chased by Jack's "tribe" and only barely manages to escape a violent death. Any trace of boys who grew up in social well-being is gone. They have managed to completely forget all the rules of society in which they were raised in. Instead they have succumbed to their violent nature.