Authority In Lord Of The Flies

Stories about being stranded on a deserted island have been around since seafaring societies have existed. While the tone and overarching plot of the books in this genre are varied, one fairly consistent theme is the continued civility in their isolation. However when William Golding was first introduced to the genre via “Coral Island”, he thought it was incredibly unrealistic. To quote him exactly, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea if I wrote a book about children on an island, children who would behave in the way children really would behave?” So he wrote “Lord of the Flies”, a book about children far away from parental and societal authority and put them into humanity's natural environment. A major component of the book is the relationship between the boys and authority.  In “Lord of the Flies”, Golding argues that authority is inherent within each individual, as authority is intrinsically necessary to survival. He also argues that our natural state of authority is dictatorial and not a western style democracy. He communicates these arguments through symbolism and the actions by the two main characters struggling for power.

The conch shell is one of the most important and recognizable symbols from “Lord of the Flies” and one of the most important symbols within the novel. When Piggy and Ralph find the conch shell on the beach, Ralph blows into the conch to gather all the scattered kids. The call of the conch reminding the kids of the trumpet used to order them,one kid exclaiming giving Ralph their attention and gaining authority over them. He decides that whoever holds the conch has the right to speak, creating a civilized, democratic, form of governance over the boys. Therefore, the conch shell becomes a symbol of civility, democracy, authority, order, and the old ways. However, that's all that the conch truly is; a symbol. What power does the conch truly have? Does it provide water, food, or shelter? Authority derives from the ability to provide and the conch only provides the fleeting comfort of living in a “civilized” society. The system that Ralph created was based on the social contract, the rule of law, and other such principles of governance that existed back home. However, this system had no use in the situation he was in. In fact, this system made the situation worse, it was slow, open to subversion, and did not command any true authority over the boys. The conch shell was only important to the people that believed in what it represented and as time drove on, the number of people who believed in, order, civility, authority, and democracy gradually dwindled. When Golding wrote “Lord of the Flies”, he wanted to show how humanity would really act in their natural environment and decided that we wouldn’t naturally govern ourselves by liberal, western ideals. Through the crushing of the shell and fall of Ralph's group, Golding argues that the true, natural form of authority is the dictatorial, tribal and savage cult of personality that Jack created. However, the destruction of the conch did not mean the end of authority. It may have been the end of “civilised” authority, but Jack still had authority over the boys and his authority and his leadership were still absolutely key to their survival.

The conch may not have held any true power or authority, however, there was something Ralph had that did give him any true authority; Piggy’s glasses. The glasses symbolically represent intellectualism and civilization and practically, the glasses give Piggy the ability to see. However more importantly give the tribe and Ralph and Piggy the ability to create fire.  For obvious reasons fire is necessary for them to survive on the island and that makes Piggy’s glasses one of the most particularly important objects within the story. Therefore, through their monopoly on fire, Ralph and Piggy control a large degree of respect and authority. This helps keep the boys sided with them as When Jack is vying for power against Ralph, he decides to raid their camp to steal Piggy’s glasses because he would have control over the fire and therefore control more authority over the tribe. He decided to steal Piggy’s glasses over the conch shell due to the conch shell having no importance to him and Piggy’s glasses having a tremendous amount of power. This surprised them as they said,“I thought they wanted the conch”...”They didn’t take the conch”… “I know. They didn’t come for the conch. They came for something else. Ralph, what am I going to do?” Ralph and Piggy were still blind to the fact that the conch didn’t have any true authority over the boys and Jack understood that the glasses were their true source of authority. After Jack had done this, he essentially became the true chieftain of the boys. He had the meat, he had the fire, he had the hunting experience and because he was the only one with the ability to provide, he naturally gained the authority over the boys. Ralph, while having strong morals and principles, could not provide anything for the boys after his fire was stolen and never seemed to have the gumption to keep his leadership position.

In conclusion, “Lord of the Flies”, Through the use of symbols such as, the conch shell and piggy’s glasses, Golding proficiently argues that authority is inherently ingrained in human nature and that when put in a natural setting, people will drift towards the savagery of dictatorship and authoritarianism. “Lord of Flies” was, and still is, a great book with heavy themes and metaphors that everyone should read at some point in their life. 

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Spark Publishing, 2014.