Chaos In Lord Of The Flies Essay

{In chapter one, how does Golding represent the struggle between the “ordering” elements of society such as morality, law and culture and the “chaotic” elements of humanity’s savage animal instincts e.g. anarchy, bloodlust, desire for power, amorality, selfishness, violence?}
Golding portrays the opposing elements of order and chaos in a strongly allegorical manner. Chapter one begins with much foreshadowing of situations in the future and the battle between the conflicting elements can already be clearly seen. Golding uses the conch, the behaviour of the “little ‘uns”, the uniform, the opposing personalities of Ralph and Piggy, and Jack to represent the contrasting elements and Jack’s inability to kill the pig as allegories for the struggle between the opposing elements.
The conch is the object that calls the boys to Ralph after Piggy’s suggestion, “’we can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us—‘”. The conch also determines Ralph as leader, “But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart.” At the beginning, chaos ensued after the plane crash, with each boy scattered around the island. The conch is the symbol that transforms the setting from a place of wilderness and instability into an island capable of civilisation. It is the conch that brings them together into a meeting that reignites the rule abiding, moral, and regularity that they have been conditioned