Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is an excellent work to analyze using sociological concepts, since the story revolves around a group of children stranded on an island. Immediately, one can predict that the kids will struggle to instill and maintain social order, a concept which is the focus of chapter 6 in our sociology text. The conversation on the beach between Ralph and Piggy clearly reveals Piggy's demand for social order to prevent the chaos that would inevitably ensue. Ralph and Piggy come across their first symbol of order when they discover the conch swept up on the sand. They use this to gather up the two distinct groups into a session that does result in some productivity, yielding a distinguished leader in Ralph. But foreshadowing of conflict is evident in Jack's obvious desire for authoritarian rule. Consequently, leadership is established early in this work and leadership styles (between Ralph and Jack) will be the cause of divergence within the original group. Furthermore, the society will initially base their norms in synchrony with the society they left, but as their stay evolves into a struggle for life deviant behavior will begin to eventuate and their norms will shift int
The formation of social groups ensues immediately as the boys find each other and realize they are stranded on an island. The boys represent a distinct category of middle-upper class school boys from England. Their category deserves a subdivision since it seems as if there are two distinct age groups, which are represented by boys in the early grammar stages and pre-adolescent boys. When the first meeting is eventually achieved by the presence of the conch, one can initially observe that there are groups which will inevitably form into a secondary group as a whole and subsequently various primary groups will form. The need for a sense of belonging and friendship will buffer the demands that are placed upon the boys in their secondary group. This secondary group is taken charge by Ralph who insists on using a Democratic system to elect a leader and through his advisory committee (Piggy) he learns that establishment and maintenance of social order is a necessity. The conch represents the first defining symbol introduced in the story and probably the most defining symbol throughout. The conch is utilized by the boys to represent social order, consequently whoever is in possession of the conch receives the right to speak and develop rules and guidelines. To conclude, this extraordinary work underlines many sociological concepts and highlights the central theme of civilization, which is social control. Collectively, is the terrifying notion that man is intrinsically evil, undermining our newfound taste of civilization and emphasizing our primitive roots. Besides the basic group concepts, it seems as if there is a distinct loner among the two groups. Simon is the character who represents the loner. I can't really think of a distinct reason, but it seems as if Simon is the ultimate representation of good. Simon seems to be drawn to the mysterious beast that is on the mountain and seems to become a contributing medium for the foreshadowing of an evil takeover. The ultimate crime is committed when the hunters mistakenly killed Simon. Simon's murder seems to further weaken the uncontrolled society and accelerate their deviation. Piggy must resort the conch quite often since his authority is ignored by most of the boys. This is based on his phys
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ralph Jack, Lord Flies, Ralph Piggy, Maurice Roger, Roger Ralph's, Initially Ralph, Meanwhile Ralph, Ralph Piggy's, Slowly Jack', William Golding, deviant behavior, division labor, ralph piggy, outer controls, lord flies, inner circle, ralph's division labor, ultimate crime, boys represent, seen jack's, physical appearance,
Approximate Word count = 1535
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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