how does lord of the flies represent our society?

Lord Of The Flies deals with the struggle inside us choosing between right and wrong. As a society we too behave like the boys in the novel. We have our jobs, our taske, our positions in the community.

Our society is hinged on a sense of order and 'everything in its place'. Our society is also fragile and dependent on a certain amount of control by higher authorities. This fragility can be compromised by the smallest of things e.g bad weather. A period of heavy snow can have people bahaving very differently. Our peace can break down if certain factors are not present ....mostly law enforcement. In Lord Of The Flies they start out good and elect leaders, delegate jobs etc however there is as always in society a criminal element. In the book we can see the 'normal society' the boys have created wrestling with the criminal element and initially rejecting it however as the novel progresses more and more boys join with this 'dark side' through reasons of fear, more fun etc.

Golding illustrates how this propensity towards ill doing can exist in all of us and examines how we could all succumb to it. Roger is a good example. Ath the start of the novel he throws stones at the little kids. In normal society he has been in trouble for such wrongdoing however he quickly realises that 'normal society' is gone and he can be as bad as he likes and hence he is only too glad to join the ranks of the 'bad boys'.

In conclusion what Golding has attempted to show is is that even with law enforcement and other controls in society we are still very dependant on the inner good of people for society to function. Lord of the Flies represents our society as a group of individuals, all wrestling with our own inner 'demons' and the struggle to be good and do the right thing.