ABSTRACT
The plot of The Lord of the Flies lays bare some of the most elementary features of social order, features that all of the social theorists in this section are trying in some way to understand and explain. One of the most important of these features is the paradoxical “dual nature” of social order. By this we mean, on one hand, social order is the creation of individuals. The stranded boys in Golding’s novel devised their own social order; they elected their leaders, organized who would do what tasks when, and so forth. Yet, on the other hand, once this social order was created, it quickly took on a life of its own, exerting infl uence over the identities and actions of the very individuals who created it. Schoolboys became “leaders” and “hunters,” a seashell became a sign of democracy, a pig’s head became a religious sacrifi ce and, later on, the dreaded “Lord of the Flies” itself. Out of the convergence of individuals, we see the emergence of a social order far more complex, meaningful, and powerful than the sum of its individual parts.
