Tribal Organisation in Lord of the Flies. An Anthropological Perspective

Abstract

It has been shown that man developed from a peaceful, fruit-picking being into a violent, carnivorous one. A similar development can be seen in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, where a group of children gradually separates into two tribes, each being organized based on a different set of principles. As such, placing the text into the broader context of anthropological studies and analyzing the way in which the theme is constructed from a narrative point of view, I will argue that the tribal organization on the island closely resembles that of the primitive man. It is this pattern that, although it cannot justify violent acts, could make one argue that there is something in our collective consciousness that makes one act and develop in a similar manner.