Miranda 11/4/02

Ms. Gokturk Comp 4

Rules of Chaos?

According to Sidney H. Schanberg, "the rules are all that stand between us and anti-civilization". Her article, entitled "The rules are all we've got," parallels to William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. In this novel, Golding displays the savagery that results from a lack of rules and order. Schanberg makes a direct reference to the novel in her article calling it an "allegory of our society today". Her article, which appeared in the New York Times in 1981, discusses the disregard for the rules in New York during the early 1980's. Both in William Golding's novel, and in Schanberg's article, you see the overlying theme that without rules, there is nothing that separates man from beast.

New York, a city that seems to place little emphasis on rules, is slowly devolving into a state of chaos and savagery. The article from the New York Times dwells upon New Yorkers lack of consideration for the rules. One example given in this article was of a 23-year-old man driving through Queens. Upon asking for directions, he was kidnapped, robbed, shot twice in the back, and then thrown into the Jamaica Bay. This story is similar to the section in the novel where Piggy and Ralph go to ask for peace with Jack's group. In the midst of his peace speech, Piggy is killed. In another paragraph of the article, the author refers to a quote said by Sgt. William Snyder. "the young criminals, they see something. They want it. They take it. Even getting caught is no big deal" This quote also seems to describe a situation in Golding's novel when Jack and his tribe steal Piggy's glasses. They snuck up while Piggy was sleeping. When he woke up, they ripped his glasses of his face and ran away in triumph. They had little consideration for Piggy. It didn't matter to them that it was hurting him. They simply wanted his glasses, so they took them. The article also lists the staggering statistics of crime. Six murders a day, Ten rapes a day and about three hundred robberies. Schandberg compares the crime rates to that of Tokyo. While Tokyo is a much larger city than New York, the crime statistics are drastically lower. She accredits this to their respect for law and order. This circles back to her thesis, that New Yorkers are slowly retrogressing into savagery because of their lack of care of the rules. This topic is one that hits home for the readers. She tries to tap into the emotions of the reader in order to create more of an effect. She does this by including the general public in broad statements.

"No one wishes to see himself as a potential savage, to embrace the notion that the cocoon we call civilization may be very thin and fragile indeed. "

Everyone is the victim in her attack here. This leaves a feeling of guilt in the reader from this particular statement. Throughout Schanberg's article, she uses specific examples, quotes, and reaches into the emotions of the reader to prove her point, that without respect for the rules, we are nothing but beasts.

A group of boys stranded on a tropical island without any adult supervision. Who knows what would become of them? That is the topic William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies explores. Without the rules, they slowly devolve into a society of savages and beasts. One example of the needless violence that developed throughout the book occurred after the boys had killed a sow. They engaged in a reenactment of the killing of the sow. It appeared to be a game to them, where in reality, it portrayed their violent frame of mind. This scene also related to Schanberg's article. In referring to a crime, a witness stated, "they did it to have fun," another exclaimed "They had nothing better to do". Another example of the disregard for rules of the boys appears later on in the book. It was in the scene of a boy on the Island, Simon's death, that we see how a criminal, and how a witness who ignores the crime are equally guilty. A group of boys ran up to Simon and murdered him. Two of the boys stayed behind and just watched. Now, though those boys that watched were not physically guilty, couldn't they have done something to stop the crime? The next day, one of the bystanders, Ralph, admits his guilt when in a conversation he cries, "Piggy... that was murder"(p156). Schanberg's article perfectly relates to this scene when in paragraph three, she write "The lawbreaker and the witness who looks away may not be the same person, but eventually they begin to merge". In Golding's novel, he shows us the slow regression of the boys without law and authority. There is some in the beginning, but eventually it withers away until there is nothing that separates them from savages.

In Schanberg's article, she directly quotes Ralph from Lord of the Flies when he says "the rules are the only thing we've got!". Both the article and the novel show us what a lack of rules creates in society. In fact, without rules, there is no society, only savagery. Through compelling literary persuasion and specific examples, both the Schanberg and Golding prove the statement by Schandberg, that "the rules are all that stand between us and anti-civilization".