Why are there rules? Do they actually serve a purpose? Every person in there life once or twice disobeys the rules, but would society be so different if there were no rules, no police, and citizens were able to do what they pleased. This is demonstrated in the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a group of boys are ship wrecked on an island and alone with no adults and no rules. Also, in an essay written by Sidney Schanberg titled The Rules are All We’ve Got, the author discusses the situation of the enforcement that the rules have in New York City in a comparison of the year 1974 and today. In Golding’s novel the group of boys without rules and order begin to devolve, become savages and eventually commit murder on one of their own. In Schanberg’s essay she says how in the people today have no regard for the rules and because they have no regard it results in large numbers of murder, robberies, and rape. Therefore, both show us that the rules are important to have and what happens without them.

Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys that are ship wrecked on an island alone with no adults, no rules, and no order. This novel shows that society needs rules to keep its order, because without those rules nothing stands between a person and evil. In the novel a boy, Ralph, gathers all of the boys on the island together and with them forms a society in which Ralph is the leader. As leader Ralph must make up all the rules and every boys duty on the island. Under Ralph is another boy, Jack, who thinks that they should only be hunting and nothing else. Eventually Jack pulls away from the group with his followers, which become all the boys except for Ralph and two others. As time on the island progresses the boys devolve becoming savages. As a result to this action they kill tow of the boys on the island, Simon and Piggy. In the novel the boys take a conch shell off the beach and use it as a sign of their government. "Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got" said by Ralph. By saying this he means that the rules are what stands between the boys and complete and utter chaos. "He’s going to beat Wilfred…What for?…I don’t know"(159) is a discussion between Roger and Ralph. As time passes on the island their reasoning becomes more and more unethical. The author, Golding, uses many symbols through out of the whole novel. For example, he uses a conch. The conch is the symbol for their society, but as they devolve the conch becomes less valuable. The rules are a valuable part of society, however with anyone person or group of people to enforce them they are worth as much as the person who creates them.

In the essay, The Rules are All We’ve Got, the author talks about the rules or laws in today’s society from going into the "anything-goes" stage in which no one pays attention to the rules and does whatever they feel like. In the essay the author focuses on New York and the shocking numbers it puts up yearly on murder, rape, and robberies. "…We are taught from elementary school, they rules are all that stand between us and anti-civilization," says Schanberg’s essay, similar to a quote from Golding’s novel, said by Ralph, "Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got" In both quotes both authors are saying that the rules are very big factor in society and its order, but if there are no rules then there is no order and that can result in chaos. In the essay, the author uses many examples of how even with law enforces that people still ignore the laws or rules. In one example she talks about a young man who wandered into a subway station and was taunted and teased by a group of humans and fell on to the subway tracks and died. Also, she compares America to Tokyo whose population is 65% larger then Americas and has one murder every other day, unlike America that has six murders a day. The reason for this is because the citizens of Tokyo respect the rules and follow them. Schanblerg and Golding both have the same views on rule in society and what they are meant to be, but rules are only as valuable as the power given to them by the people.

Therefore both show us that the rules are important to have and what happens without them. If the boys or the people in New York continue in the same pattern of ignoring the rules and going what they please then the evil in man will be the only thing seen in out society. Both authors show that the rules are what keep the people from going to an anti-civilization, but it’s the people who decide how strong a rule, because the value of anything, a Pokemon card or antique depends on how much respect gets from the people.