Hugo November 3, 2002

English Gokturk

The Rules Are All That We Got

When people are told the rules they recognize it later as directions for a standard procedure that they are supposed to follow from there on. Without rules then civilization itself would be no where and people wouldn’t know what to do. They won’t be able to figure out what is right from wrong. In the novel Lord Of The Flies by William Golding and the essay The Rules Are All We’ve Got by Sidney Schanberg both introduce the concept of rules to us. Schanberg’s essay of The Rules Are All We’ve Got tells us that though they are rules that civilizations are supposed to follow there are those who chose not to. In Golding’s Lord Of The Flies the rules are what the young boys need to follow in order to survive but there are those once again who chose not to. Therefore, both show us that rules are important in any kind of civilization whether it is full of grownups or children, but sometimes there are those who choose not to listen.

In William Golding’s novel Lord Of The Flies young English boys become stranded on a pacific island where they must make the rules for them themselves in order to survive the civilization they had encountered but there where those who chose not to listen and follow the rules. The leader of the group was a young boy by the name of Ralph. Though Ralph was the leader and made the rules there was a boy by the name of Jack who chose not to listen. Ralph had come up with many rules that the whole group was to follow while on there stay on the island and they were also made to try and have them rescued. The conch shell was the first and very important discovery that Ralph had made on the island. Ralph used it to summon the boys together. It then became a powerful piece of rule and order throughout the island after. It is used to govern the boys' meetings and the boy who holds the shell is given the right to speak. That was the rule and it was to be followed. This was shown in the story when Ralph said, “With the conch. I’m calling a meeting even if we have to go into the dark. Down on the platform. When I blow it. Now.” (pg. 75) Here we can see the authority of the conch and how it was used to call the meeting and make one able to speak there thoughts. Another important rule that was to be followed on the island was lighting of the fire. Ralph had a fire going in order to try and have a ship see it and maybe have it rescue the boys. Ralph saw the fire as a key to there rescue efforts. This was shown in the story when Ralph said, “Can’t they see? Can’t they understand? Without the smoke signal we’ll die here. Look at that!” (pg. 139) Here we can see Ralph urgent efforts to have the fire going. The rule was to have it going but it didn’t. Another time when rules were need to be followed but where not followed was when Ralph decided to call a meeting and set things straight. No one had been listening to what Ralph had wanted everyone to do. Everyone had to put there fair share in working together in order to get things done. No one was fulfilling the responsibilities that Ralph had given them. Each person had a job and only half were working and the other half was fooling around. They weren’t concerned with the important things that needed to be done. They weren’t working together and they sure weren’t listening to the leader of the group, Ralph. This exact situation was brought up during the book and Ralph decide to speak and said,

“We need an assembly. Not for fun. Not for laughing and falling off the log” -the group pf littluns on the twister giggled and looked at each other- “not for making jokes, or for” -he lifted the conch in an effort to find compelling word- “for cleverness. Not for these things. But to put things straight.”

Here we can see that Ralph was to set the rules straight once again and have everyone listen to what they have to do. Ralph went on the emphasis about the water, the shelters, the food, the bathroom facilities, and especially the fire. The reason for this break down in there civilization was mostly because of a young boy named Jack. Jack was always against Ralph and refused to follow his orders as the book went on. He later manipulated the others to follow in his footsteps creating even more trouble and the devolution of their civilization. It all cam crashing down when Ralph and Jack had a confrontation and it went down like this.

“Jack! Jack!” “the rules!” shouted Ralph. “You’re breaking the rules!” “Who cares?” Ralph summoned his wits. “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!” But Jack was shouting against him. “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in a beat and beat and beat-!”

Here we can see Ralph trying to talk some sense into Jack telling him that the rules are all the have and if they don’t listen to them then they will go no where and stay there forever. But Jack chose not to listen and from there the civilization they had began to devolve and savagery to over. As you can see Ralph tried to set the standards for the rules but there was that one person, Jack who chose not to listen.

In Sidney Schanberg’s essay The Rules Are All We’ve Got, we can see that this essay tries to tell us that there are many rules that civilizations and communities are supposed to follow. There are those who choose to listen and follow the rules which is the right thing to do. But then there are also those who choose not to listen and start to create problems and trouble throughout where there live. As the essay states, “As we are taught from elementary school, the rules are all that stand between us and anti-civilization, that keep us from sliding into brute hood” life itself is exactly that in the point of view that Schanberg chose to write this essay. It is true also. There are those of us who chose to do right from wrong. But those who choose to do the things that are wrong or beginning to have their numbers grow and grow everyday. There are so many people out there that show us that the rules don’t matter to what they think. They choose to do what they want to and what pleases them. If someone doesn’t like them for that then so be it. That is what these trouble makers think everyday. Today’s’ society as said in the essay is devolving. Crimes are happening more often and the numbers of crimes will continue to climb unless the rules and standards of what is right to do is set down by those who chose to do good. As said in the essay, “There’s too much emphasis on material things. These kids see people who have them and want them for themselves. And there’s no anti-crime attitude.” I agree with this. People focus to much on specialties that they need to have and those who don’t have what is most valued by others then get them by committing crimes. I think that is why many crimes are committed. The rules that are described in this essay have seemed to vanish and are close to having people say anything goes. Rules are being violated with crimes and without enforcement of rules they will continue to be this way.

Rules are need for people to survive and withstand the struggles in a civilization. Without rules were would we be. Nothing would get done and everything would be a mess. So as the saying goes, “The Rules Are All That We’ve Got.” Without rules people wouldn’t know what to do and what was right from wrong. As shown in William Golding’s novel Lord Of The Flies and Sidney Schanberg’s essay The Rules Are All We’ve Got rules are needed for a civilization to survive. Without rules a civilization devolves and ends up no where. Therefore, both show us that rules are important in any kind of civilization whether it is full of grownups or children, but sometimes there are those who choose not to listen and because of that people need to reinforce the rules.

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