Comparison between the law in Golding's "Lord or the Flies" and Aquinas's Concept of Law

In Golding's Lord of the flies, the rules on the island in the very beginning of the book were very simple: whoever holds the conch shell is allowed to speak and everyone must listen to that person as he speaks. The children on the island never thought that it was necessary to go over all of the rules of proper conduct. After all, their families and teachers instilled these basic rules in them as they …

…act like cruel, wild and barbaric animals. The theme of "The Lord of the Flies" is the conflict between two opposing impulses that live within all human beings: the instinct to live by the rules, act peacefully, and value the good of the group on the one hand; and the instinct to gratify one's immediate desires and enforce one's will on the another. When there are no rules to govern, the latter becomes the norm.