Golding and Orwell both stress the conjoining of utopia and dystopia is not accidental, rather it is a learned habit and cyclical in nature.Golding reminds readers of the boys’ origins in Lord of the Flies when they are rescued by a English naval officer in the midst of their manhunt for Ralph. Savagery, the product of civilization fading into war, is only subdued when an authoritative figure from the boys’ former lives intervenes, yet Golding's last line of the novel alludes to a greater battle waging in the world of civilization when the naval officer “allow[s] his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance” (Golding 202). The temptation of savagery is present in any civilization, on any scale, in any size and by depicting the naval officer in the greater context of
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Thus, wherever people inhabit the earth, utopian and dystopian ideals are present since they are the the very manifestations of the human battle of good vs evil. Not only is the fall from utopia into dystopia cyclical in nature, but it is also a learned habit for the boys in Lord of the Flies, their exposure to war evident from their arrival on the island. For instance, in an expression of pure glee, Ralph “danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned as a fighter-plane, with wings swept back, and machine-gunned Piggy” (Golding 11) when he first discovers the freedom that accompanies an adult-free society. In the same manner that Ralph and the other boys learned the customs of war growing up in England, the deterioration into savage customs is also a habitual practice based on their upbringing. Hypothesizing that human nature is both instinctual and impressionable, Golding demonstrates that the the evil within man’s heart can only be controlled when the laws of civilization are abided by, and without followers, rules are
Thus, wherever people inhabit the earth, utopian and dystopian ideals are present since they are the the very manifestations of the human battle of good vs evil. Not only is the fall from utopia into dystopia cyclical in nature, but it is also a learned habit for the boys in Lord of the Flies, their exposure to war evident from their arrival on the island. For instance, in an expression of pure glee, Ralph “danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned as a fighter-plane, with wings swept back, and machine-gunned Piggy” (Golding 11) when he first discovers the freedom that accompanies an adult-free society. In the same manner that Ralph and the other boys learned the customs of war growing up in England, the deterioration into savage customs is also a habitual practice based on their upbringing. Hypothesizing that human nature is both instinctual and impressionable, Golding demonstrates that the the evil within man’s heart can only be controlled when the laws of civilization are abided by, and without followers, rules are