In both Lord of the Flies and A Long Way Gone, William Golding and Ishmael Beah depict the plight of young boys who are forced to endure various hardships. Through their characters’ adversity, both Golding and Beah suggest that fear and the struggle to survive may result in the degeneration of civilization and logical thought, the loss of one’s humanity, and the corruption of leaders. Both Golding and Beah illustrate how society can collapse due to terror and chaos. For example, in Lord of the Flies, the boys heatedly debate the existence of a monster, and “to Ralph...this seemed the breaking of sanity” (Golding 88). Golding clarifies how the boys’ fear of the beast makes them wary and unreasonable, hinting at the start of their civilization’s
…show more content…
By way of example, during his first battle, Beah reflects that “every time [he] stopped shooting to change magazines and saw [his]...lifeless friends…[he] angrily pointed [his] gun...and killed more people” (Beah 119). Beah conveys that his anger and hatred toward the people he believed had wronged him drove him into a violent rage, so that he killed them without remorse and lost his humanity. In addition, when Jack pressures his tribe into hunting with him, “Roger [runs] round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pigflesh appear[s]...Jack...stab[s] downward with his knife” (Golding 135). Barbarism manifests itself within the boys when they are faced with a vulnerable animal, supporting Golding’s theme of ferocity existing even in the most virtuous and innocuous. Furthermore, when the boy soldiers have a competition to see who can kill the rebel prisoners the fastest, Beah “grab[s] the man’s head and slit[s] his throat in one fluid motion” (Beah 125). At this point in time, Beah has become desensitized to killing and torturing people, partly because he knows that he must perform those tasks if he wants to live, and also because he forgets what characteristics make someone human, therefore becoming a primal beast. Ultimately, Golding and Beah both agree that debauchery is an unavoidable truth and significant aspect of the human essence, oftentimes shown to be more potent than ethics. In both texts, the rise of dictatorial, poisonously persuasive leaders brings about turmoil within their followers and enemies, as well as discord in the areas they have power over. To illustrate, Jack ignores Ralph’s accusations of not tending to the fire; instead, “his mind [is] crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to [him] when they closed in on the struggling pig...tak[ing] away its life like a long satisfying
By way of example, during his first battle, Beah reflects that “every time [he] stopped shooting to change magazines and saw [his]...lifeless friends…[he] angrily pointed [his] gun...and killed more people” (Beah 119). Beah conveys that his anger and hatred toward the people he believed had wronged him drove him into a violent rage, so that he killed them without remorse and lost his humanity. In addition, when Jack pressures his tribe into hunting with him, “Roger [runs] round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pigflesh appear[s]...Jack...stab[s] downward with his knife” (Golding 135). Barbarism manifests itself within the boys when they are faced with a vulnerable animal, supporting Golding’s theme of ferocity existing even in the most virtuous and innocuous. Furthermore, when the boy soldiers have a competition to see who can kill the rebel prisoners the fastest, Beah “grab[s] the man’s head and slit[s] his throat in one fluid motion” (Beah 125). At this point in time, Beah has become desensitized to killing and torturing people, partly because he knows that he must perform those tasks if he wants to live, and also because he forgets what characteristics make someone human, therefore becoming a primal beast. Ultimately, Golding and Beah both agree that debauchery is an unavoidable truth and significant aspect of the human essence, oftentimes shown to be more potent than ethics. In both texts, the rise of dictatorial, poisonously persuasive leaders brings about turmoil within their followers and enemies, as well as discord in the areas they have power over. To illustrate, Jack ignores Ralph’s accusations of not tending to the fire; instead, “his mind [is] crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to [him] when they closed in on the struggling pig...tak[ing] away its life like a long satisfying