Essay Comparing A Separate Peace And Lord Of The Flies
The worst of mankind can come in many different forms, from little pre-school children, to the deaths and dangers of war. As Thomas Hobbes’ theories state, the nature of mankind is a state of war; all against all. In the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the authors both examine a story that takes place under limited adult supervision while in the backdrop of war. In this setting, the characters act out the worst of mankind. In Lord of the Flies, the main characters show the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear. Contrary to Lord of the Flies, In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the worst of mankind is shown mostly through jealousy. Violence in the children’s everyday life made the children themselves grow up violent. As Locke said, a human mind is blank until society contaminates. If you grow up in a war zone, you are likely to be more violent and open to conflict than someone who grew up in peace. Having said this, the boys in Lord of The Flies have experienced, first hand how war works. However, the effect of war in a A Separate Peace is much more direct to the story than in Lord of the Flies.
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In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the main characters show the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear.
In the novel, Jack is jealous of Ralph. Jack wants to be chief.
“(To Ralph) ‘ And you shut up! Who are you anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing-’ ‘I’m chief. I was chosen.’ ‘Why should choosing make any difference...?’” (91)
Also, in Lord of the Flies, the boys turn savage and fall to the wills of nature rather than staying true to civilization. The boys turn to little beasts.
“‘Kill the pig, cut his throat, kill the pig, bash him in!’ Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.”
(115)
Finally, fear brings out the worst in the boys as well as crashing on the island did in the first place. The fear of the beast and themselves slowly drive them insane. “(To Simon) ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head. … ‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m a part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are’” (143)
As you can see, In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys portray the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear.
Contrary to Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the worst of mankind is shown mostly through jealousy. In the novel, Gene is constantly trying to out-do Finny.
“But while he was a very poor student I was a pretty good athlete, and when everything was thrown into the scales they would in the end tilt definitely toward me.” (47)
Furthermore, Gene actually admits that he is jealous of Finny to a healthy extent.
“I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (18)
Of course, this kind jealousy is not as friendly anymore when Gene jumbles the branch of the tree which they were both standing on, making Finny fall and break his leg. However, unlike Lord of the Flies, Gene feels guilty about what he has done soon afterwards.
“That night I had slept easy, and it was only on waking up that this illusion was gone, and I was confronted with myself, and what I had done to Finny.” (54)
In conclusion, the way the worst of mankind is portrayed in A Separate Peace by John Knowles is through jealousy between friends.
Violence in the children’s everyday life made the children themselves grow up violent. As Locke said, a human mind is blank until society contaminates. If you grow up in a war zone, you are likely to be more violent and open to conflict than someone who grew up in peace. Having said this, the boys in Lord of The Flies have experienced, first hand how war works. They might not have understood completely what was going on at the time, but they do know the violence surrounding them, and it shows as the novel progresses. The author of the novel, William Golding, had much experience with war.
“…such behavior could occur anywhere, even in a seemingly advanced nation such as England. ‘The overall picture,’ Golding wrote about Lord of the Flies, ‘was to be the tragic lesson that the English have had to learn over a period of one hundred years; that one lot of people is inherently like any other lot of people; and that the only enemy of man is inside him.’”
It is also not so much the idea of war itself that affects the boys, but also the ideas of intolerance and discrimination.
”In Golding's novel, the parachutist, which some readers saw as a symbol that God is dead, was meant to stand for off-campus history, ‘the thing which threatens every child everywhere, the history of blood and intolerance, of ignorance and prejudice, the thing which is dead but won't lie down.’”
An example of this in the book is when Jack discriminates Piggy for being fat, whereas Jack could be insecure towards the fact that Piggy is smarter than he is.
“A shadow fronted him tempestuously. ‘You shut up, you fat slug!’” (91)
All in all, the boys have been effected by the war through author’s purpose and experience, and the ideals of intolerance and discrimination in war.
The effect of war in A Separate Peace is much more direct to the story than in Lord of the Flies. For example, Leper Lepellier enlists in the war, and comes out a changed man, more psychotic than ever. “The army has the perfect word for everything, did you ever think of that?...And the perfect word for me…psycho. I guess I am. I must be. Am I though, or is the army? Because they turned everything inside out”
Also, the competitiveness of war seems to appear in Finny and Gene’s relationship, and how competitive Gene is towards Finny.
“Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies….We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (46)
Finally, the war is also what keeps the teachers and older people occupied, while Gene and Finny get away with anything they want.
”As we drifted to the summer, with this one inflexible appointment every day- classes could be cut, meals missed, chapel skipped-“(26)
In final, the backdrop of war affected A Separate Peace directly because the characters actually took place in the war and were hearing about it as it happened.
In the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles, both authors examine a story that takes place under limited adult supervision while in the backdrop of war. In this setting, the characters act out the worst of mankind. In Lord of the Flies, the main characters show the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear. Contrary to Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the worst of mankind is shown mostly through jealousy. Violence in the children’s everyday life made the children themselves grow up violent. Having said this, the boys in Lord of The Flies have experienced, first hand how war works. They might not have understood completely what was going on at the time, but they do know the violence surrounding them, and it shows as the novel progresses. The effect of war in A Separate Peace is much more direct to the story than in Lord of the Flies. As I stated in the beginning, the worst of mankind can come from any circumstance. Whether it be from a private school in New England, or a deserted island in the Pacific, or during a war, it can happen anywhere at any time, proving that the nature of man is, in fact, evil.
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the main characters show the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear.
In the novel, Jack is jealous of Ralph. Jack wants to be chief.
“(To Ralph) ‘ And you shut up! Who are you anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing-’ ‘I’m chief. I was chosen.’ ‘Why should choosing make any difference...?’” (91)
Also, in Lord of the Flies, the boys turn savage and fall to the wills of nature rather than staying true to civilization. The boys turn to little beasts.
“‘Kill the pig, cut his throat, kill the pig, bash him in!’ Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.”
(115)
Finally, fear brings out the worst in the boys as well as crashing on the island did in the first place. The fear of the beast and themselves slowly drive them insane. “(To Simon) ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head. … ‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m a part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are’” (143)
As you can see, In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys portray the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear.
Contrary to Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the worst of mankind is shown mostly through jealousy. In the novel, Gene is constantly trying to out-do Finny.
“But while he was a very poor student I was a pretty good athlete, and when everything was thrown into the scales they would in the end tilt definitely toward me.” (47)
Furthermore, Gene actually admits that he is jealous of Finny to a healthy extent.
“I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (18)
Of course, this kind jealousy is not as friendly anymore when Gene jumbles the branch of the tree which they were both standing on, making Finny fall and break his leg. However, unlike Lord of the Flies, Gene feels guilty about what he has done soon afterwards.
“That night I had slept easy, and it was only on waking up that this illusion was gone, and I was confronted with myself, and what I had done to Finny.” (54)
In conclusion, the way the worst of mankind is portrayed in A Separate Peace by John Knowles is through jealousy between friends.
Violence in the children’s everyday life made the children themselves grow up violent. As Locke said, a human mind is blank until society contaminates. If you grow up in a war zone, you are likely to be more violent and open to conflict than someone who grew up in peace. Having said this, the boys in Lord of The Flies have experienced, first hand how war works. They might not have understood completely what was going on at the time, but they do know the violence surrounding them, and it shows as the novel progresses. The author of the novel, William Golding, had much experience with war.
“…such behavior could occur anywhere, even in a seemingly advanced nation such as England. ‘The overall picture,’ Golding wrote about Lord of the Flies, ‘was to be the tragic lesson that the English have had to learn over a period of one hundred years; that one lot of people is inherently like any other lot of people; and that the only enemy of man is inside him.’”
It is also not so much the idea of war itself that affects the boys, but also the ideas of intolerance and discrimination.
”In Golding's novel, the parachutist, which some readers saw as a symbol that God is dead, was meant to stand for off-campus history, ‘the thing which threatens every child everywhere, the history of blood and intolerance, of ignorance and prejudice, the thing which is dead but won't lie down.’”
An example of this in the book is when Jack discriminates Piggy for being fat, whereas Jack could be insecure towards the fact that Piggy is smarter than he is.
“A shadow fronted him tempestuously. ‘You shut up, you fat slug!’” (91)
All in all, the boys have been effected by the war through author’s purpose and experience, and the ideals of intolerance and discrimination in war.
The effect of war in A Separate Peace is much more direct to the story than in Lord of the Flies. For example, Leper Lepellier enlists in the war, and comes out a changed man, more psychotic than ever. “The army has the perfect word for everything, did you ever think of that?...And the perfect word for me…psycho. I guess I am. I must be. Am I though, or is the army? Because they turned everything inside out”
Also, the competitiveness of war seems to appear in Finny and Gene’s relationship, and how competitive Gene is towards Finny.
“Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies….We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (46)
Finally, the war is also what keeps the teachers and older people occupied, while Gene and Finny get away with anything they want.
”As we drifted to the summer, with this one inflexible appointment every day- classes could be cut, meals missed, chapel skipped-“(26)
In final, the backdrop of war affected A Separate Peace directly because the characters actually took place in the war and were hearing about it as it happened.
In the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles, both authors examine a story that takes place under limited adult supervision while in the backdrop of war. In this setting, the characters act out the worst of mankind. In Lord of the Flies, the main characters show the worst of mankind through jealousy, savagery, and fear. Contrary to Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the worst of mankind is shown mostly through jealousy. Violence in the children’s everyday life made the children themselves grow up violent. Having said this, the boys in Lord of The Flies have experienced, first hand how war works. They might not have understood completely what was going on at the time, but they do know the violence surrounding them, and it shows as the novel progresses. The effect of war in A Separate Peace is much more direct to the story than in Lord of the Flies. As I stated in the beginning, the worst of mankind can come from any circumstance. Whether it be from a private school in New England, or a deserted island in the Pacific, or during a war, it can happen anywhere at any time, proving that the nature of man is, in fact, evil.