Similarities Between Lord Of The Flies And 1984

970 Words4 Pages
William Golding and George Orwell are renowned for their dystopian novels Lord of the Flies and 1984, respectively. In these novels, both authors attempt to display the problems and shortcomings of society and provide a warning for their readers. Naturally, the topics of government and surveillance come to mind when speaking of 1984 while the argument of primal instinct versus civilization is the main focus of discussions regarding Lord of the Flies. However, the lessons that these novels impart are not limited to these areas. A major consideration in both of these works is that being different casts the protagonists into perilous situations. The persisting issue of a person’s differences in personality or habit causing them to be labeled…show more content…
It is these traits that cause Piggy to be seen as a nuisance to the other boys on the island. Before he even knows Piggy, Jake states, “Shut up, Fatty” (Golding 21), and the rest of the boys simply laugh along. He is both visibly and intellectually different, so he presents an easy target. Similarly, Winston, who is the prime example from 1984, is vastly dissimilar from those around him, though not in chiefly visible ways. Instead, Winston differs in his thoughts. In his mind, his divergence of thought was him committing “the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it” (Orwell 19). However, this difference, though invisible, is still a major deviation from the norm of orthodoxy that controls the majority of the Party. It is this “thoughtcrime” from Winston and the obvious differences of Piggy that ultimately put these characters in…show more content…
It is this separation that puts them in danger. Being a nuisance causes one to be excluded from the larger group. Piggy, as an annoyance to Jack, was unwanted in the savage tribe, and Roger, “with a sense of delirious abandonment” (Golding 180) that had become the norm Piggy did not fit, released the boulder intended that ultimately killed Piggy. Isolation cannot be construed as a cause of death, though that was the case for Piggy. In fact, even involvement is dangerous, as proved by Syme’s situation. Syme is too conventional. It was Syme’s orthodoxy that caused him to be vaporized and simply wiped from existence. Nevertheless, having a different thought is similarly unsafe. Both the boy with the mulberry birthmark and Winston set themselves apart with their contrasting notions. The boy is largely ignored after he first mentions the beast, so when the fire is started, none of the other boys know where he is. It is assumed that he perished in the fire because his unwanted suggestion annoyed the “bigguns” who then forgot him. Winston’s contrasting notions, however, are vastly more expansive and encompass the entire spectrum of “thoughtcrime.” Winston, while the others had little or no say in their differences, knew that he was putting himself in danger, writing, “theyll shoot me i dont care theyll shoot

    More about Similarities Between Lord Of The Flies And 1984

      Open Document