Indicating universal ideas, a theme is the main idea
of a literary work. It is often expressed indirectly, and it can be emphasized
by symbols and recurring motifs throughout a work. Authors generally state
multiple themes and use various ways to present them in their works — such as
through conversations, feelings of a character towards the subject of work,
events happening in a narrative, and so on. Sometimes, some literary works are
alike in terms of their themes even if they were produced at different times
and settings. Lord Of The Flies and The Outsiders can be given as examples of
this situation. These two novels, having both similarities and differences in
the style of expression, show the defects of society to readers by establishing
connections with human nature.
INHERENT EVIL OF HUMAN NATURE: TENDENCY FOR VIOLENCE AND LOSS OF INNOCENCE
Firstly, the novels have similarities in terms of a
tendency for violence and loss of innocence issues. In Lord Of the Flies,
although the boys who survived a plane crash get along with each other
initially, the onset of deadly hostility between Ralph, representing the
civilization in an uncharted island’s conditions, and Jack, representing
savagery, appears when Ralph is elected as a chief. As endeavours for being civilized
fail, and the instinct of being savage tempts the boys, this hostility
increases — which causes brutal violence on the island. The horrible killings
of Simon and Piggy — who are on Ralph’s side. — by savage Jack and his tribe
can be good examples to show how brutally violent acts happen on the island. In
chapter 9, while Jack and his savage tribe dance wildly along the beach, Simon
comes out of the jungle, to tell the truth about the beast, but the boys think
he is the beast and starts to hit him. Ralph and Piggy attend the tribe’s
frenzied dance, and they don’t try to stop the killing of Simon. All these
prove that violence is inherent even in humans who represent order and
civilization. And in chapter 11, While Jack and Ralph fight with each other at
the Castle Rock, Roger, the henchman of Jack, pushes a giant rock down, and it
strikes Piggy, thereby killing him brutally. In addition to these killings,
there are other things to support the violence issue. For instance, in chapter
4, Roger follows Henry, one of the littluns on the island, and even if he
deliberately misses the target, he throws rocks at Henry. This shows that
although there are still some signs of civilization imposed by adults, the
inherent tendency for violence starts to arise among the boys as time passes on
the uncharted island. Moreover, towards the end of the novel, in chapter 12,
Jack and his savage tribe chase Ralph to kill him, and even some of the boys
set fire to the jungle in order that Ralph leaves his hiding place due to smoke — which
ironically serves as a signal fire and helps them to be rescued. This indicates
that the inherent tendency for violence knows no bounds when there isn’t
civilization. In The Outsiders, there are a lot of violent acts between two
rival groups, the Greasers and the Socials. Violence stars on the first pages
of the book. Ponyboy Curtis, who is one of the Greasers and the narrator of the
novel, walks alone on the street after seeing a movie. While he walks, a red
Corvair with the Socials follows him. Then the car stops beside Ponyboy, and
getting off the car, five Socs start to beat him. They do this just because he
is a Greaser, which shows us a societal defect in those times — hostility
between rival gangs. Also, as it is understood from Ponyboy’s narration on page
5, “I had never been jumped, but I had
seen Johnny after four Socs got hold of him, and it wasn’t pretty. Johnny was
scared of his own shadow after that.” Such violence has happened before. After his brothers,
Darry Curtis and Sodapop Curtis, and other Greasers take Ponyboy home, Darry,
who is Ponyboy’s older brother, starts to scold him for walking alone.
Furthermore, as on page 12, “And if you
did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade.”,
he thinks his brother should carry a knife when he is alone outside, which
shows Darry’s supportive thoughts towards violence. In chapter 4, violence
between the Greasers and the Socs happens again, and this time it causes a
killing. While Ponyboy and Johnny walk beside the fountain, they encounter the
Socs. Five Socs get out of the car, and a fierce quarrel starts between five
Socs and two Greasers. When a Soc puts Ponyboy’s head into the water of the fountain,
the inherently violent side of humans arises. Johnny stabs the Soc to death,
who tries to drown Ponyboy. There are many violent acts happening in The
Outsider until this chapter, yet this is the first act causing a killing. And
this killing is done by Johnny who is known for his quiet and vulnerable
nature, which proves that tendency for violence is inherent and is a defect of
human nature. When it comes to the loss of innocence issue, it can be said that
humans lose their innocence when they are controlled by their evil nature. This
can be proved in both novels. In Lord Of the Flies, all the boys are innocent
and orderly at the beginning. They try to build shelters, signal fire, and
swim. However, as they spend time on an uncharted island without civilization
imposed by adults, the innate evil existing naturally in human nature reveals
itself, and they become sorely savage. Some of them harass little ones — as
Roger and Jack do, do frenzied dances and hunt savagely. Also, they brutally
kill others, such as the killings of Simon and Piggy, and even the
representatives of order and civilization among them — Ralph and Piggy, are
being mere spectators when savage ones kill someone ruthlessly — as Simon is
killed on page 219. Moreover, the sow’s head impaled on a stake is a good
example to show how the boys lose their innocence and become savage. In The
Outsiders, Ponyboy and Johnny are distinguished with their innocence. This may
be because they are younger than other Greasers, and the older Greasers, particularly
Darry and Dally, try to keep them out of all violence. However, as events
unfold, how Ponyboy and Johnny lose their innocence is seen. In chapter 4,
Johnny kills a Soc, which no longer makes him innocent. And Ponyboy holds a
broken bottle and threatens some Socs to kill towards the end of the novel.
When Two-Bit tries to calm him down, he says to Ponyboy “Ponyboy, listen, don’t get tough. You’re not
like the rest of us and don’t try to be…” (pg. 146). The phrase
“the rest of us” here
may refer to the other Greasers who have lost their innocence already.
SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS
Secondly, the novels have differences regarding
their settings and characters. In Lord Of the Flies, the story takes place on
an uncharted tropical island where a plane evacuating some British boys
crashes. A few boys aged between 6 to 14 survive this crash, and through events
happening between these boys, the clash between civilization and savagery and
how the inherent evil of humans reveals itself are shown. Time isn’t certainly
known, but it may be around the 50s when there were fears about wars and atomic
bombs. Shooting down the boys’ plane and some conversations — such as “We was attacked!” (pg. 8) and “Not them. Didn’t you hear what the pilot said?
About the atom bomb? They’re all dead.” (pg.16) — can support
this guess. Also, LOtF’s war background might be used to refer to the evil
nature of humans. Characters in LOtF are young British boys who are divided
into two camps later. These two camps represent civilization and savagery
respectively, yet both camps contribute to showing the inherent evil of human
nature in some ways mentioned before. In addition, the use of children as
characters is a good choice to address the loss of innocence issue. However, in
The Outsiders, the story takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the time is the
60s when there were problems with gang rivalry in the US. Societal defects
connected with human nature are shown through quarrels between two rival gangs,
the Greasers and the Socials. The Greasers are poor ones who rule the east side
of the town, and the Socials are rich ones who rule the west side of the town.
Gang rivalry background and both gangs’ strong tendency for violence are
primary aspects to show the evil nature humans have. Also, it can be said that
while showing societal defects connected with human nature to readers, Lord Of
the Flies creates a dystopian, political atmosphere, yet The Outsiders creates
an atmosphere relating to class struggle and social relations.
IN CONCLUSION
To sum up, it is possible that some literary works
produced in different times and settings have similarities regarding their
themes. Two novels, Lord Of The Flies and The Outsiders, can be very good
examples of this. Both novels address the same theme, societal defects
connected with human nature, by having similarities and differences. While
addressing their themes, both novels put emphasis on the tendency for violence
and loss of innocence issue, yet they differ from each other in terms of
setting and characters.
#english #literature #languageandliterature
#language #elt #esl #esl #novel #williamgolding #sehinton #lordoftheflies
#theoutsiders #teaching #analysis #learning #learningenglish
#comparativeanalysis #furkanakbaselt
Comments
Post a Comment