Difference in Political Systems in The Lord Of The Flies, and The Maze Runner

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Dystopian literature, though widely regarded as a modern genre, has been a recurrent theme of popular and literary fiction since way back in the eighteenth century. Defined as a society which is in some important way undesirable or frightening– the opposite of a utopia – some of the most popular books in history have focused on a dystopian-like society or world, such as George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. One of the most well known novels in this genre is Lord of the Flies by William Golding, about a group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island who try to govern themselves with disastrous results. Although it was not a great success at the time (it went out of print in 1955 due to unsatisfactory sales) it soon went on to become a best-seller, and by the early 1960s was required reading in many schools and colleges. The book has influenced many writers- such as Stephen King- and spawned television shows such as Lost, Survivor, and Big Brother. The author James Dashner cites Lord of the Flies as one of his inspirations for his novel The Maze Runner, which also features a group of boys who in are trapped inside a foreign place and must try to discover a way to escape safely. These two novels – Lord of the Flies and The Maze Runner – are similar in that both groups of boys are driven by their struggle for order instead of chaos and civilization rather than savagery (particularly through the use of characters), but differ in the way that each group deals with the need for self-government and reactivity.
In the aftermath of a disaster, the instinctive human reaction is to search for stability and direction. The first steps taken towards recovery are often laid out in catastrophe response plans which dictate th...

... middle of paper ...

...handles their foe and the ultimate outcome this leads them to. Behind every great novel hides an even greater creative mind, and it is obvious that the authors of these two tales have used the talents at their disposal to the full potential, and demonstrated extremely effective understanding of the human condition.

Works Cited
Dashner, James. The Maze Runner. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.
"Disaster Psychology." American Society of Safety Engineers. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .
"Gally." The Maze Runner Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. .
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.
"Lord of the Flies." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. .

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