A Comparison of Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

A Comparison of Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Works Cited Missing I compared the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of

Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The novels contain a great deal in common

and the similarities between these two novels begin with their

authors. The personal experiences of both Golding and Conrad

encouraged them to write their novels. William Golding was greatly

influenced by the violence and cruelty he witnessed during WWII, which

forced him to realize the innate evil in man and his disgusted view of

human nature is reflected in Lord of the Flies. Joseph Conrad's

experiences commanding a steamboat down the Belgian Congo showed him

man's capacity for evil and Conrad used his experiences as an outline

for Heart of Darkness. The result is that both novels explore the

central themes of civilization versus savagery, man's inhumanity to

man, man's capacity for evil, and the desire for power.

Both Conrad and Golding believed in the idea that all human beings

have a dark side that is kept in touch by civilization and their

novels showed what would happen if a man was isolated from

civilization long, enough to begin ignoring the morals that society

had enforced upon him. His civilized instincts would begin to compete

with his savage instincts to form the conflict between civilization

and savagery, which is a ma...

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... Jack and Kurtz do gain the power that they desire and they

are both almost worshiped like gods. Jack is described on page 149 as

"painted and garlanded, sitting there like an idol. There were piles

of meat on green leaves near him, and fruit, and coconut shells full

of drink". This shows how Jack has become almost a god-like king, to

be worshipped and offered gifts. Kurtz actually is worshipped as a god

among the natives. Kurtz great power over the natives is described by

the Russian on page 53 when he tells Marlow that "he was not afraid of

the natives; they would not stir till Mr. Kurtz gave the word. His

ascendancy was extraordinary". The Russian then goes on to describe

how the native's chiefs would even crawl in Mr. Kurtz's presence.

Marlow finds it revolting that Kurtz allows himself to be worshipped

like a god.