Savagery In Lord Of The Flies And The Maze Runner

“There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.”(Noam Chomsky) The natural savagery and selfishness in humans can ultimately destroy relationships. In William Golding's Lord of the flies and Wes Ball's The Maze Runner, human savagery leads to the group's’ demise, specifically the boys destroy their groups: through denial, scrutiny, and in cooperation.

Firstly the denial in Lord of the flies and Maze Runner plays a crucial role in the group's’ demise. The boys in the group are losing focus, denying the tasks they must complete and focusing on other less important tasks. For example, Jake states to Ralph

Jack is physically stronger than most of the boys, so he takes advantage of them and scrutinises them. In particular Jack breaks and steals Piggy's glasses. As a result, Piggy becomes weak and helpless which disconnects himself even more. Clearly Jack resorts to savage behavior to get what he wants, which disconnects him from others. Additionally, all the boys calling and singling out each other from the beginning already disconnects the group. For instance, Piggy says "I don't care what [you] call me so long as...[it's not] what they used to call me in school...They used to call me 'Piggy'!"(Golding11) This exposes that the boys scrutinizing each other causes them to like each other less, causing a fall out just because of savage joke. Similarly in The Maze Runner every opportunity Gally gets he will oppose Thomas thoughts. Alby says “Don't listen to him, he's just trying to scare you” This shows us that Gally is always scrutinizing Thomas. And Thomas is getting upset. This causes them to have a collapsing relationship. Additionally Gally fights, pushes, and insults Thomas Gally calls out Thomas “come here Greenie, cmon” This is very savage behavior and this causes tensions to ride between Thomas and Gally because he scrutinises Thomas’s physical

Ralph does not force the boys to do work, so tasks are left incomplete. In the book it says “They're hopeless. The older ones aren't much better.[...] All day I've been working[...] [everyone else] is off bathing, or eating, or playing. (Golding 64) this shows how the boys learn that they can get away with not working and do other tasks that involve savage behavior this causes Ralph to lose confidence and lose his leadership role. Furthermore, Ralph wants to create a similar society as he had before the plane crash, whereas Jack wants to Hunt. So Jack contradicts Ralph. "He's not a hunter. He'd never have got us meat. He isn't a perfect and we don't know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing. All this talk-"(Golding126) Ultimately, Jack’s ignorance was the tipping point for Ralph; Jack's lack of cooperation led to dismantle on the island. Similarly, Thomas disobeys the rules of the glade and runs into the maze even though he is not a maze runner. “He breaks our rules This shank needs to be punished” This proves that Thomas risking his life and running in like a savage upsets Gally because he does not cooperate with the