The Lord of the Flies and I Only Came to Use the Phone

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Recommended: Human society and politics in lord of the flies

The authors of “I Only Came to use the Phone” and Lord of the Flies show that human nature is to be corrupt and savage. In both texts the authors use juxtaposition and imagery to show how characters in both stories effectively personify these characteristics, either by being placed in situations they are not accustomed to, or by being in power and abusing it. In “I Only Came to Use the Phone” Maria is juxtaposed against the matrons to show corruption and savagery throughout the insane asylum. There is also imagery in the short story to highlight the dark, corrupt feeling the reader may get from the text. In Lord of the Flies, however, Jack is juxtaposed against Ralph and Piggy to demonstrate the savagery and corruption that can is seen in Jack’s character. The imagery created in Lord of the Flies is used by the author to produce a sense that the boys are going to resort to savage, primitive behaviors to cope on the island, which they do.
Juxtaposition is seen early on in “I Only Came to Use the Phone” when Maria is first admitted into the sanitorium, and it is portrayed as a seemingly nice place to be when she is in the room with the doctor:
“Now is the time to cry to your heart’s content,” The doctor said in a soporific voice. “Tears are the best medicine.” Maria unburdened herself without shame, as she had never been able to do with her casual lovers in the empty times that followed lovemaking… This was, for the first time in her life, the miracle of being understood by a man who listened to her with all his heart and did not expect to go to bed with her as a reward. (76)
While this quote may not show the corruption of the staff at the asylum, the reader does see from this quote Maria’s corrupt nature by practically selling ...

... middle of paper ...

... therefore, tried to kill him.
The author of “I Only Came to Use the Phone” as well as the author of Lord of the Flies both use the techniques of juxtaposition and imagery to show that the human nature of people is to be corrupted and savage. However differently they may choose to represent these qualities, both texts demonstrate that when humans are placed in unfamiliar situations, they will always resort back to primitive instincts of corruption and savagery to cope with their surroundings. As well as people may choose to abuse their power of authority to get what they want. Just like Jack, Maria, the matron, Ralph and Piggy, sometimes, you will just do anything to get what you want.

Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1954. Print.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. I Only Came to Use the Phone. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

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