Restraint in Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness
Throughout Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness the importance
of restraint is greatly stressed. This being the restraint to remain human
and maintain sanity. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow was able to remain his
restriant despite how difficult it was for him. He was always surrounded
by cannibals and constant chaos. On the other hand, Kurtz was unable to
keep his restriant, as a result he lost his humanity and sanity, and
eventually died because of it. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is able to
restrain restrain, and he therefore remains human. He found it difficult
though, because there was only one other person who was able to do the
same- Piggy. Ralph was determined to maintain order, and he was very alone
because of it. Jack on the other hand, gave in to the temptation of simply
hunting and playing, and lost his humanity in the process. He became a
savage - not a human being, but a savage with a painted body and strange
barbaric ways. In contrast, the cannibals in Heart of Darkness, (who are
starving) could have easily had many satisfying meals. After all, they
outnumbered the whites thirty to five, but they still had necessary
restraint to refrain from savagely feasting on some of the easily
accessible seamen. Towards the end of the novel, Marlow becomes becomes
very close to losing his sanity, but also has the necessary restraint to
maintain it. He confuses the beat of a drum (the call to man's primative
side) with his own heartbeat, but is still able to restrain from slipping
over the edge as Kurt did. Ralph in Lord of the Flies is constantly faced
with temptation to join Jack and all of the other boys, especially when
Piggy dies and he is all alone. This makes it even more difficult to
restrain from giving in to Jack and his animalistic tribe. Therefore, it
is evident how important restrain is in these two novels. The ability to
do so may be the difference between life and death, and the one who can
restrain himself teh most is the one who prevails in the end.
In conclusion, it is evident that the authors of these two novels
wrote about their own life experiences because they were able to draw
emotion form things that actually haopened to them. Also, through Lord of
the Flies and Heart of Darkness, Golding and Conrad were able to express
the isolation that some of the characters were forced to endure, and the
importance of restraint in dealing with one's humanity. These compelling
novels leave the reader with two possible questions. Would I be able to
cope with the intense isolation? And, do I have the necessary restriant to
maintain the humanity which so many people take for granted? finally, the
reader would be left with a better understanding of the darkness, which
Golding and Conrad believed, each and every one of us possess somewhere,
deep down inside.
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