Analysis of Setting in Lord of the Flies and I Only Came To Use The Phone

There are many different fears that one may have including: Monophobia, the fear of being alone, Agoraphobia, the fear of being in crowded places, and Achluophobia, the fear of being in the dark. While looking at these different phobias, one may notice that they all are specific ways that a person may act depending on the setting they are in. It is common for authors to place their characters in a designated setting to reveal the most basic traits of human conduct. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding establishes to his readers the type of isolation that a group of young boys would feel by putting them on a deserted island with no adults, having to adapt to the setting, and learn to survive and get along in a small, confined space. Similarly, in I Only Came to Use the Phone, Garcia Marquez also portrays the big idea of isolation by making the setting of the story a sanatorium for mentally disturbed women. Maria, the main character, whose car broke down in the middle of the desert, was taken to the institution to use the phone to call home, but once she got there she was separated from the rest of the world and was forced to stay there forever. In both stories the setting is very peaceful at the beginning, and so are the characters. As the stories continue, the setting starts to fall apart until the end where the setting is complete chaos, and the characters also become chaotic. One also will see that in the nighttime, characters become immoral about their decisions and actions. Throughout Lord of the Flies and I Only Came to Use the Phone the interaction between the setting and the characters shows a complete parallel. Depending on what the setting is, the characters will act in different ways.

In the beginning of the stories it...

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...completely different people. In Lord of the Flies it says, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but an awesome stranger.” (Golding, 63) In I Only Came to Use the Phone it says, “I don’t think I will ever be the same.” (Marquez, 89) By the authors isolating the characters it forces them to make choices that they may not think they would have ever made. The setting will affect any character to show their most basic tendencies and no matter what, the setting plays a huge role in the way that any character acts. One will realize that it might not be that the characters’ fault that they act the way they do, but the surroundings that they are forced into.

Works Cited

García, Márquez G. "I Only Came to Use the Phone." Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.