Discuss the pessimism that Golding and Garland present in the novels

Discuss the pessimism that Golding and Garland present in the novels

Lord of the Flies and The Beach. Show how both writers have a pessimistic

attitude to human nature.

Discuss the pessimism that Golding and Garland present in the novels

Lord of the Flies and The Beach. Show how both writers have a

pessimistic attitude to human nature.

Lord of the Flies was written in 1954, a time when commercialisation

was not an issue and media hype only had subtle effects on society.

The Beach was written in 1996, American globalisation had begun and

the media played a massive part in society. The different times

affect the novels in different ways. For example the technological

jargon language used in The Beach is very different to the Standard

English used in Lord of the Flies.

Both novels are similar in some ways yet different in others, although

either way they always have hints of pessimism. One of the ways the

novels are different is genre. The Beach at first seems to be travel

writing, so the reader expects to learn about the journey and culture

of the back-packing land of Bangkok, yet the main character Richard

travels to an isolated island, where there is a lot of different

cultures and races and no one shares the same value systems,

traditions, customs or beliefs so the genre seems shift slightly.

With Lord of the Flies it’s apparent at first that Golding may have

been influenced by the novels Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure

Island, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and R. M. Ballantyne’s Coral

Island. All are castaway’s novels. There is a reference to Coral

Island the officer who finds the boys nods “Jolly good show. Like the

Coral Island.” Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1954 after the war

as a realist answer to The Coral Island. In the 20th century book we

find the same two characters, Jack and Ralph both stranded on an

uninhabited island without adult supervision. Their reaction to

freedom and the unknown is absolutely different from Ballantyne's two

young adventurers. Instead of bringing civilization, they create

chaos, terror and death. The different reaction Golding’s characters

illustrate a novel for the more mature reader as an adventure novel,

which confounds the reader’s first expectations.

The most obvious resemblance between the novels is the setting and

isolation. Although at first glance the islands seem idyllic, both

writers plant seeds of evil, within the description of the paradise so

cracks can be seen.

In Lord of the Flies personification is used to describe the ideal

setting “palm fronds would whisper,” this creates a sense of calm.

Again the image of beauty is shown through the use of a metaphor to