Compare how the authors present and use the concept of the island setting in the extract from 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Lord of the Flies' (particularly chapters 1-3).

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Alexandra Kennedy. November 2002

Compare how the authors present and use the concept of the island setting in the extract from ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’ (particularly chapters 1-3)

William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a novel about good and evil, along with innocence and experience within society. Golding uses the boys’ innocence, and gives them time on the island to gain experience, then shows us how people react and change if they are left fully to their own devices. Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ shows that you have to have a strong sense of belief in something to make anything work. Both authors, writing at different times, reflect situations and actions they are familiar with to enhance their novels.

‘Lord of the Flies’ is a novel which may lead you to believe one thing, and then leads you in a totally different direction to explain it is, in fact the opposite.

“Perspectives of palm and beach water drew to a point near infinity”.

This is a good example of how Golding leads the reader to believe and imagine one thing, while he means something different. The description leads you to believe the island is like a paradise, it is difficult to imagine how a paradise could change so dramatically. He shows that you have to look farther than the surface to understand and grasp the truth. Golding uses the island to show that you have to look at the whole picture to understand what is happening. You have to see the good and the evil in everything in order to make sense of it.

‘Robinson Crusoe’, written in the first person allows the reader to empathise and understand the character. By using the first person Defoe can show exactly how Crusoe is feeling, it also makes Crusoe seem more isolated; the use of the first person promotes the isolation Defoe wants the island and Crusoe to feel. ‘Lord of the Flies’ is conversely written in the third person. This makes the reader feel more involved in the story and allows them to empathise with each character. The reader can get an overview of what is going on and this allows them to see how the story develops in their own way.

Robinson Crusoe discovers Defoe’s island after a storm which shattered his ship along with all the crew and passengers,

“Eleven in number, to God’s mercy and the wild sea”.

Robinson Crusoe sees the island and makes a life saving dash toward it. Crusoe, although

“Assisted myself to swim with all my might”

thought

“the land looked more frightful than the sea”.

This is because Crusoe didn’t know what to expect on the island, even with suspicions he sought to reach the shore. The island however is seen later as Crusoe’s refuge and is symbolic in his place of survival. The land housed him,

“Free from danger and quite out of reach of the water”.

The sea is personified during Crusoe’s life saving struggle, the sea is the first obstacle Crusoe has to overcome on his road to repentance. Crusoe has to fight against something to even get onto the island. Defoe wants this battle to show what God makes Crusoe face to show that he is really sorry for his sins.

The boys in ‘Lord of the Flies’ are thrown onto Golding’s island after a plane crash sends them plummeting into the forest of the island. The wreckage imprints a “scar” on the island, a long lasting memoir of the boy’s destruction and time there. The reader finds out little about how the boys arrive on the island, and learns only the same as each character learns through word of mouth from another. The introduction of many characters so early on in the novel creates confusion for the reader, confusion which is also felt by the characters. The way in which the boys arrive on the island contrasts to that of Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe sees the island and strives for it as a tool for survival; later Crusoe respects the island and tries not to interfere with it and its environment. The boys don’t honour or respect the island; they take it for granted unlike Crusoe. The boys quickly see the beauty of the island,

“The shore was fledged with palm trees”.

The boys are astounded,

“Forced at last to believe the reality of the island”

and find the beauty and the situation unbelievable. They feel they have landed in paradise; they have no idea how it could turn into a savagery and hell. They are not agitated, yet excited and happy; Ralph

“Laughed delightedly again and stood on his head”.

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As soon as the boys arrive they are excited and eager to be on the island. When Crusoe arrives he panics and runs around with anxiety,

“Making thousands of gestures and motions which I cannot describe”

far different from the excitement of Ralph. The boys were quick to elect a leader; consequently the leader who was chosen for superficial reasons was overthrown,

“Let him be chief with the trumpet thing”

showing that the boys didn’t really care that much about their leader, and that they were only playing along with the election to integrate themselves into island society. ...

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