The only adult relationship in ‘Lord of the Flies’ is very brief, it is between Ralph and the Navy Officer who has come to rescue the boys from the island. The officer does not understand Ralph or what has happened on the island. This is different to the relationship that Jane has with Bessie. Bessie orders Jane around and because of this, Jane hates her.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ Ralph tells the other children about the strong relationship that he had with is father and in ‘Jane Eyre’ we are told that Jane and her father shared a strong relationship. Both of their fathers are dead.
When Jane is living at Gateshead, she is bullied by John Reed for no apparent reason apart from the fact that he doesn’t like her and he needs to feel powerful. The reason that Jane is bullied is the same reason that the boys bully Piggy in ‘Lord of the Flies’ because he is different and they need to feel powerful. When Rodger throws a stone at a ‘littlun’ he throw it deliberately to miss but he is demonstrating his power that he could throw the stone at the ‘littlun’ if he wanted to. John Reed does not hold back when he wants to bully Jane – there is no margin of what he can and cannot do to her.
Bullying in ‘Jane Eyre’ and in ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a strong subject that happens throughout the books. In ‘Jane Eyre’ Jane is tormented by John Reed mentally and physically, he torments her with the fact that her parents are dead and the only reason she is living with them is because his late father made a promise to look after her. Physically he abuses her by hitting her and being violent. In ‘Lord of the Flies’ the boys tease and torment Piggy about his weight (by using the name ‘Piggy’) and for being different. Piggy does not fight back but just asks questions about why they are bullying him. Jane however is happy to fight back with attacks and words.
The reason that Jane is bullied is because John can bully her and get away with it without getting into trouble. He exercises his power over Jane by beating her regularly just like Jack feels he can bully Piggy because he is higher in the group than he is. Piggy does not fight back when he is attacked.
Good and Evil are strong subjects in both books because there are good and evil characters in both novels. In ‘Jane Eyre’ Jane sees Miss Scatchard as being evil towards her friend Helen, She feels that Helen is being punished for no reason: ‘I observed you in your class this morning and your thoughts never wander. Now mine continually rove away.’ To This Helen says that Miss Scatchard dislikes her faults. In ‘Lord of the Flies’ Jack punishes Piggy by not allowing him any food. His reason was that because he didn’t hunt, he shouldn’t get any food. Jack like Miss Scatchard is dominant over Piggy an is using his power to be evil to Piggy because just like John and Miss Scatchard – he can get away with it.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ Simon represents the ‘good’ person on the island. He doesn’t argue with the other boys and always does what he is asked. He never feels to be violent. He is similar to Helen; she never feels the need to use violence to solve her problems and lives by what Christ said: ‘Love your enemies. ’She has a reason to be violent but she resists. Simon and Helen both believe that violence doesn’t solve anything.
Jane likes to read books, when we first meet her in ‘Jane Eyre’ she is reading ‘Bewicks History of British Birds’. The children in ‘Lord of the Flies’ also read books because there is a reference to ‘Coral Island’ and ‘Swallows and Amazons’.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ is does not say much about the children’s education before their life on the island, all that is known is that Jack was the head of the choir so he must have been well taught and educated. Piggy shows signs of intellect because he is always thinking of ways to get off the island and is inquisitive because he always asks questions.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ education had an effect on the way the boys treated each other in their first days on the island. They set up a Democracy and had meetings. They elected a leader and made a decision to light a fire to attract attention. Rodgers education taught him that he shouldn’t throw stones at people.
This is similar to the way that Helen doesn’t use violence in ‘Jane Eyre’. Rodger uses violence more and more throughout the book to solve problems and becomes Jack’s right hand man when he becomes leader. Helen never uses violence but Jane meets violence with violence to make sure she is treated fairly.
Religion is a feature that occurs often in these novels. In ‘Lord of the Flies’ when Simon brings food for the littluns we are reminded of Jesus feeding the Five Thousand. Simon is often perceived as being ‘Christ Like’ because there are many times that he does good for other people and the way that he acts. When Simon comes down from the mountain after discovering what the beast really is he finds that the boys have become savages and have begun to worship false idols. Simon is killed by the other boys before he can tell them the good news that he has discovered about the beast. This is similar to the Bible when Jesus comes down from heaven to tell the people of the world that they will be forgiven for their sins and is killed. When Simon dies his death is described beautifully as if he was an important person worthy of a proper burial.
In ‘Jane Eyre’ a character also like Christ is Helen Burns. She is nice to Jane when they first meet and she immediately recognises that Helen is a good person with good nature but is bullied by those who dislike her. Jane says to Helen ‘You say you have faults, Helen, what are they? To me you seem very good’ Helen is bullied by a teacher called Miss. Scatchard, but Helen won’t admit that she is cruel to her, but recognises her faults and punishes her for them just like Christ was killed because he was spreading the word of God. Helen describes the teachers as being naturally neat and punctual. Helen wants Jane to learn from her mistakes, she often reads the Bible and does not resort to violence because of what it says.
