Comparing the similarity in themes in Alex Garland's 'The Beach' and William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'.

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Comparing the similarity in themes in Alex Garland’s ‘The Beach’ and William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’.

There are a number of themes which are common to The Beach by Alex Garland and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Four of these themes will be reviewed in this essay by comparing the characters and the events which occur. The themes are, first, isolation, which is developed in both books relatively near the beginning of each. Secondly, the fact that things are not as they seem, for example, “The vicious morning sun,” and, “the desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering,” from The Beach and Lord of the Flies respectively. Thirdly, in both novels insanity is a significant aspect, with particular reference to two of the key characters, Richard in The Beach and Simon from Lord of the Flies. Lastly, the way relationships of the characters develop is explored as the final theme.

An important concern for the authors is isolation. In The Beach and Lord of the Flies, Richard and Simon’s portrayal follows similar lines. When travelling by himself, Richard soon joins up with two other travellers and they arrive at the beach together. Soon, however, Richard becomes more of an ‘outsider’ when he faints on arrival at the beach, and feels isolated when he sees his travelling companions have bonded with other members of the community whilst he has been asleep,

Something made me hesitate before I stepped out from behind the tree-line. Seeing my two travelling companions on such friendly terms with the other swimmers felt strange. They were all laughing and calling each other by name. It made me realise how much I’d been left out by sleeping through the first night and day in the camp.

The Beach

This is the first sign of isolation in The Beach and from here, the portrayal of Richard becomes increasingly isolated as the plot progresses. Similarly in Lord of the Flies, Simon begins as a respected member of the community and is selected by Ralph, the leader, to accompany him exploring. However, as the novel develops, Simon becomes gradually more isolated, until many hardly notice he no longer spent time with them. Ralph says of him,

He’s queer. He’s funny Lord of the Flies

 He is isolated from the group mentally and physically, for, in his mind he believes the other inhabitants think he is strange and no longer useful to them. This is a quote from when Simon is talking to The Beast, a figment of the boys’ imagination,

Join now!

’Well then,’ said the Lord of the Flies, ‘you’d better run off and play with the others. They think you’re batty. You don’t want Ralph to think your batty do you?’

 Lord of the Flies

 Elsewhere there are more examples of Simon’s isolation,

He was kneeling down on one knee, looking down from a higher rock, alone.

                                                                Lord of the Flies

This might suggest that Simon is set apart from the others on a different level.

Both Richard’s and Simon’s isolation develops dramatically, with large sections of both books featuring them in complete separation from the ...

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This essay has a good go at addressing the similarities and differences in two books about similar ideas. I would like to see evidence from the texts embedded in the writing and more specific language analysis at word, sentence and text level. It may have been better to focus the essay on how one theme was presented in the two novels. 4 Stars