Comparative Essay Sample: Lord of the Flies and The Body

📌Category: Books, Lord of the Flies, William Golding, Writers
📌Words: 1200
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 17 June 2022

Throughout the events in William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, the actions and feelings of the boys coincides in many ways with a familiar novel by the name of, The Body, a novel written by the infamous Stephen King. The story tells of narrator Gordie Lachance reflecting on when he and his three friends, Chris, Teddy, and Vern went looking for a missing boy named Ray Brower. On their journey, the group is convinced the boy might be dead, which opens them to the reality of life and death. At one point, they see what they believe to be the ghost of Ray Brower, which strikes a similar fear in them as the boys in Lord of The Flies. While each of the four kids agreed to set out to find the boy initially, some changed their mind and felt the body should be left, their different opinions creating conflict amongst friends. An article written by Brian Tracy on the subconscious mind shows how The boys in Lord of the Flies are oblivious to the evil side of humans taking over the survivors.The character development for The Body is in some ways very much like Lord of the Flies. 

In The Body, Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy keep the thought of Ray Brower in their head throughout the walk. They all have a sense the boy could be just lost, or could be dead. They even encounter what they believe to be Ray Brower’s ghost. The two novels show both groups having opinions on one topic. While also dealing with the death of his older brother Dennis, Gordie began to really grasp the meaning of life and how frightening the realization of death is. When the four boys found the body, they were shocked.He had been hit by the train.The main character of the story,Gordie, said in the novel,”I think he was down here and relatively intact instead of up there between the rails and completely mangled because he was trying to get out of the way when the train hit him, knocking him head over heels” (King , 462).  A major component to Lord of the Flies is this fear of a beast that haunts some and thrills others. Some boys don’t believe in the beast at all which creates problems when trying to survive. For example, the problematic Jack tells the group, “Well then-I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there was a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that-but there is no beast in the forest” (Golding ,83). Jack and Piggy’s disbelief differs from Ralph and Simon, who exercise the theory that the beast is not something you can kill, but that of the subconscious mind. In Brian Tracy’s article on the power of the subconscious mind, he states,”Your subconscious mind is subjective.It does not think or reason independently;it merely obeys the commands it receives from your conscious mind” (Tracy). What he means here is that the subconscious mind is simply entertained by your conscious mind. So the idea of the beast is in their conscious mind, which leads them to believe it more and more.Simon soon realizes that the so-called beast is a dead parachuter but before he can tell the other boys this, they have attacked him thinking he was the beast. So Simon’s concept really did happen to be true, although the group never found out ironically. Although The Body had a shared topic among the boy who died, it didn’t share a major conflict resulting in death to the group. In terms of Lord of the Flies, the characters had split opinions on whether or not the beast was an existing problem for the survivors on the island. Eventually changing as time went on, Jack started to believe in the beast more and more and he wants to hunt the beast now. Their perspective changed which has brought the two groups together yet things are still tense. The boys deal with external conflicts throughout their time trying to deal with the beast.

It was when their guard was down that the crew saw the ghost. The sight of a ghost wasn’t the only thing they’re worried about. They thought it was a bad sign of things to come afterwards too. A similar feeling Jack,Piggy,Ralph, and Simon got when things started going south. Jack was frightened at first, but his rage and will to hunt urged him to hunt even more .Piggy was scared to death over the beast, while Ralph and Simon were just worried of the pure evil in some of the group, believing that is the only beast.”What I mean is...maybe it’s only us” (Golding, 89).  They theorize over origins of the beast and how it could have possibly got onto the island. Another discussion between the group at the meeting is where this beast is on the island at the current time. They have not yet pinpointed an actual beast, but only images in their minds of what one would look like. As for the other novel, the time of the ghost sighting is actually difficult for Gordie to grasp. This is because of a bad dream he had while he was sleeping. It consisted of him and his friends drowning because of what Chris had said to Gordie about friends drowning you in the story. Both groups actually witnessed something physical in their journey and so did Ralph and Jack. The dead parachuter signifies civilization, but ultimately the beast too. The physical representation is included in both stories, proving that the internal conflict is deeper than the characters think at first.

When leading a group, you always want to do what's right and make the best decisions. Throughout the trip, they struggled with the thought of turning around and yet had the desire to keep going. They argue and make fun of each other over their opinions on what to do, when Gordie says to leave the body. When the body is found by the river, the boys decide to leave the body before Chris’s brother and “Ace” show up for the same thing. After back and forth arguing, Chris pulled a gun out of their bag and threatened Ace. They backed off and the body was called in through an anonymous tip. Then Ace and Chris’ brother beat up the four boys for robbing them of the fame. Their struggle relates to the boys of Lord of the Flies when they had a dispute over hunting. Jack claimed he could hunt the beast and took whoever wanted to go with him.This frustrates Ralph because Jack is not doing his part for the group.It’s almost like a cat and mouse, and Jack is just chasing around something that can’t be overlooked.  

These two novels have a nice character development that displays their personalities well. When all the boys decided to leave the body of Ray Brower, they ultimately switched their perspective on what finding Ray meant. The fear brought upon both the four boys and the boys in Lord of the Flies comes from within a ghost sighting of Ray Brower. Jack,Ralph,Piggy and Simon fear the beast on the island. The reality of life and death is an important takeaway from this especially these young kids seeing a dead person. It forces you to accept that one day you will face death.It is normal for something like that to be uncomfortable for anyone. These two novels share similarities through different perspectives and mindsets which is something that can be appreciated.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin 1954.

King, Stephen. The Body. Hodder, 2021.

Tracy, Brian. “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.” Brian Tracy, Brian Tracy International Publisher Logo, 12 Dec. 2018, https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/understanding-your-subconscious-mind/.  December 15, 2021.

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