preview

The Flies: A Comparison

Better Essays

A Comparison of The Destructors and Lord of the Flies

In Graham Greene's "The Destructors," the author presents the

Wormsley Common car-park gang, a group of adolescent

delinquents who commit petty crimes for fun. William Golding, in

his novel Lord of the Flies, presents a slightly younger group of

boys who are wrecked on an uninhabited island and develop a

primitive society that eventually collapses and gives way to

despotic savagery. Although these two cases seem rather

different, the boys in both situations show common

characteristics. They react to the outside environment of their

worlds in similar ways. There are also trends in the development

of the dynamic characters in each …show more content…

The

boys, who hate all that is of a class above theirs, do not trust

him, and see him as a mean old tyrant. A simple kind act is

grossly misinterpreted by the boys, who have hardly ever

experienced kindness:

"I got some chocolates," Mr. Thomas said. "Don't like Ôem

myself. Here you are. Not enough to go around, I don't suppose.

There never is," he added with somber conviction. He handed

over three packs of Smarties.

The gang were puzzled and perturbed by this action and tried to

explain it away. "Bet someone dropped them and he picked Ôem

up," somebody suggested.

"Pinched Ôem and then got in a bleeding

funk," another thought aloud.

"It's a bribe," Summers said. "He wants us

to stop bouncing balls on his wall."

"We'll show him we don't take bribes," Blackie said,

and they sacrificed the whole morning to the game of bouncing

that only Mike was young enough to enjoy. There was no sign

from Mr. Thomas. (Greene 50)

This complete lack of trust not only shows that the boys have

never been given anything for free, it also demonstrates the hate

that the boys have for Old Misery and how they distance

themselves from him. They form a belief system surrounding him

in the same way that the boys in Lord of the Flies do for their

beast. The beast in Lord of the Flies is a

Get Access