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Similarities Between 1984 And Lord Of The Flies

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Control in the Hands of the Hierarchy The roles of the high, middle, and lower class have had a huge place in society because each class plays its own unique role. The novels 1984 and Lord of the Flies each have a distinct class system that allows things such as food, language, and harm to dictate the means of survival by the power of their leaders. In 1984, the lower class makes war materials out of the fear of war, while in Lord of the Flies, the lower class relies on Jack for maintaining the only food source available on the island; thus, both novels have a hierarchy that leads the power to those who have the basic life necessities one needs to live. Throughout both novels, a hierarchy is established by who has the link between necessities …show more content…

In Lord of the Flies, almost all of the “littleluns” and “bigguns” join Jack’s group because of his food source. However, it is not just the source of food that makes them gather to his side, it is the fear of getting tortured that makes them. They know that if they would stay on the side of Ralph’s or even attempt to leave Jack’s side, there would be deathly consequences. For example, Jack exclaims, “Tie them up!” He is referring to tying up Ralph and Piggy who are the current enemies against Jack’s group. The people who are supposed to carry this out are Sam and Eric who went to Jack’s side due to fear of this similar event happening to them (Golding, 179). Thus, they are doing this out of fear to stay alive. This also correlates with 1984 because there is this continuous threat that there is a war going on outside of Oceania. The lower class constantly works to make weapons and materials out of the fear of dying. They are making these materials out of support for the Party because the Party claims to be protecting them. Little do they know that there actually is no war, the Party is making them manufacture materials to maintain being of highest power. Orwell wrote, “In so far as the war has a direct economic purpose, it is a war for labor power” (Orwell 187) Each of these novels use the fear of getting harmed as control of the lower

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