Lord of the Flies, Coral Island and the Role of Adults

It is known that to fully appreciate the allegory sea captain of the wing (1954) by William Golding (1911-1993) it is necessary to have read Robert Michael Ballantynes (1825-1894) precious coral Island (1858), or at least to under contain its theme and treatment. And so, since it was Goldings intention to association himself to write an island story that deliberately challenged Ballantynes personate in precious coral Island -by inverting its assumptions and values- we can explore multiple angles from which the two novels can be comp bed and studied.An breaker point which beholdms quite interesting when analysing both texts is that one related to civilization and its pornographic exponents. After a thorough reading and focusing on rattling clear and specific elements we happen to notice the differences -as well as round similarities- among the roles and the significance of these adult characters in separately novel. We will counterbalance invoke to Goldings passe-part out of the Flies, in which there are miscellaneous examples of the complexity of the adult think. But we must commencement exercise refer to Goldings own experience at war in order to bugger off a clearer picture of his position towards our central concern.From the first years of his life, he faced the atrocities of war when he took part in the Second documentaryity War by joining the British Navy at 1940. The war, as a physical result, changed a lot Goldings view of life. He could not believe in mans innocence whatsoever longer. He found that still the children are not innocent. No one is innocent. The ideas of W. Goldings view of human temper can be found in almost any of Goldings books and particularly, in his first and most famous book, Lord of the flies 1. So, let us now focus on the novel itself.At a moment of uncert ainty-anguish the boys demand desperately for a signal from the human beings of grown-ups (Grown-ups know things said Piggy. They aint afraid of the d ark. Theyd meet and have tea and discuss. then(prenominal) things ud be all right They wouldnt set fire to the island. Or lose- Theyd build a ship- The three boys stood in the darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life. They wouldnt brawl- If only they could sire a message to us, cried Ralph desperately. If only they could send us something grown-up a sign or something. 2) In the next chapter what they get is a dead body of a man hanging from a parachute, a corpse which gets rotten as the story advances. Is this the adult figure they were time lag for? Or, should the top dog be Does this gift from air help them in any way to strengthen their boundaries with civilization? The dissolvent seems to be no. On the contrary, it makes them panic, slowly driving them mad and irrational. It unleashes violence, leads them to sacrifices and murder, and takes them back to a primitive stage.So up to now the adult figure does not seem to be associated with a posit ive role. However, there is another character in the novel who as well be brings very important as regards our analysis of the adult figure. Finally, when on the survive pages, Ralph is lying on the sand, ready to accept the blow which will carry off him, and he hears the silence around him, and he looks up up , he can first see some emblems of power, some symbols of the grown ups world and also of his father authority, and only then he can see a man a naval officer. This man happens to stop Ralphs brutal chase just by chance. Grown-ups have been dropping bombs and planes, and it was an atomic war which had make the childrens evacuation necessary in the first place. Who have gone crazy and been having an atomic war but the grown-ups themselves? 3 Again, a new question should be made Is this a real symbol of salvation? Or, How can an ambassador of an atomic war stand for the parental protection or even a mature model to be followed? The naval officers ignorance, his lack of und erstanding of what has been overtaking on, is ironical. Furthermore, what Golding is trying to make clear at this instance is the decadent figure of the human adult, and by extension, of the whole human civilized world. Let us now turn to R. M. Ballantynes Coral Island. Here, the concern about civilization, seems to be very well defined as well as frank and evil are so clearly separated that there cannot be any conflict between them. 5 In spite of this, when we come to a closer look we find a special complexity within a number of characters. Everything about Ballantynes boys, who are of age(p) by some years than Goldings boys, is confident and positive.The novel as a whole, pictures the assumptions and values of the Victorian period in affirming progress, imperialism, self-reliance, the Creator, the advantageouslyness of nature and of human nature- when Christianised at least 6 Actually, this is quite an interesting pointedness to focus on. On the one hand there are the disma l people referred to as the savages, who are in fact the native inhabitants from the neighbouring islands. They are a kind of primitive adults, constantly characterised as cruel, uncivilised inferior beings.Their rituals, their form of life, the whole of their culture is described as barbarian and amuck and Ralph, our young narrator, is deeply horrified at seeing them. They represented a menace to the boys, and they tried to escape from them or to stay in good but distant- terms with them, so as to keep them away from their coral island. On the other hand there are the pirates, who, paradoxically, are the likes of the rest of the fair-skinned characters- superior their ways are civilised, their clothes being the chief(prenominal) symbol of their superiority. What is interesting about these last ones is that they are at first described as representing a dangerous element as had already been the shark or the very ocean. Nevertheless, as the novel goes on, we are made to think that this wandering adults who travel overseas, robbing ships, conquering all that they found at their pace and kidnapping people, are actually not that bad. yet the pirates are better than the natives, more intelligent, cleaner, etc.But also, as we reach the end of the novel, we unawares meet some educated peaceful missionaries who work a miracle when they get to the island the boys are captured in and manage to convert the wild savages into Christians and they embrace our Lords Gospel. It must be understood that the priests agent for being there is to abolish the beliefs of an entire human group and the pirates are traditionally thought of as being thieves, kidnappers and violent conquerors. But, somehow, this is not the escort Ballantyne depicts towards the end of the novel. Given, thus, the complex nature of these beings, a new different question arises.What is the true nature of adults-civilization for Ballantyne? How come that adults like the priest and the pirates can be repr esentatives of good or salvation? Are the adults capable of completely changing their previous evil nature all of a sudden? Obviously, the answer seems to rely on the moral outlook, the Victorian ethos, which bathes the whole novel. The didactic intentions are clear. His intentions are to teach his readers, not only to inform them about the wonders and terrors of the Pacific Islands, but also to make them reflect on the power, goodness, glory of matinee idol and make them better people. As a result, by comparing and separate both novels from the opposed perspectives of the two authors , we identify the key elements inherent to each one as regards our main topic. Basically, while in Ballantynes Coral Island the prevalent view of man was that based on the confidence of the smock man 9 in Goldings Lord of the Flies the thesis is based on the mans fallen nature myth, expressing through with(predicate) it his belief in mans other nature, the dark and criminal nature. 0 Mainly, bo th Ballantyne and Goldings perceptions about adulthood and civilization set forth not only because of a completely divergent perception on the world -which derives from their personal experiences- but also because of the time when each novel was written and the totally different socio-political scenery in which they were developed. 1 stuff obtained from http//www. geocities. com/Athens/Forum/6249/bio. htm 2 The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (p. 117) Faber and Faber limit (1954) 3 Notes provided by the teacher on The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Notes provided by the teacher on The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. 5 Notes provided by the teacher on The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. 6 Notes provided by the teacher on Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. 7 Macmillan overpower Guide, The Lord of the Flies, 1986 8 Notes provided by the teacher on Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. 9 Notes provided by the teacher on Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. 10 Notes provided by the teacher on Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. 11Macmillan Master Guide, The Lord of the Flies, 1986