Lord of the Flies-Short Story connection

There are many similarities between Lord of the Flies and the short story we read in class despite the different turn of events and settings of the two pieces of work.

First of all, both Lord of the Flies and the story story features a setting in which two wars are taking place - one relatively minor, and the other major and influential on a global level.

In the short story, the two girls fight with each other over Hadiya, and she is constantly seen as a rival between the main character and Salem. She and Salem even fight with each other because she believes that Salem talked to Hadiya and she was not supposed to. Meanwhile, a bigger war is taking place between the Christians and the Muslims, which would technically make the two girls enemies, as one is Christian and the other Muslim. This bigger war affects the girls and their relationship, just like in Lord of the Flies.

In Lord of the Flies, both Ralph and Jack were trying to befriend and take control of the other boys. As Ralph is the protagonist, Jack plays the part of Hadiya (in comparison to the short story), and constantly acts as an obstacle between Ralph and his friendships with the other boys. Just like the short story, the boys create their own war (though this is still more violent than physical than that of the three 6-year-old girls). Meanwhile, the cause of the smaller war is because of WW2, which is significantly bigger than that on the island. This is similar to how the war between the Christians and Muslims caused the girls to argue, especially when Hadiya tells Salem things that she should not do as a Muslim. Therefore, both stories share the connection of the connections between the two wars that almost interconnect.

Second, both stories carry the same themes -- loss of innocence and the struggle between right and wrong.

The main character and her best friend were innocent little girls who where aware of little beyond their small community and the world and language that they created together. However, exposure to the negatives and destruction of society forced them to realize what the world was really about and how terrible it was. At the beginning of the short story, it was said, The world was only big enough for the two of you, and your secret language was an endless giggle, which made the other kids jealous.

In Lord of the Flies, the boys also had the same thoughts when they arrived on the island. They were very excited to get started and thought that until the adults came to save them, they could have their own little world and be free from the controls of society. Eyes shining, mouths open, triumphant, they savoured the right of domination. They were lifted up: were friends."

This showed that at the beginning, the boys were excited and unaware of what was going to happen. However, with the turn of events, they started turning against each other and fighting. The loss of innocence came when they realized what damage people could really do and how violent everything was. Like the short story, the loss of innocence came as an influence (either direct of indirect) from the large-scale war that was going on. The fighting of World War 2 brought the boys to the island and helped them realize the nature of man, while the conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the short story caused the girls to see all the cruel and evil things that people in the world around them were doing.

In the short story, there was also a non-stop battle of good verse evil. The two girls believed that what society and the educated adults were doing were evil and wrong. They did not want to hate and fight each other just because of religion, yet they were uncertain about going beyond the boundaries (even though they were wrong ) that the adults set for them. Yet, in the end, they won the battle by disobeying the faulty rules that the war brought forth and continued loving each other.

Though the boys strayed away from good and fell to evil in Lord of the Flies, Ralph, Simon and Piggy all fought the urge (to some degree) to be evil. Piggy questioned Jack's motives and wondered why he was always so evil towards him. Meanwhile, Ralph tried to understand why the boys stopped listening and what went wrong as they descended into savagery. Meanwhile, Simon battled the idea of the beast and how it was just the fear and evil within the boys.

Finally, just like Lord of the Flies, there was an example of insight in the short story. The main character had a dream about Salem and her running off with Hadiya, while she was left all alone. She dreamed that Hadiya inherited all of her good qualities and that Salem began to like her more, while the main character became ugly and twisted like the old coffee trees of Jimma.

You felt so bad you sobbed, and Hadiya came to hug you. She told you that it wasn't Salem's fault, that her parents wanted her to avoid you because you weren't one of them."


In Lord of the Flies, the "Lord of the Flies" talks to Simon about the nature of man and how he was all alone and should be evil like the other boys. Just like in the short story, the insight tried to tell Simon what was going on and what was the cause of the problem, but in a way that destroyed his hope and drained him of all his energy.

"There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"

In both cases, the insight tried to tell the character what was really going on in a negative manner. It told of the cause of all the problems, but only when there was no solution, which left the character in despair, but unable to do anything. In both cases, the situation ended up happier and more realistic than what the insight told, but it still helped to further despair and negativity in the climax of the story.

To summarize, the main connection from the two stories was the fight of wrong and right, and to find out for oneself what the right answer truly was.