Unraveling the true nature.
The books Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Giver by Lois Lowery are drastically different at a first glance. One teaches that Human beings are savage monsters torn down by trials, while the other proclaims that we are free spirited heroes that rise above our challenges, however, there is a third message hidden betwixt the pages that unexpectedly unite these two novels. The message argues that the previously mentioned Human natures are not truly our natural instincts but merely consequences of the way we individually pursue our hearts true nature, and that is that human beings are social creatures. Everything we do, how far we are willing to go, and how we go about it, is to gain the support and love or our companions, or to reach the social status we feel we need despite how loyal they may, or may not be.
Early on in both of these books, the authors hinted at just how far we are sometimes willing to go to feel accepted. Using Jonas, the main character from The Giver, and Jack, A secondary Antagonist from the Lord of the Flies to explain our desperate need. “If you don’t fit in you can apply for Elsewhere are be released.” (Lowery 48) Even before Jonas knew that being released meant death, the thought of leaving his home and everything he knew just to find friends was terrifying, yet in the end Jonas does leave, for “If he had stayed he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for Love.” In The lord of the Flies Jack changes who he is personally just too be accepted or feel accomplished.
“He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger… The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” Jack Hid behind the mask to escape the guilt he would receive for doing what he felt he needed to do to regain control over his followers. However the result of this kind of dangerous change was stated later on, “He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things.” He had become accomplished, but his methods were slowly driving him mad. Although the way we go about finding friendship varies with each person our reasons do not whole change. “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.
The desire to squeeze and hurt was overmastering” (Golding 119). This sounds disturbing, but initially Ralph joined in because that was what everyone else was doing and got swept up in it. Ralph also felt the surge of power earlier, “Ralph realized that the boys were falling still and silent, feeling the beginnings of awe at the powers set free below them. The knowledge and the awe made him savage.” He realized that people were starting to be in awe of him. Of the power he could wield.
He loved the admiration and the feeling of being accepted and important, although he did act greedily. In The Giver Jonas was privileged to feel the rare sensation of Love, however he reacted more humbled by the experience and merely said, “I liked the feeling of Love.” Although our motivation for finding companionship is equal for every human being, the way we need our status to feel among them differs for each individual, some can be viewed as savage desires. “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.” Jack felt like merely having friends wasn’t enough.
He needed his “friends” to hold him at a higher status. Jonas didn’t want his friends to feel like less of a person just so he could feel better. “It was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals.” (Lowery 20) Each of the different social status’s among friends affect how loyal your friends are. Jack, who had become a savage and acquired his followers through threats, lost his followers when someone with higher power appeared. “A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and who carried the remains of specs’ at his waist, started forward, then changed him mind and stood still” (Golding 214) In contrast Jonas always treated his friends with respect and love even though he knew that they could not love him back.
“But he began, suddenly, to feel happy times. He remembered his parents and his sister. He remembered his Friends Asher and Fiona. He remembered The Giver. Memories of joy flooded through him suddenly.” (Lowery 178) Jonas was privileged to feel true love and those memories stayed with him forever.
When times were hard for him and he was at rock bottom, instead of losing his companions, his memories of them gave him the strength he needed. In both of these great novels the true nature of Humans can be revealed. They warn us that how we acquire our friends affect how they will affect our lives, and that true friends do not ask you to change who you are. Unraveling the true nature of our kind from between the pages of any book can warn us of numerous other things that can help prepare or protects us from future trials.
