Lord of the Flies & The Chocolate War Microcosm Analysis
...world. In The Lord of the Flies, boys are depicted on an island totally isolated from society, while The Chocolate War depicts them right in the center of it. These opposing settings further the themes of the novels by showing the setting in which man is set free doesn’t affect their actions. The both of them show boys living without an affecting presence of women. This factor in the society of the boys’ helps us identify the fact that women provide man with a sense of conscience. A microcosm of society in the absence of women can be seen throughout Cormier’s and Golding’s novels. In The Lord of the Flies, the boys go into war with each other, and the purest of them all, Ralph, almost dies, until a naval officer rescues them. The irony of the fact that a man at war has come to save a group of people from killing each other in their own war is enough to prove that the boys’ society relates to that of our society, the fact that man must enter conflict within itself, until something arrives that saves them, as the children are, but “who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?” (Golding 204). Similarly, in The Chocolate War, the children become enveloped in their own world, and feel that there are no limits. A world of no limits in The Chocolate War represents the adult world, where man seems able to commit any crime to another as long as he feels its right to do so. Limits are what keep the human race from complete and utter destruction, but with time, these limits are worn down. In The Chocolate War and The Lord of the Flies actions begin at a minimum, where the slightest thing would arouse unwanted feelings. As life continues, these limits wear down, and people become capable of anything. Man does not “know what is enough, until [he] know[s] what is more than enough” (Blake Proverbs of Hell 46). The pain inflicted on other people becomes enjoyable as the “voices call for the kill” would surround Jerry as he was being destroyed by the lust for blood (Cormier 254). Man’s actions continue to fuel him toward an end in which man’s actions would be unbearable, where one man would be able to kill hundreds and not even think twice about it, as the degeneration of man continues, both in our society, and i...