Lord Of The Flies And The Withered Arm Comparison :: essays research papers

I have chosen â€Å"The Lord of the Flies† and â€Å"The Withered Arm† because they are similar even though they were written in different time periods. Lord of the Flies was written in the 20th century and the Withered arm was written in the 19th century. Lord of the flies by William Golding The title signifies Death, devil (Beelzebub).The Withered arm by Thomas Hardy The title signifies decay or decline. Settings:The withered arm is set in the 19th century on a farm. This is in Anglebury .The story starts of on Mr Lodges farm and finishes on the farm. Gertrude lodge lives in a mud built cottage.The lord of the flies is set on a fictitious remote island in the 20th century. The story starts of in the jungle. They later move onto the beaches. They then move to other locations on the island such as the fort and the mountain.Differences and similarities between settingsBoth of the settings are isolated. Lord of the Flies, is on an island so they cant get off but in the Withered Arm there is not much transport so wherever you went you would have to walk or get a horse.The settings are different because they are set in different periods. Themes:Lord of the flies:Good and evil, good and evil is a fairly large theme in the story. Early in the novel good is represented by the conch this is a symbol of decency and order. The two tribes Represent good and evil in the best way. However, there are other things such as the beast and the ship. The beast frightens them because they think it is an evil sign. The ship is a good sign but they do not manage to flag it down, because Jack had not looked after the fire. This springs an almost air of hatred between Ralph and Jack.Law and order, plays a big role in the story. It comes into play at the very beginning with the conch. Ralph and Piggy find the shell and Ralph blows it, this draws all the children onto the beech. The conch later becomes an element of law and order, because the boys are only aloud to talk during meetings if they have the conch. Fear, fear is probably the biggest theme in the story there is a big list of elements of fear such as the fear of the beast, the isolation of the island, the war outside of the island, the fear of not being rescued, the fear of Jacks group (savages) and the fear of fear itself.