Essay on A Comparison of The Destructors and Lord of the...

A Comparison of The Destructors and Lord of the Flies In Graham Greenes The Destructors, the author presents the Wormsley Common car-park gang, a group of adolescent delinquents who commit petty crimes for fun. William Golding, in his novel Lord of the Flies, presents a slightly younger group of boys who are wrecked on an uninhabited island and develop a primitive society that eventually collapses and gives way to despotic savagery. Although these two cases seem rather different, the boys in both situations show common characteristics. They react to the outside environment of their worlds in similar ways. There are also trends in the development of the dynamic characters in each†¦show more content†¦The boys, who hate all that is of a class above theirs, do not trust him, and see him as a mean old tyrant. A simple kind act is grossly misinterpreted by the boys, who have hardly ever experienced kindness: I got some chocolates, Mr. Thomas said. Dont like Ôem myself. Here you are. Not enough to go around, I dont suppose. There never is, he added with somber conviction. He handed over three packs of Smarties. The gang were puzzled and perturbed by this action and tried to explain it away. Bet someone dropped them and he picked Ôem up, somebody suggested. Pinched Ôem and then got in a bleeding funk, another thought aloud. Its a bribe, Summers said. He wants us to stop bouncing balls on his wall. Well show him we dont take bribes, Blackie said, and they sacrificed the whole morning to the game of bouncing that only Mike was young enough to enjoy. There was no sign from Mr. Thomas. (Greene 50) This complete lack of trust not only shows that the boys have never been given anything for free, it also demonstrates the hate that the boys have for Old Misery and how they distance themselves from him. They form a belief system surrounding him in the same way that the boys in Lord of the Flies do for their beast. The beast in Lord of the Flies is a