Isolation in “Lord of the Flies” and “Heart of Darkness” Essay

This is an awsome essay! Feel free to use it. Great comparison of books, excellent work. novels. Throughout Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness the importance of restraint is greatly stressed. This being the restraint to remain human and maintain sanity. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow was able to remain his restriant despite how difficult it was for him. He was always surrounded by cannibals and constant chaos. On the other hand, Kurtz was unable to keep his restriant, as a result he lost his humanity and sanity, and eventually died because of it. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is able to restrain restrain, and he therefore remains human. He found it difficult though, because there was only one other person who was able to do the same- Piggy. Ralph was determined to maintain order, and he was very alone because of it. Jack on the other hand, gave in to the temptationof simply hunting and playing, and lost his humanity in the process. He became a savage – not a human being, but a savage with a painted body and strange barbaric ways. In contrast, the cannibals in Heart of Darkness, (who are starving) could have easily had many satisfying meals. After all, they outnumbered the whites thirty to five, but they still had necessary restraint to refrain from savagely feasting on some of the easily accessible seamen. Towards the end of the novel, Marlow becomes becomes very close to losing his sanity, but also has the necessary restraint to maintain it. He confuses the beat of a drum (the call to man’s primative side) with his own heartbeat, but is still able to restrain from slipping over the edge as Kurt did. Ralph in Lord of the Flies is constantly faced with temptation to join Jack and all of the other boys, especially when Piggy dies and he is all alone. This makes it even more difficult to restrain from giving in to Jack and his animalistic tribe. Therefore, it is evident how important restrain is in t hese two novels. The ability to do so may be the difference between life and death, and the one who can restrain himself teh most is the one who prevails in the end. In conclusion, it is evident that the authors of these two novels wrote about their own life experiences because they were able to draw emotion form things that actually haopened to them. Also, through Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness, Golding and Conrad were able to express the isolation that some of the characters were forced to endure, and the importance of restraint in dealing with one’s humanity. These compelling novels leave the reader with two possible questions. Would I be able to cope with the intense isolation? And, do I have the necessary restriant to maintain the humanity which so many people take for granted? finally, the reader would be left with a better understanding of the darkness, which Golding and Conrad believed, each and every one of us possess somewhere, deep down inside.