Essays24.com - Term Papers and Free Essays
Search

Similarities Of Characters In Lord Of The Flies And Farenhite 451

Essay by   •  December 4, 2010  •  1,241 Words (5 Pages)  •  1,573 Views

Essay Preview: Similarities Of Characters In Lord Of The Flies And Farenhite 451

Report this essay
Page 1 of 5

In Fahrenheit 451 and Lord of the Flies, the characters are alike in some ways. In Fahrenheit 451 the characters are Montag, Faber, Clarisse, and Beatty. In Lord of the Flies the characters are Ralph, Piggy, Simon and Jack. Jack and Beatty, Ralph and Montag, Simon and Clarisse, and Piggy and Faber all have some similarities. Jack and beatty both want to take control over everyone and sells fear. Ralph and Montag want to move on and find a better plan to make everything work. Simon and Clarisse are Christ-figures. Piggy and Faber are very intellectual and are wise men. The books may contain different story lines but have very similar types of characters.

In Fahrenheit 451 the main characters are Montag, Faber, Clarisse, and Beatty. Montag is someone who knows what he wants and what he wants is change. He is a fireman who suddenly realizes the emptiness of his life and starts to search for meaning in the books he is supposed to be burning. Though he is sometimes rash and has a hard time thinking for himself, he is determined to break free from the oppression of ignorance. He quickly forms unusually strong attachments with anyone who seems receptive to true friendship. At first, Montag believes that he is happy. He thinks this because of the question that Clarisse asks him. When he views himself in the firehouse mirror after a night of burning, he grins "the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame." His biggest regret in life is not having a better relationship with his wife. Faber is a very wise and intellectual man. He readily admits that the current state of society is due to the cowardice of people like himself, who would not speak out against book burning when they still could have stopped it. He berates himself for being a coward, but he shows himself capable of acts that require great courage and place him in considerable danger. Clarisse seems to always be of in her own world. She was a beautiful seventeen-year-old who introduces Montag to the world's potential for beauty and meaning with her gentle innocence and curiosity. She is an outcast from society because of her odd habits, which include hiking, playing with flowers, and asking questions. She asks questions such as, "Are you happy?" questions like this shows wonder and curiosity. Beatty is a complex character, full of contradictions. He is a book burner with a vast knowledge of literature, someone who obviously cared passionately about books at some point. It is important to note that Beatty's entire speech to Montag describing the history of the firemen is strangely ambivalent, containing tones of irony, sarcasm, passion, and regret, all at once. Beatty calls books "treacherous weapons", yet he uses his own book learning to manipulate Montag mercilessly. Beatty wants power and wants to sell fear by getting rid of knowledge.

In Lord of the Flies the main characters are Ralph, Piggy, Simon and Jack. Ralph wants to move on and wants to good for others. Ralph represents the perfect human-- someone who does good but isn't so out-of-touch that he can't relate to normal human temptations. By this I mean that he wants to help the others by finding a way off of the island but he has no intentions on taking complete control over everyone in a bad way. This is the Ralph of the beginning of the novel. Later, however, Ralph grows distant from Piggy, the good side, and grows closer to Jack, the anarchical side of human nature. Piggy is very wise and is willing to help out as much as he could. Piggy represents the law and order of the adult world. He is the superego, the part of man's personality which attempts to act according to an absolute set of standards. Throughout the novel, Piggy attempts to condition the island society to mirror the society they all lived in in England. Simon keeps to himself He has the innocent perceptions and feelings of "little ones" but the knowledge of the "big ones." He takes life much more seriously than the others, being plagued with a certain moral consciousness which the other boys don't understand. Simon has a heightened perception,

...

...

Download as:   txt (6.7 Kb)   pdf (87.6 Kb)   docx (10.9 Kb)  
Continue for 4 more pages »
Only available on Essays24.com