The aloof,detached way in which JG Ballard depicts a savage community leaves the reader to articulate the frightening implications for themselvesWilliam Golding and Lord of the Flies maintain been mentioned several times in the early discussion of tall-Rise here on the Reading group. This might be partly my fault, since I described the book detailing a “breakdown of society and “descent from civilisation”. It’s also just enough: there are clear parallels between JG Ballard’s marauding gangs of violent adults gash off from the world in their concrete fortress and William Golding’s wild children stuck on their island.
Yet while there are obvious similarities, or it’s the differences between the books that really matter. They offer radically different views about the loss of moral norms. Implicit in Lord of the Flies is the understanding that even if the children’s descent into savagery is inevitable,it is not admirable. The narrative voice often seems outraged at the unfolding events, while Piggy and Ralph speak loudly for decency and sanity. Jack and his crew maintain clearly taken a wrong path and are questioned every step of the way.
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Source: theguardian.com