“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy… ” (Golding, William). “And at that moment, in the space of only a few seconds, he learned a lot about himself. About the Thomas he was before. He couldn’t leave a friend to die” (The Maze Runner). In these quotes, there is a connection that shows how the book, The Lord of the Flies compares to the movie The Maze Runner. Correlating the two productions, they both show their character being sympathetic towards a companion, that seemed to be close.
These quotes characterize their words, almost giving you the sensitive feeling to feel with them. Throughout The Lord of the Flies and The Maze Runner the environment, the people, the words, the actions, and even the thoughts will give you a sense of sympathy, excitement, dullness, happiness, anger, and sadness. These emotions give you the ability to feel with the characters, as you embark on the story’s adventures. The Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of British boys, ages 6 to 12, who were on plane, which crashed on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.
At this time Britain was at war, making the kids transport to somewhere more safe (Getting transported by plane). The adults, and some of the little boys who were on the plane did not survive the crash. Therefore, for those who did survive, were left to fend for and govern themselves. Eventually the boys find each other on the island. To create order, the boys use a conch shell as a talking stick, and Ralph, one of the older boys, becomes “chief”; to maintain order around the island. Eventually, chaos spreads because they fear of a “beast” on the island. Because of this fear, the boys’ minds ecome corrupt with thoughts of fear flooding their minds and split into two “tribes”.
One tribe is lead by Ralph and one lead by Jack (another older boy). Jack’s Tribe becomes savage-like and start an anarchy against Ralph’s tribe. Later on in the book, the boys get saved by some sailors. The Maze Runner is a movie about teenagers who are captivated in a small habitat surrounded by mazes. These teenagers do not remember how they came to this small environment, they don’t remember if they had family or friends or a life before the Glade (the space in the middle of the mazes that they live in).
All the teenagers know is their name. Thomas is the main character in this story. He brings courage and bravery into the Glade, which replaces fear and doubt. Thomas longs to know what is outside of the maze. Therefore, he becomes a maze runner. One who runs through the maze to find an exit. He with his companions: Alby and Minho go into the Maze to find a way out. Unfortunately, Alby gets stung by a griever (a huge monster-like spider) and is infected greatly, then dies. Thomas gets stung at one point in the movie but is not affected by the poison of the grievers.
In the end, Thomas and Minho find a way out of the maze and go to tell their friends, but some don’t want to leave because they fear of what is outside. So Thomas brings those who want to get out of the maze to escape. When they get out, they enter a “scientific-like building” and find clues from “WICKED” for those who escaped and tells them what to do next. Which then leads into the next movie. These two stories take place in a dystopian world. A dystopian world is the state in which the condition of life is aberrant and devastating for the environment of today’s world.
The lord of the Flies takes place in a dystopian environment because the children crash, and no adults survive. The kids have to govern and fend for themselves on the island. The normal world could be: adults in control, urban area, and both sexes. Since the island has no adults, the island is abandoned, and there is only little boys. Thus, creating a dystopian world for them. In The Maze Runner, we see that the movie is also a dystopian story. The world that they lived in was confined and controlled by WICKED. There also was only teenagers in their society, who lived like agrestic indians.
This is not normal to our world today, which makes this abnormal story a dystopia. In both The Maze Runner and The Lord of the Flies, there are four major themes that are expressed. We often see the first theme of fear appear in both. In The Maze Runner we see that there is fear all throughout the movie. They fear for their lives. “If you ain’t scared,” Alby said, “you ain’t human. Act any different and I’d throw you off the Cliff because it’d mean you’re a psycho. ” (The Maze Runner). In this quote we see that Alby, on of the characters in the movie, is expressing his view on fear.
He believes that you aren’t human if you weren’t scared in a situation that they all were in (being captivated, and not knowing what’s on the outside of their world). “… fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of on this island … Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies! ” (Golding, William). In this quote from The Lord of the Flies, Piggy is giving us a different perspective on fear. He himself is scared, yet he tries to reassure the other boys on the island that there is not a beast on the island.
He also expresses in his words that the beast can’t hurt them because it’s not real, it’s just the fear in their minds that make it up. The second theme of youth, in both productions, is a main factor. Both have youth in their stories, which makes up a majority of the characters. In The Lord of the Flies, the young British boys are the rise, and the climax of the story. In The Maze Runner the majority of the characters are teenagers. Both have adults, however very seldom they are recognized. The youth in the stories have to step up and govern themselves in a mature way.
Some of the characters are reluctant to the idea of becoming like adults, whereas other characters become leaders. In the movie and the book, there is a third theme of conflict between human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization. “Ava Paige: ‘Wicked is good. ” (The Maze Runner). “Maybe [… ] there is a beast[… ]What I mean is… maybe it’s only us. ” (Golding, William), “[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. ” (Golding, William). The first quote from the maze runner shows us that Ava, a character from the movie, is turning opinion on the “Wicked” foundation.
She thinks that the bad side is good and the good side is wrong. In the second two quotes from the book, shows that the boys think that they are creating the beast mentally. They think that their minds are becoming the beast. Jack especially, has created a monster of himself. He becomes savage and evil. He becomes bloodthirsty and a killer. From this we see the conflict between human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization. Ava, becomes savage to the other teenagers because of her insane and positive thoughts of “Wicked”. She is making conflict with the rules of civilization, thus making her a savage.
Some of the little British boys become savage and follow the leadership of Jack and disobeying the rules they all created. Order vs. Chaos is the fourth theme we see in both productions. This theme relates to the third theme in some ways. The order that is created in both the movie and the book, eventually decays by the savages who create the chaos. The order in The Lord of the Flies was created by Ralph’s decisions and the conch. However, Ralph’s tribe betrays him by following Jack (who creates the chaos). The fear and the anger of the savages create a beast for them to fear, themselves.
In The Maze Runner there is order by the jobs and the duties that everyone is assigned. There is a built society created by the teenagers. Chaos hits when there is the fear of grievers and monsters and Wicked. Therefore the fear that they feel creates the problems that they eventually face. In The Maze Runner and The Lord of the Flies, the order that they both create, is eventually destroyed by their chaos: fear. From reading The Lord of the Flies and watching The Maze Runner, I thought The Maze Runner was a little more difficult to understand, yet more insightful on the ideas and thoughts of the characters compared to The Maze Runner.
The Lord of the Flies had so much detail at some points it could get confusing. However, I still enjoyed The Lord of the Flies. It contained much enthusiasm and portrayed a dystopian world very well. I enjoyed the movie The Maze Runner very much! It was a movie that kept my attention. I enjoy action/romantic/mystical movies, and the movie contained those characteristics in this movie. Thus being, I enjoyed both The Maze Runner and The Lord of the Flies (though it was a little harder to understand) because of their unique ways of portraying two dystopian worlds.