Comparing Lord Of The Flies And Phoenix Island

Abraham Maslow was a behavioral psychologist who believed that people’s needs determined their ability to reason and was the basis for their decisions. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and Phoenix Island, by John Dixon, are two novels who have many characters that fall in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The young adult book connects to Lord of the Flies by having that civilization vs. savagery aspect and also showing a little bit how individualism vs. community can greatly affect the characters. The purpose of the two novels is to show that one has to choose how to control their actions and thoughts to manipulate their own pyramid and not let any factors turn them into savages. In his portrayal of the small world of the island, Golding paints

Ralph attempts to coordinate the boys’ efforts to build a miniature civilization on the island until they can be rescued. By Ralph being the leader, his first thoughts are worrying about food and water on the island, making him fall on the physiological segment of Maslow’s pyramid. After a couple of hours on the island, Ralph becomes concerned about food so he tells Jack for his hunters, “We’ll get food, hunt. Catch things… until they fetch us.”(Golding 30) All Ralph wants for the boys is to have the necessary things to survive, food being one of them. Thinking about the necessary need first shows he’s a great leader and that the boys need him. As the story progresses, Ralph becomes more concerned about the situation, he want to be respected by others, achieve certain goals and for the boys to listen. Ralph knows he, Piggy, Sam and Eric aren’t enough to keep the fire going, but they still “{try} to keep the fire going, but they couldn’t. And then {Jack}, playing at hunting…” (Golding 178). Ralph’s only concern is to be rescued from the island and he knows the only way to achieve it is by the smoke from the fire. The other boys and Jack don’t understand, so it’s hard for him to be respected by the others and have that sense of achievement. Based on Ralphs actions, conversations, and attitudes one can say he falls on the

Classified as a “terminal facility,” it’s the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States—and immune to its laws—the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. With nightmarish creatures, brutal commanders, and secrets in journals and word of mouth through the ranks, Carl has to survive long enough to make head for tails of what Phoenix Island wants from him, and it's more than he or anyone could bargain for. As Carl arrives to Phoenix Island, he starts questioning what really is going on the island, but the only thing on his mind was being safe and healthy. Carl had a conversation with Ross, his bunkmate, talking about how “Carl survived, for now. Carl felt like he had done fifteen round against a heavy weight” (Dixon 21) after being punished by Parker, one of the drill sergeants. Here one can see, Carl isn’t worried about anything else other than his safety because he knows Phoenix Island is different from any other juvenile center. After Carl realizes all the corruption on the island, the reader starts to realize Carl is finally respected by others, such as Stark, has more confidence, and a higher