Comparing Lord Of The Flies And The Finest Hours, By Craig Gillespie

There are many themes explored through stories that teach a significant lesson to society. William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies and Craig Gillespie, the director of the movie, The Finest Hours use a variety of themes to illustrate a story and educate people about morals. These creators demonstrate a change in the character of people due to their loss of innocence, the raw necessity of survival, and the contrast between civilization and savagery.
In Lord of the Flies and The Finest Hours, the loss of innocence displays a change in character for the protagonists of the novel and the movies. The group of boys in Lord of the Flies lose their sense of innocence as some of the older ones are forced to become responsible for the ‘littleluns’.

In Lord of the Flies, the deserted group of boys learn that they need to dictate rules in order to survive. In doing so, Ralph is elected the leader by vote and decides that they should focus on the main priorities. They struggle to discover a plan in order to be rescued; Ralph as the leader believes it is necessary to build a signal fire to alert passing ships, which will hopefully come to their rescue. They continue to live by collecting fruit, water, hunting and roasting meat. Contrarily, in The Finest Hours, the crew struggles against the atmospheric conditions and as they sail past the rough “bar” in the ocean, but the captain has already set out a detailed plan for the rescue effort. However, Bernie chooses to ignore parts of the plan in order to help all the survivors of the other crew as well. He decides to help all of the members even though the rescue lifeboat cannot carry that large of an amount. He specifically says, “We all live, or we all die” (Gillespie, The Finest Hours). Meaning, the conditions are so rough that people’s lives are at stake. Bernie is determined to save all the members and does not want to leave anyone behind. Despite the fact that they exceed the physical capacity, Bernie remains positive. In the end, he returns safely to the dock where their families await. The contrasting effect between the two stories is that one group chooses to disobey their survival plan for

In Lord of the Flies, there are two distinct roles played by the main leaders of the island, Ralph and Jack. Ralph personifies civilization while Jack personifies savagery. This is because Ralph is very orderly and only wants to be rescued while Jack believes it is necessary to hunt and kill. Jack is more bloodthirsty and fails to follow Ralph’s rules as he has different opinions about the priorities. Jack questions Ralph’s rules, causing the civilized society to fall apart. Ralph says,"If I blow the conch and they don't come back; then we've had it. We shan't keep the fire going. We'll be like animals. We'll never be rescued" (Golding 115). In this passage, Ralph wonders about the humanity of Jack and his team. Ralph believes if their group does not return to the sound of the conch, their savage natures may have possessed them. This means there is no hope in rescue as they cannot escape from their savagery. The conch is used to symbolize authority and order, creating the civilized and ideal society. By disobeying this, it proves Jack’s group is closer to barbarism and cruelty than humanity. Likewise, in The Finest Hours, the crew members of the Pendleton ship begin to act orderly but are driven crazy as they realize their tanker is sinking and that they are all near death. The realization of their struggle causes them to shift into