William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi are examples of novels both similar and contrasting in their content. They each hold profound symbolism, showing obedience and law. Both stories also maintain the idea of civilization. And yet, these symbols contrast in how each item is manipulated when expressing ideas. The differences and similarities in the symbols of civilisation found in Lord of the Flies and Life of Pi are striking.
An important occurrence in both Golding and Martel’s writing, is bringing order and establishing authority in each character’s circumstances. However, it is shown differently in each book. Among the boys on the island in Lord of the Flies, the symbol for rule is the conch shell. “By the time
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In Golding’s novel, Piggy’s glasses play a vital role in the survival of their society. The boys decide that to “help [the adults] to find [them]… [they] must make a fire’” (Golding 41) in order to be rescued while keeping civilization alive. In Martel’s novel, the colour orange is a huge symbol for safety on the lifeboat. “It [seemed] orange - such a nice Hindu colour - [was] the colour of survival because the whole inside of the boat and the tarpaulin and the lifejackets and the lifebuoy and the oars and most every other significant object aboard was orange” (Martel 153). Everything that Pi considered crucial to his sanity and survival was orange in the same sense that everything relating to the fire in Lord of the Flies was necessary for the boys’ survival. Lord of the Flies and Life of Pi oppose in how each is communicated. While the fire became a mandatory thing on the island, Pi’s realization that everything was orange on the lifeboat was almost an afterthought. In brief, Piggy’s glasses and the colour orange, while expressed differently, help both Golding and Martel’s characters maintain civility throughout the