Loss Of Power In Lord Of The Flies And Fahrenheit 451

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, loves his wife, as well as the power he has over the island. However, while he is journeying back to his city, suitors begin to swarm his home. These men aspire to wed Penelope, who is still married to Odysseus. This threatens Odysseus’s marriage and sense of control. Odysseus is afraid of losing all that is important to him, causing him to challenge and kill all of the suitors. The same fears of losing power and losing something loved found in The Odyssey can be seen in in Jack and Ralph’s actions in addition to the acts of Montag and his society. The exile of a person or group of people reveals society’s fears in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Society fears loss of power

For many in Fahrenheit 451, those things are books. A seemingly harmless old woman proves this to be true when firemen are sent to burn her house and the books that are concealed within it. The firemen cover the interior of the home with kerosene and, right before they light it on fire, they urge her to leave so that she will be safe. However, she tells the men that she wants to stay in her house, and advises them to leave. Once everyone else is outside, “[t]he woman on the porch [reaches] out… and [strikes] the kitchen match against the railing” (37), instantly setting her house ablaze. The woman, along with the other book-lovers of her society, feels ostracized from everyone else for not being allowed to do something she is passionate about. She is afraid of what she would do if she completely lost all access to books, and makes a statement because of it. Ralph and Piggy feel exiled from the rest of the boys in Lord of the Flies because they do not agree with Jack’s methods of leadership. This causes Ralph to dread any possibility of Piggy dying. Thus, Piggy’s death terrifies Ralph, and when the boys are finally rescued, “[he weeps] for the end of innocence… and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy” (202). The old woman and Ralph are both exiled from their societies, and their fears exile them in an additional way because “what is true of all exile is not that