What Are The Similarities Between Lord Of The Flies And The Unthinkable

Lord of the Flies is a book by William Golding about a group of twelve-year-old boys who crash on an uninhabited island. The situation on the island quickly dissolves into chaos as many of the boys turn to savagery. The Unthinkable, by Amanda Ripley, is a nonfiction book about how humans behave when faced with a variety of disaster scenarios. Many common behaviors are prevalent in the Lord of the Flies and The Unthinkable. This analysis is meant to compare the two texts and illustrate the aspects of Lord of the Files that align with The Unthinkable and which aspects do not. The behaviors of ‘normalcy bias’ and ‘seeking and following the crowd’ in Lord of the Flies are consistent with the findings in The Unthinkable, but the implementation of

In Lord of the Flies, the behavior of Ralph is consistent with how normalcy bias is described in The Unthinkable. “We have a tendency to believe that everything is OK because, well, it almost always has been before. Psychologists call this tendency ‘normalcy bias.’(Ripley 9). Ralph says, “I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he'll come and rescue us.” (Golding 13). Ralph knows his dad is a Naval officer and has the capabilities to come and rescue him, so he uses this information to help make sense of the situation he is now in. He believes everything is okay because he uses past information to anticipate the future. This information helps him to stay calm, but it also does not help him grasp the situation he is in fully. He seems to not understand the gravity of the situation he is in because he is in a state of denial that his dad will save them. Ralph creates hope among the boys by believing his father will rescue them and even causes delusion. His use of normalcy bias was able to make him a better leader but caused the boys to not take their

Golding does not accurately depict the behaviors of reciprocity and groupthink in Lord of the Flies. Ripley describes reciprocity as, “We help one another because we get benefits from doing so, if not immediately and directly, then eventually or indirectly.” (Ripley 117). The boys did not exhibit reciprocity, if anything, being mean to one another was more of a gain for them than being nice. In many instances, the boys were overly cruel to one another. They saw more gain in being barbaric than they saw in being kind. They looked at cruelty as a “game” that they would get caught up in. They became so immersed in this “game” they were not able to see the consequences of their actions. Many times they went too far, especially the day Simon died, “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society.” (Golding 152). Each of the boys found unity in the cruelty, it gave the boys a common goal and brought them together. Another instance where Lord of the Flies does not exactly line up with The Unthinkable happens in a scene where Ralph feels he is the only one sticking to the plan outlined in the meetings. Ripley describes groupthink as, “Groupthink: human beings do not generally like to go against the consensus of the groups. Dissent is uncomfortable.” (Ripley 112). During the