Comparing and contrasting Jane Eyre to Lord of the Flies :: English Literature

Comparing and contrasting Jane Eyre to Lord of the Flies The children's childhood in 'Lord of the Flies' is similar to Jane's in 'Jane Eyre' e.g. just like the boys, she is scared of something that may not be real. Jane is afraid to go into the 'Red Room', when Jane is told that she must go to the Red Room she says 'O Aunt! Have pity! Forgive me! I cannot endure it - let me be punished some other way!' She is afraid of the ghost of Mr. Reed who died in the room a long time ago. She has never seen the ghost but she is still afraid of the possibility that it might be there. This is similar to the boys in 'Lord of the Flies' who are scared of the 'beast' that inhabits the island their plane has crashed on, even though none of the children have seen it. In both of these incidents the children are afraid of something in their heads. Jane is different to the boys in 'Lord of the Flies' because the boys go looking for the 'beast' to prove that it does or does not exist. Jane doesn't even want to go near the red room and is quite happy to forget about the possibility of a ghost. Jane is disliked by the people around her (the Reeds). This is just like Piggy in the way that they are both disliked by the people around them. They have nowhere else to go so they must endure the agony of being hated. Jane reads a lot of books and in 'Lord of the Flies', when the boys first arrive on the island they compare their situation to the books that they have read i.e. Coral Island. In 'Jane Eyre' Jane hates the place that she has to live in and wishes that she could go and live somewhere else. Her knowledge of what she has read and how much imagination she has is shown here because in the book she wants to go and live in Lilliput or Brodingnad. The boys on the other hand love the place that they are in at the start - the prospects of no adults to control them are endless, but when the order the Democracy they created falls through, they begin to hate the island and wish to leave. The only adult relationship in 'Lord of the Flies' is very brief, it is between Ralph and the Navy Officer who has come to rescue the boys from the island. The officer does not understand Ralph or what has happened on the island.