William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911, graduated in literature at university and spent the 2nd world war years as a royal naval commander. He later became a schoolteacher, and it was during this period that Lord of the Flies was published in 1945. Joseph Conrad was born in Poland in 1857, studied top be a naval officer in the merchant navy, passing his masters certificate in 1886. He only began writing later, after a professional career at sea. His book Heart of Darkness was published in 1902.

Although over 40 years apart, both books are very similar in many respects. They both deal with the theme of atavism, and use similar environments as a background to the story. They both couple an adventure story with the sinister features of human conflict and suffering. They use the theme of good verses evil, truth verses myth and light verses dark through conflicting characters within the story.

As we discover from the author's backgrounds, each had a professional career in the navy as a commander and we see this influence of the sea playing a significant part in the settings of both books.

In Lord of the Flies the boys are marooned on a tropica

Lord of the Flies uses a similar setting, the overgrown interior of the island where much of the savagery and dehumanizing occurs 'Deep in the plant world the jungly flat of the island - dense green, were roots and stems of creepers, as thick as their thighs, were in such tangles' This interior of 'jungly stuff' as Ralph calls it is dark and sinister and appeals to the primal instincts of the boys. Golding uses the contrast of light and dark, good and evil in similar fashion to Conrad's use in Heart of Darkness. The dark is the uncivilized interior, shadowy, sinister, primitive, savage. The light is the fire, the beacon of civilization, the tool, which delivered primal man from the dark, to cook, to light to heat to protect and ultimately to help in the boys' rescue. The murder of Simon by the frenzied attack on him by the 'Hunters' took place in the dark of night and would not have happened in the light of the day.

From these settings we are given an insight into how the stories develop their atavistic themes and descent into savagery. Marlow describes his own interpretation of history, 'and this has also been one of the dark places on earth' he says, he is looking at the moral and physical suffering caused by the their conquest of the uncivilized world. He says of the Thames 'but darkness was here yesterday' and describes the ordeal of a Roman legionnaire who had to suffer the uncivilized world of early Britain. 'Imagine him here- the very end of the world, a sea the colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke... Sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages, - precious little to eat fit for a civilized man, nothing but Thames water to drink... Here and there a military camp lost in a wilderness... cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death - death skulking in the air, in the water in the bush. They must have been dying like flies here. This description almost parallels the developing story, and we are beginning to get the first impressions of the dark side of man's nature.

The opening settings give way to the jungle environments and normality descends into chaos and savagery. Against this background of primal forest man's regression to a primitive state goes unchecked.

Note that in both descriptions of the settings the adjective 'still' is used to describe the sea. From this stillness and serenity the stories of both books descend into savagery, turmoil and suffering, as if this were the calm before the storm.

Death also plays an important part in influencing the characters and plot in Lord of the Flies; The first boy that is killed is a 'littleun' caught in an accidental fire in the jungle, the boys feel guilt for letting the fire burn out of control but having no-one to punish th

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Approximate Word count = 1827
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)