When comparing the downfall to both societies in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, both of their societies fell because of religious practices and beliefs. In Things Fall Apart, the story of a man named Okonkwo and how his village fell to pieces. Their village is destroyed by the arrival of white men and their new religion. In Lord of the flies, these school kids crash into an island and are stranded there by themselves and try to create their own society. When different boys keep questioning their beliefs, that’s when they start losing control of their civilization/society.
In Things Fall Apart, the downfall to their society was that religion has a big impact on their lives and once Christianity came to their tribe, everything changed. Like in this quote when Okonkwo fights with Obierika about the white men and their religion, “Does the white man understand our custom about land? How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad” (pg. 152). The quote shows that with the white man bringing his own religion, the white man questions all of beliefs and religion that Okonkwo’s society follows. At the same time even people from the village are starting to question their own religion and beliefs. In Lord of the flies, the boys civilized society gets destroyed once they stop following their beliefs and when they kill Simon. When the boys kill Simon, that’s when they lose control and become savage. Simon is represented as a religious figure by giving food the littluns and having been sane while on the island. This quote shows Simon being a Jesus like figure “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach” (pg.56). After the boys smash the conch shell, they have destroyed their beliefs and become