Dystopian literature, while widely considered a modern genre, has been a recurring theme of popular and literary fiction since the eighteenth century. Defined as a society that is in some way undesirable or frightening – the opposite of a utopia – some of history's most popular books have focused on a dystopian society or world, such as George Orwell's 1984 or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 . One of the best-known novels of this genre is William Golding's Lord of the Flies, about a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and trying to govern themselves with disastrous results. Although it was not a great success at the time (it went out of print in 1955 due to poor sales), it soon became a best-seller and by the early 1960s it was required reading in many schools and universities. The book influenced many writers, such as Stephen King, and gave rise to television programs such as Lost, Survivor and Big Brother. Author James Dashner cites Lord of the Flies as one of his inspirations for his novel The Maze Runner, which also features a group of boys who are trapped in a foreign place and must try to discover a way to escape safely. These two novels – Lord of the Flies and The Labyrinth – are similar in that both groups of boys are driven by the struggle for order rather than chaos and by civilization rather than savagery (particularly through the use of characters), but differ in how each group addresses the need for self-governance and responsiveness. In the aftermath of a disaster, the instinctive human reaction is to seek stability and direction. The first steps taken towards recovery are often outlined in disaster response plans that set out how… middle of paper… the enemy is handled and the end result this leads them to. Behind every great novel lies an even greater creative mind, and it is obvious that the authors of these two stories have made the most of the talents at their disposal and demonstrated an extremely effective understanding of the human condition. Works Cited Dashner, James. The maze runner. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print."Disaster Psychology." American Society of Safety Engineers. Np, nd Web. 10 December 2013. "Gally." Maze Runner Wiki. Np, nd Web. 11 December 2013. .Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print."Lord of the Flies." SparkNote. SparkNotes and Web. December 11. 2013. .