Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "What lies behind us, and what lies before us, is nothing compared to what lies within us." At first glance, this quote is positive and inspiring. But inside every man there is the ability to create terror and suffering. When this darker side emerges, individuals are irreparably altered. Two great literary works show this point: William Golding's Lord of the Flies disturbingly illustrates the deterioration of a group of abandoned British schoolchildren from civilized to savage, and John Knowles' A Separate Peace is the disturbing story of an adolescent's incapacity to confess the truth. to his best friend while they are dealing with World War II. In Lord of the Flies and A Peace Separate, the protagonists, Ralph and Gene, both commit grave transgressions that alter their perceptions of themselves and ultimately lead them to discover the evil within humanity. Ralph and Gene had different motivations in carrying out their respective misdeeds: -taking part in Simon's killing and the subsequent cover-up, and intentionally breaking Finny's leg--but they were equally destructive. Jack and his hunters invite Ralph and Piggy to their beach, which further solidifies the recent separation between the "savages" and Ralph's little band. Uncomfortable among those who had previously rejected his authority, Ralph allowed himself to succumb to peer pressure for fear of ridicule. While on the beach, “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of heaven, found themselves anxious to take a place in this demented but partly safe society” (Golding 152). Simple hunger drove the boys toward Jack and his roast pig, but it was fear that kept Ralph and Piggy from revealing what happened in the demented society when the Beast emerged and found himself... middle of paper... ability to create an enemy from nowhere. He acknowledges that he did it himself, because “[Finny] was never jealous of [him] for one second. Now [Gene] knew that there had never been and could never be any rivalry between us. [Gene] was not the same quality as [Finny],” (Knowles 59). Gene is forced to confront the fact that he created the scenario that ended his friend's life: from this experience, Gene emerges as a wiser and more mature individual. As in Emerson's quote, Ralph and Gene are stunned by the power of their evil sides. It only takes one basic action for both boys to discover what they are capable of doing and their self-awareness changes too. Lord of the Flies and A Separate Peace illustrate the terrible deeds of which humans are capable. Works Cited A Separate Peace, by John Knowles Lord of the Flies, by William Golding