Society has a great impact on our lives. It tells us how to act, what to wear, what to eat and what decisions to make. Society, however, is often corrupt and shapes us in a certain way. Jean Jacques Rousseau, a late Enlightenment thinker, had a strong impression of this and stated that humanity must be free from society and its limitations and therefore argued that we should act like savages who were free from the bonds of society. Rousseau was not alone in thinking this way, as evidence of social corruption is found in D.H. Lawrence's poem, “Snake,” and William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Rousseau's ideas about social corruption are quite prevalent in both the novel and the poem. Furthermore, we also see the theme of choices and their consequences. “Snake” and Lord of the Flies are two brilliant pieces that talk about society; they also talk about how the consequences of our decisions can affect others. In Golding's novel, a group of English schoolchildren find themselves stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. They form a primitive government to survive and must make crucial decisions that can affect their ability to survive. In DH Lawrence's poem, a man struggles with the idea of ​​killing a snake that is in his usual waterhole. The first connection between the works involves choices, both the narrator of the poem and the schoolboy had to make choices that affected themselves and others. “The voice of my education told me we must kill it, because in Sicily the black snakes, black ones are innocent, the golden ones are poisonous. And voices inside me said, If you were a man, you would take a stick and break it now, and finish it. But I must confess how much I liked him, how happy I was that he came as a silent guest, to drink... middle of paper... philosopher of the Enlightenment who is seen as a romantic. Rousseau's ideas remind us that sometimes the way forward is actually the way back. It's possible that Golding was alluding to what would happen if society lost all of its technology and we had to start over. It is quite possible that Golding is predicting what the world would be like according to Rousseau. Society may be all-powerful, but there are always some who have the audacity to rebel against the norm. Works Cited Golding, William and Edmund L. Epstein. Lord of the Flies: A Novel. New York: Perigee, 1954. Print.Lawrence, D.H. Snake. Np: Grgafication.com, 1920. PDF.Rousseau, Jean Jacques and GDH Cole. Discourse on inequality. Nutley, New Jersey: Nutley School District, 1755. PDF.Rousseau, Jean Jacques and GDH Cole. The social contract. Np: MongolianMind.com, 1762. PDF