"Lord Of The Flies" Allegory
This novel is widely considered an allegory of William Golding's Lord of the Flies primarily because of the similarity between the groups of ungoverned children and the way in which their behavior degenerates into something dark and murderous. Lord of the Flies does not have the philosophical bent that "Nothing" does, but it nonetheless illustrates better than any other book has done how easy it is for a group to descend into savagery when there are no outside forces intervening. Both books show us how the murderous acts of real-life kids that we are not able to understand can occur. None of the children in either Lord of the Flies or Nothing have shown any psychological red flags prior to these acts of savagery, and both books are cautionary tales warning against group thinking.
"Sophie's World" Allegory
This novel can also be considered to be an allegory of Jostein Gaarder's philosophical adventure Sophie's World in the way that it offers young adult readers a perspective on some of the key tenets and schools of thought in philosophy. Pierre Anton takes on the role of teacher, and demonstrates the principles of Existential Nihilism to his fellow students and also to the reader. Whilst the unravelling of their behavior is completely different in this novel, the basic allegorical premise that life is more of a philosophical journey than a physical one is evident in Teller's book.
"Animal Farm" Allegory
The principles of Group Think are demonstrated strongly in George Orwell's book Animal Farm and in many ways Nothing is an allegory of this novel. The primary way in which this is the case is in the demonstration of group think and the way in which citizens - or in this case, kids - lose the ability to think for themselves and become caught up in a way of thinking that they see demonstrated around them and that they are told is the correct way to think. This is also allegorical of the way in which Teller intends to use her novel as a political satire; both Orwell and Teller use non-political characters - Orwell's animals and Teller's seventh graders - to show the way in which political ends are met by regimes and politicians who achieve their objectives by getting their citizens to think in the way they are ordered to. Pierre Anton is a classic example of this type of politician and is allegorical of Napoleon the pig in Orwell's novel.
Meaning Motif
The motif of meaning is evident throughout the book and supports the notion of existential nihilism that Pierre Anton is attempting to prove. One of the things that the book shows is that the seventh graders don't really understand the true meaning of Meaning; their possessions mean a lot to them, but they are not imbued with a meaning that is life affirming or sentimental. It's basically just stuff they like when the game starts, such as a fishing pole or a favored toy. As the game progresses, Meaning becomes more important. It is seen in the life of an animal, a young girl's virginity, a young boy's finger. Meaning and meaning are separating in importance as the kids in the novel, and the reader, are required to philosophize on the different kinds of meaning that there are, and how each feels in its own way. Pierre Anton is obsessed with meaning because he is a nihilist, and both at the start of the novel and at the end he is there to remind the children that his philosophy is quite correct, and to challenge them on their understanding of things that have meaning. Agnes also stresses to us at the end of the novel that they should have expected savagery to ensue once they had committed to the game because "you can't play around with Meaning."
Heap Of Meaning Symbol
The Heap of Meaning that the children construct is symbolic of Meaning in the greater philosophical sense that Pierre Anton is trying to teach them about with his challenging statements and his walking out of school. Each student is expected to add something to the pile that means something to them, and as the pile increases, so does the chance of its being destroyed. After it is incinerated in the fire, Pierre Anton uses this as a symbol of Existential Nihilism, claiming that it proves his philosophy to be correct, because if the things in the heap had really had meaning then the students would never have either parted with them in the first place, or seen them destroyed.
