Lost Season 5 - Spoilers EVERYWHERE! :p

[The Man]

I really don't think the creators are going to do such a direct ripoff of any pre-existing story. For example, who would Ben's analogue be in Lord of the Flies? Not to mention that Locke doesn't really share that many personality traits with Jack (Lord of the Flies); he's more motivated by a desire to protect the island and the people living on it than LotF's Jack, who was mostly motivated by his own self-interest. There are much more notable similarities between Jack and, say, Keamy. There are parallels between Lord of the Flies and Lost, but by far the most notable is that both are survival stories that take place on an island.

As far as Hurley and dead people, I think it's the island's way of communicating with him. It's worth noting that Hurley's not the only person who sees dead people; Jack, Claire, and Locke all have seen Christian Shephard, who's supposed to be dead, and Mr Eko saw his dead brother, among other people who have seen dead people. (The creators confirmed that Eko's vision was created by the smoke monster). Then again, Jack's father may not actually be dead, in which case Jack's vision of him in LA would just be a case of the island manifesting presences where they're not supposed to be (it also did that with Walt).

As far as the freighter goes, I do think it possible that Jin's not really dead. I doubt anyone else survived though.

Edit: Apparently Lindelof has said Hurley's the only one who can see the dead. So apparently Christian... isn't dead?