LORD OF THE FLIES

1. LORD OF THE FLIES BY WILLIAM GOLDING

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • WILLIAM GOLDING WAS BORN IN CORNWALL, ENGLAND IN 1911. • HE LIVED A SHELTERED, ISOLATED LIFE AS A CHILD. • HE KNEW HE WANTED TO WRITE BY AGE TWELVE.

3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • GOLDING STUDIED SCIENCE FOR TWO YEARS AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • BUT HE STOPPED STUDYING SCIENCE AND BEGAN TO POUR HIS ENERGIES INTO ENGLISH LITERATURE.

5. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • WWII BROKE OUT AND HE JOINED THE BRITISH NAVY IN 1940.

6. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • HE PARTICIPATED IN MANY VIOLENT BATTLES INCLUDING THE INVASION AT NORMANDY AND BY THE END OF THE WAR HE WAS A LIEUTENANT IN COMMAND OF A ROCKET WARSHIP.

7. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • HIS WAR EXPERIENCES CHANGED HIS VIEWS ABOUT MANKIND’S NATURE. HE CAME TO BELIEVE THERE WAS A VERY DARK AND EVIL SIDE TO MAN.

8. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • THIS VIEW IS NOT UNIQUE TO MODERN ARTISTS WHO REACTED IN THE SAME WAY AFTER WORLD WAR I AND CHOSE ART AS THE SALVE WHICH WOULD HEAL MANKIND’S WOUNDS. • ARTISTS AFTER WORLD WAR II WERE MORE VAGUE ABOUT WHAT WOULD SAVE MANKIND OR IF IT WAS SALVAGEABLE AT ALL.

9. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • GOLDING SAID, “THE WAR WAS UNLIKE ANY OTHER FOUGHT IN EUROPE. IT TAUGHT US NO FIGHTING, POLITICS, OR THE FOLLIES OF NATIONALISM,BUT ABOUT THE GIVEN NATURE OF MAN.”

10. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • HE ALSO REFLECTED, “WHEN I WAS YOUNG. . .I HAD SOME AIRY-FAIRY VIEWS ABOUT MAN, BUT I WENT THROUGH THE WAR AND THAT CHANGED ME.”

11. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • GOLDING ONCE SAID,”I THINK OF MYSELF AS A RELIGIOUS MAN.”

12. ABOUT THE AUTHOR • IN 1983 GOLDING WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE. • HE DIED IN 1993 AT THE AGE OF 81.

13. ABOUT THE NOVEL • THE NOVEL WAS PUBLISHED IN 1954 AFTER HAVING BEEN REJECTED BY MORE THAN TWENTY PUBLISHERS.

14. ABOUT THE NOVEL • IT WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL UNTIL THE 1960’S AND EVEN NOW THE BOOK IS CRITICIZED FOR BEING DIDACTIC AND INFLEXIBLE.

15. ABOUT THE NOVEL • THEMES IN THE NOVEL: THE NEED FOR CIVILIZATION; INNOCENCE AND THE LOSS OF IT; THE LOSS OF IDENTITY; POWER; FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN; BLINDNESS AND VISION. IF YOU WRITE ON THEME, BE SURE TO CREATE A STATEMENT FOR THE THEME.

16. INTERPRETATIONS • FREUDIAN: ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO AS DIVERGENT, CO-EXISTING FORCES WITHIN A HUMAN BEING; FOCUS IS ON THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE CONFLICT WITHIN.

17. INTERPRETATION S • FREUD DEVELOPED A THEORY TO EXPLAIN COMPETING FORCES WITHIN THE HUMAN MIND OR PSYCHE.

18. INTERPRETATIONS • FREUD CALLED THESE COMPETING FORCES THE ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO. HE FELT THAT A MENTALLY HEALTHY PERSON WOULD HAVE ALL THREE FORCES BALANCED.

19. INTERPRETATIONS • ACCORDING TO FREUD THE ID WAS A PRIMAL FORCE WITHIN US ALL. THE ID IS ENERGY, PASSION, SEXUAL DRIVE, VIOLENCE, EMOTION, AND AGGRESSION.

20. INTERPRETATION • IF ONE INTERPRETS LORD OF THE FLIES FROM A FREUDIAN PERSPECTIVE, THE CHARACTER WHO BEST EMBODIES THE ID PRINCIPLE IS JACK.

21. INTERPRETATION • JACK REPRESENTS THE RESTLESS ID WHO SEEKS PLEASURE, HUNTING, • FORCEFUL SPEECH AND PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. HE IS HARD TO CONTROL AND ACTS IMPULSIVELY.

22. INTERPRETATION • THE SECOND FORCE IS CALLED THE EGO. THE EGO IS THE CONSCIOUS VOICE OF REASON. THE EGO SEEKS INTERACTION WITH OTHERS WITHIN SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE ROLES.

23. INTERPRETATION • THE EGO SEEKS THE APPROVAL OF OTHERS AND IS SENSITIVE TO PRAISE AND CRITICISM. RALPH BEST FUNCTIONS AS THE EGO FORCE IN LORD OF THE FLIES.

24. INTERPRETATION • THE FINAL FORCE IS THE SUPEREGO. IT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SOCIETAL, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS RULES AND NORMS IN AN INDIVIDUAL. IT IS NOT INFLUENCED BY IMPULSE OR OTHERS.

25. INTERPRETATION • IN THE NOVEL TWO CHARACTERS, WHO ARE BOTH KILLED, FULFILL THIS FORCE. THEY ARE SIMON AND PIGGY. PIGGY BEST EXPRESSES THE SOCIETAL VALUES OF THE BOYS’ HOME.

26. INTERPRETATION • SIMON REPRESENTS RELIGIOUS ACTION AND VALUES. HE DEMONSTRATES QUALITIES WHICH THE SUPEREGO WOULD UTILIZE AS GUIDANCE DURING DIFFICULT TIMES.

27. INTERPRETATION • OF COURSE, THE MOST FASCINATING ASPECT OF DOING A FREUDIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE NOVEL IS THAT IT HELPS TO EXPLAIN THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE BOYS.

28. INTERPRETATION • RALPH, AS EGO, IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWO EXTREMES: HE MUST MEDIATE BETWEEN THE AGGRESSIVE, IMPULSIVE JACK AS ID AND THE MORE PASSIVE, PRINCIPLED PIGGY AS SUPEREGO. • BECAUSE THE RULES AND VALUES WE LEARN CAN GET IN THE WAY OF THE “FUN” WE WOULD LIKE TO DO, THE ID DOES NOT LIKE THE SUPEREGO.

29. INTERPRETATION • CONVERSELY, THE SUPEREGO CANNOT EASILY TOLERATE THE ID SINCE THE ID IS INTENT ON SHATTERING ALL THE RULES THE SUPEREGO VALUES. • RALPH IS VIRTUALLY IN A CATCH-22, A NO-WIN SITUATION BECAUSE HE CANNOT CONVINCE THE BOYS TO ABANDON THEIR GROWING ID IMPULSES. HIS VALUE AS A EGO-DRIVEN LEADER LESSENS.

30. INTERPRETATION • LORD OF THE FLIES DEMONSTRATES JUST HOW DIFFICULT FINDING A BALANCE BETWEEN THESE FORCES CAN BE. WITHOUT CIVIL RESTRAINTS, WHO ARE WE REALLY?

31. INTERPRETATIONS • SCIENTIFIC HUMANISM: • GOLDING EXPLODES THE BELIEF THAT MODERN SCIENCE WILL SAVE MODERN MAN FROM HIMSELF.

32. INTERPRETATION • THIS CLAIM OF GOLDING IS BEST COMMUNICATED BY THE CHARACTERS OF PIGGY AND SIMON.

33. INTERPRETATION • PIGGY SAYS, “LIFE IS SCIENTIFIC, THAT’S WHAT IT IS.” • HE CAN ONLY FATHOM WHAT HE CAN OBSERVE AND HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND PEOPLE.

34. INTERPRETATION • MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE CANNOT IDENTIFY THE BEAST FOR WHAT IT IS, EVEN REFUSING TO ADMIT SIMON’S DEATH AS A MURDER.

35. INTERPRETATION • PIGGY DENIES THE MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE COLLECTIVE GUILT. ONE CAN DERIVE THIS FROM THE SAME MORAL DEVASTION THRUST UPON THE WORLD AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB.

36. INTERPRETATION • “WE NEVER DONE NOTHING, WE NEVER SEEN NOTHING.”--PIGGY

37. INTERPRETATION • ONE VIEW IS THAT SCIENTIFIC HUMANISM HAS GIVEN MAN A FALSE SENSE OF CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF AND HAS STRIPPED AWAY HIS NEED FOR RELIGION.

38. INTERPRETATION • THEREFORE, SIMON’S FULFILLS AN ALLEGORICAL ROLE OF SPIRITUAL SHAMAN ON THE ISLAND. HE IS THE MYSTIC WHO UNDERSTANDS THE BEAST AND THE FALLEN NATURE OF MAN.

39. INTERPRETATION • THE TRUTH COMES TO SIMON AS A REVELATION, BUT HE DOES NOT HAVE THE WORDS TO COMMUNICATE THE HORROR. • SIMON REPRESENTS A FOIL TO PIGGY: HE SEES WHAT PIGGY’S OBJECTIVE, EMPIRICAL EYE CANNOT. • TOGETHER, THEY ARE A POWERFUL FORCE.

40. INTERPRETATION • THE IDEA IS THAT IF WESTERN MAN CAN FUSE THE TWO--THE SCIENTIFIC AND THE SPIRITUAL; THE RATIONAL AND THE INTUTIVE-- HE CAN SAVE HIMSELF. • IN OTHER WORDS, THE PRIEST AND THE SCIENTIST MUST WORK TOGETHER.

41. INTERPRETATION • THE PRIEST PROVIDES THE SCIENTIST A MORAL COMPASS. • SCIENCE AND MORALITY SEPARATED WILL NOT SAVE US FROM OURSELVES. • GOLDING WAS CLEARLY DISILLUSIONED WITH MANKIND’S BLIND RUSH TOWARDS TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS.

42. INTERPRETATION • ANOTHER VIEW OF THE NOVEL INVOLVES A CLASSICAL APPROACH, HEARKENING BACK TO ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.

43. INTERPRETATION • ONE OF THE FOREMOST CLASSICAL ALLUSIONS IN THE NOVEL OCCURS IN THE PAGAN RITUALS AND SACRIFICES. ONE ONLY HAS TO THINK OF JACK SURROUNDED BY GIFTS OF FRUIT AND THE MOCK PIG-HUNT AND CHANTING TO EVOKE THE PAGAN ASPECTS OF THE BOOK.

44. INTERPRETATION • ANOTHER DEBT THE NOVEL OWES TO THE CLASSICAL TRADITION STEMS FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT EURIPIDES. IN HIS TRAGEDIES HE OFTEN PORTRAYED THE DISINTEGRATION OF SOCIETY DUE TO A TRAGIC FLAW IN HUMAN NATURE. IN THIS WAY, MAN FAILS TO RECOGNIZE AND THEREBY APPEASE THE IRRATIONAL PART OF HIS SOUL

45. INTERPRETATION • MY PERSONAL FAVORITE “CLASSICAL CONNECTION” IS THE BOOK’S DEBT TO THE PRINCIPLES OF DIONYSIAN AND APOLLONIAN PERSPECTIVES

46. INTERPRETATION • AS YOU SHOULD KNOW, THE GOD DIONYSUS WAS THE GOD OF FERTILITY, REVELRY, AND THE GREEKS CELEBRATED WILDLY AT FESTIVALS HELD IN HIS HONOR.

47. INTERPRETATION • IN THE LATE 1800’S THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHER FREDERICK NIETZSCHE DETERMINED THAT THE DIONYSIAN FORCE WAS A MOVEMENT TOWARD CHAOS AND VIOLENCE.

48. INTERPRETATION • RATHER THAN CONDEMNING THE VIOLENT SIDE OF MAN, NIETZSCHE DETERMINED THAT ALL OF LIFE IS VIOLENCE AND THAT IT CANNOT BE REJECTED OR WE WOULD REJECT LIFE ITSELF.

49. INTERPRETATION • DIONYSIAN ELEMENTS INCLUDE DARKNESS, FLUIDS, DISORDER, DEATH, DIRTINESS, AND SEXUALITY. JACK FUNCTIONS ALONG THE LINE OF DIONYSIAN PRINCIPLES.

50. INTERPRETATION • THE OTHER PART OF THIS STRUGGLE IS REPRESENTED BY THE GOD APOLLO. REMEMBER THAT APOLLO WAS THE GOD OF THE SUN AND AS SUCH REPRESENTS THE CLEAR, RATIONAL ASPECT OF MAN.