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Personal identity and culture
Influence of environment on child development
Personal identity and culture
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William Shakespeare states, in one of his famous plays, Hamlet, that “We know what we are, but not what we maybe,” (4.5. ). The author suggests the idea of the human’s true self, hiding behind one’s mask, which further leads to the question of human identity. The question “Who am I?” becomes one of the most complex topics in literature and philosophy because no one yet finds the answer. This subject inspires different writers such as Phillip K. Dicks, Aldous Huxley, and William Golding to pursue people seek for the unknown. One of the dystopian novels, called Lord of the Flies by William Golding, tells the story of a group of children, on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean during the atomic bomb war. By choosing the character between …show more content…
William Golding expresses his opinion through Piggy, whom is smart, but never respected by others, by letting him ask the question. Piggy questions the boys about “What” are they, “Humans?” “Animals? Or savages?” when their attempt of democracy about to crash (Golding 91). By letting Piggy show the boys how they about to lose themselves, William Golding simply suggests that human beings return to their natural creatures without identity reminding who they are. Furthermore, this also helps to demonstrate the fact that environment impacts human identity. Aldous Huxley clearly points out, in his novel Brave New World, which the society plays an important role shaping one’s self. One of the characters, Henry Foster, explains the “conditioning” that “Epsilon,” “Beta,” and “Alpha” have, would make any of them “no less thankful” not to be each other (Huxley). As like William Golding’s idea, human beings turn into other creatures by losing themselves, Aldous Huxley further demonstrates the environment also a big factor to decide if a person could keep or lose one’s identity. Furthermore, there are multiple other factors that can impact one’s identity beside the surrounding environment, such as religious beliefs and …show more content…
For example, people argue whether human beings were born good or evil. Each side of the argument has its own opinion, such as “if men were born innocent, then at what age does evil enter their soul?” Or “if men were born evil, then what pursue people to be good?” People determine that individual identity allows one to conceal the natural creature and maintains one’s goodness. Consequently, as people lose themselves more often in the society, the lack of identity can create the less self- consciousness, which further develop violence and crimes in the community. For example, sociopath cannot feel remorse due to his lack of consciousness and missing identity. This proves that although humans have the power of creating new identity, the inner monsters of men might be strong enough to take over their
Lord of the Flies was written by a British author in 1954. The book is about a group of British school boys that crash on an island and have to survive. During their time on the island they turn their backs on being civil and become savages. Ralph is the elected leader and always thinks civil. Jack leaves the group and starts a tribe with the boys and is a savage. Piggy is a boy who is knowable. Simon is compared to Jesus through the book and is the only naturally “good” character. The littleuns are the littler kids on the island. Roger is a cruel older boy who is Jack’s lieutenant. Samneric are twins who are close to Ralph but, are manipulated by Jack later on. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding some of the characters represent id, ego, and superego. Id, ego, and super ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus expressed by Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche. Golding expresses his message of evil and how it is natural in every person, and how we must recognize and control it through id, ego, and superego.
William Golding, the author of the novel The Lord of the Flies, lived through the global conflicts of both world wars. World War II shifted his point of view on humanity, making him realize its inclination toward evilness. His response to the ongoing struggle between faith and denial became Lord of the Flies, in which English schoolboys are left to survive on their own on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. Just like Golding, these boys underwent the trauma of war on a psychological level. Ralph, one of the older boys, stands out as the “chief,” leading the other victims of war in a new world. Without the constraints of government and society, the boys created a culture of their own influenced by their previous background of England.
Throughout the novel, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the character Jack finds his true identity through a clay mask of his own making. At the beginning of the novel, Jack is unable to kill a pig for food, however, he later puts on a mask in order to blend in with nature and not drive the pigs away. To the contrary, by putting on this mask Jack gains a newfound confidence that was nonexistent in his own skin. For example when Jack first put on the mask he “looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (63). By putting on a mask Jack is able to lose his identity a little bit and act and feel like a whole new person. This idea of taking on a whole new role when putting on a mask can be seen in many modern tv shows and movies.
The title of the book is Lord of the flies the author is a British novelist named William Golding a British he wrote the book during WWII. What Golding aimed to do was explore the dark side of humanity and at what point would we look at each other as enemies. The main characters in the book that stood out the most were Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, Samneric and Rodger. They are the ones who have had the most critical change in the story.
Over millions of years, man has transformed from a savage, simple creature to a highly developed, complex, and civil being. In Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding shows how under certain circumstances, man can become savage. During nuclear war, a group of British schoolboys crash land on an uninhabited island to escape. Ralph the elected leader, along with Piggy and Simon, tries to maintain civilization, while Jack and his group of choir boys turned hunters slowly become savages obsessed with killing. Through characters’ action and dialogue, Golding illustrates the transformation of civil schoolboys into bloodthirsty savages.
It is in these games were the boys get carried away and Ralph feels a
Katherine Paterson once said, “To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” William Golding, who is a Nobel Prize winner for literature, writes Lord of the Flies, originally published in 1954. Golding’s novel is about a group of boys who crash land on an island. All of the adults are dead and they are abandoned on an island. The boys try to set rules and create a fire in efforts of being rescued. The group of boys chooses Ralph to be their leader. This choosing makes a literary character named Jack, who doesn’t show his anger until half way through the plot. The novel shows the nature of humans and how fear can control them. The novel also shows the difference between good and evil. Golding experienced this when he was in World War II. There were many times fear controlled the boys in the island in Lord of the Flies.
' I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature '.
As the common adage states, “people change”. This maxim, however, does not explain the cause of this change or the reason why people lose their identities. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, loss of identity and the cause of this loss is a common theme throughout the novel. In the book, little boys turn from innocent children to bloodthirsty savages as a result of them being stranded on an island without any adults. This theme, loss of identity, and its cause are not just apparent in Lord of the Flies, but also in many other mediums, including movies, music, books, and news articles. These sources show that identities are not lost when all is well, but only when life becomes a living hell.
William Golding explores the vulnerability of society in a way that can be read on many different levels. A less detailed look at the book, Lord of the Flies, is a simple fable about boys stranded on an island. Another way to comprehend the book is as a statement about mans inner savage and reverting to a primitive state without societies boundaries. By examining the Lord of the Flies further, it is revealed that many themes portray Golding’s views, including a religious persecution theme.
The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
Circumstance and time can alter or determine the different paths a group of young boys will take. These paths can have the power to strip children of their own innocence. Such a statement can be explored in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” as it ventures into the pros and cons of human nature. William Golding’s tale begins with a group of English school boys who crash land on a deserted tropical island during World War II. In Lord of the Flies, the island that the boys crash on is beautiful, glamorous, and magnificent; yet, it proves to become a dystopia by the horror of the cruelty, violence, and inhumanity.
Although there are many interpretations of Golding’s Lord of the Flies, one of the most important is one that involves an examination of Freudian ideas. The main characters personify Sigmund Freud’s theory of the divisions of the human mind; thus, Jack, Ralph, Piggy and Simon are metaphors for the id, ego, and the super-ego of Freudian psychology, respectively. The inclusion of psychological concepts in this literary work distinguish it as a commentary on human nature, beyond labels of “adventure” or “coming of age” novel. Many readers are left in shock upon reading Golding’s masterpiece because of the children’s loss of innocence, but most fail to consider
“Adults run the world; and there is war, and enmity, and destruction unending.” (Peter David) Throughout the novel, the boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies consistently admire the life of adults. Ironically, Golding’s imaginary island is a microcosm of the adult world- both destined to be destroyed. Golding reveals this microcosm through conflict and characterization.
is left with the decision of whether or not to drop the rock. Roger is