In Lord Of The Flies, The Metamorphosis, By William Golding

The human experience is a special one; The conscious human ability to observe and perceive the world in ways beyond simple or primary observation was brought upon by the rapid evolution of humans, and has helped us grow into the modern beings we are: complex; layered; empathetic, and thoughtful. With these uncommon and advanced qualities comes the realization that there are many ways of viewing our world (man’s world), for all humans develop consciousness; and each individual is shaped by the experiences, knowledge and wisdom of both themselves and others. This quarter we analyzed the theme: a different view of man’s world, through various forms of literature including: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka,

and the nonfiction article coming to Our Senses by Neil de Grasse Tyson.

In the application of this quarter’s theme to all three stories, we result in having experienced, witnessed, and observed man’s world in three different perspectives; how easily normalcy can be torn apart by human impulse and misguided morals; how our place in a capitalistic society can determine how others perceive us; and how the use of new technologies gives us endless ways to view the physical world.

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, we see a world of impulse and savagery, which has torn apart once fair assembly. Through a group of young boys trapped on an island we see the violent and savage impulses of human nature flourish and thrive, and with it the loss of any and all innocence, reasoning, and moral guidance. The overall theme of Lord of the Flies is

civilization versus savagery; the clashing of instinct with ideal: the ideal to live by the rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group, is set against the basic instinct to fulfill one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. In the beginning of the book, soon after they crash-land on the island, Ralph and Piggy begin to- as it says in the book- “do as the adults would do”, that is, call

everyone together and set rules and goals as well as work together to survive. The first sign of trouble comes with the introduction of Jack to the story. He and his pack of choir boys try to intimidate everyone but fail and end up cooperating with the group, however Jack is still mad that he didn't win the vote for leader. This is the first sign of the instinct to fulfill one’s immediate desires, as Jack wants to be leader and because he isn’t he gets mad, rather quickly which is another sign of the basic instinct to act for one’s own gain, the failure to become leader triggers his already short temper. Things actually start to fall apart when there is strife between Ralph and Jack; Jack is obsessed with hunting while Ralph wants to focus on getting rescued, these disagreements cause a few serious arguments, as Jack spirals deeper and deeper into complete savagery and Ralph tries to keep everyone in line- picking up Jack’s original duties until he and Simon are the only two actually working on anything. The threshold between civilization and savagery is reached when the bigguns see what they think is the beast but what is really a dead parachutist. The power dynamic is now in motion, moving quickly towards Jack, the parachutist’s mistaken identity essentially confirms- in the boys’ eyes- the existence of the beast. Now Jack has the slight advantage, as his power over the group increases with every boy convinced that they saw the beast. Soon all the boys are paranoid, on their toes because of confirmed sightings of the beast, the shift in power is finally complete when they kill Simon

because they think he is the beast.

Power has made the complete shift because Ralph participates in the killing of Simon, and by doing so surrenders his integrity and reason to Jack in replace of fear and violent impulse. Soon after, everything falls apart fast: there is a schism in the group of boys as Jack takes the majority of them to start his own tribe, and then Piggy’s glasses are stolen, Piggy is then killed and the conch shatters, symbolizing the fall of what little civilization they had left. With the complete fall of civilization comes the complete loss of reason- Piggy, kindness and innocence- Simon, and leadership or guidance- Ralph. From Lord of the Flies we see the world through a broken lens, a once honest and innocent society set on rescue, is now a fractured system; overthrown by paranoia and its consequent impulsivity, violence, and fear of the

unknown.

In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis our view of man’s world is skewed, molded and shaped after the capitalistic society of the times. Our perspective is then heightened as we read about a working class salesman, working a job he hates to pay off a debt his parents owe while also providing for them, plus his sister, with what little income he earns. The life of Gregor Samsa is only a pain, nothing brings him joy, and he begins to feel as if he is being mistreated by almost everyone in his life; there is great distance between his parents, sister and he; his boss is always yelling at him, even when he works twice as hard as everyone else but doesn't even get half of what they get; and as he wakes up one morning, he feels off, but he justifies it as his imagination and brushes it off despite the fact that he has turned into a bug. Gregor has gotten to a point where even he treats himself like a no-one- a silent laborer without a face or name with which no one can connect, so much so that he has transformed into a physical embodiment of how he is treated. In Gregor’s transformation, or metamorphosis, the

intangible social structures of a capitalistic society are given physical embodiment, specifically the working class man. In a capitalistic society, the rich tend to stay rich while the poor for the most part remain poor, or their situation is improved slightly. And when your rich, you don't care about how you treat others of lesser status, you end up treating them like pests, or little nothings that are faceless and nameless and therefore difficult to connect with for you. It's the same way around for the poor, only they aren’t rich and they do care about how they treat others because their next meal might rely on it. Gregor’s metamorphosis shows us what it’s like to be relatively poor in a capitalistic society, a society that should offer promise to those who work hard enough, but only keeps them running in circles, like their lives aren’t important enough, like they’re to be disregarded like a bug would be if you saw it crawling along the sidewalk, clinging to life.

In the informational article coming to Our Senses, Neil deGrasse Tyson explores how the advancements of technology have given us endless ways to view the physical world. The article begins by explaining how the human eye works, explaining how we are able to see our world the way we do. Afterwards, it addresses the fact that we are only able to see a mere sliver of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, our eyes are only able to see frequencies higher than infrared and lower than ultraviolet, and this inhibits us from seeing the majority of what our universe is composed of. Use of technology that enables us to see beyond our sliver of the EM spectrum, which lets us observe and explore the universe in ways once considered a divine miracle. Our ability to view the physical world in a multitude of ways also gives us a view of the past; we have been able to pick up background radiation that originated from the creation of the universe through the use of microwave radiation technology. Through the use of highly

sensitive machines, we can detect even the smallest presence of radiation ranging from all ends of the EM spectrum, and this has led to the advancements and creations of various scientific fields. We now have the ability to have the stars presented before us on ceiling sized screens, we can take in depth tours of the deepest corners of space because of our ability to observe the physical world in a multitude of ways. Our many different views of the physical world bring us new discoveries, and inspires others to pursue a dream which could once again change how we see our world.

In the application of this quarter’s theme- a different view of man’s world- to Lord of the Flies, The Metamorphosis, and Coming to Our Senses, we result in having experienced, witnessed, and observed man’s world in three different perspectives; how easily normalcy can be torn apart by human impulse and misguided morals; how our place in a capitalistic society can determine how others perceive us; and how the use of new technologies gives us endless ways to view the physical world. The way in which we view the world tells a lot of us; weather the transformation from civilized to savage, the ruthless competition of capitalism, or the ability to see gamma rays be your point of view. All in all, each of the three are essentially different views of man’s world; a complex, impure, and heartless, yet progressive world.