Lord Of The Flies Identity Analysis

Identity Analysis Essay
Every individual comes across different phases of life where in their character, personality, and ability is put to a solid test. No matter how civilized through morals, values and cultures the individual is, only their true identity survives when tested. Similarly, in Lord of the Flies, Jack and Simon are thrown in a land of challenges and obstacles which bring forth their true personality. Jack and Simon start off as innocent and civilized children, but as the taboo of the beast breaks out, Jack reverts back to his primitive and savage self while Simon’s mystical nature emerges.

In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays Jack and Simon as helpful, naive and civilized children who are unfortunately

trapped on an unknown island. Throughout the very first few chapters, Jack is shown as an authoritative yet civilized leader as he firmly states, “We’ve got to have rules, and obey them. After all, we are not savages. We’re English and English are best at doing the right thing (Golding 42).” This demonstrates that before reverting to his primitive self, Jack did believe in the basic form of rules and order. He is neither seen as a major antagonist nor expected to change into a savage boy by his kind deeds when asking for help while fetching trees and volunteering in looking after the fire which show him as a regular, enthusiastic schoolboy. On the other hand, before his significant strength of deep thinking is shown, Simon is portrayed as a typical shy and quiet schoolboy. For instance, “Simon found them the fruit, they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands” (57), indicates that Simon is a helpful and generous person who has a natural goodwill, unlike Jack. His innocence is seen as he bravely wanders through the forest glade and finds himself a secret spot to show his distaste to the crowd and loud noise, but nothing spectacular other than that is seen in his character. Additionally, as the iniquity of the beast starts to take over the island, their inner childishness which they cherish until now, also starts to dissolve, as observed in the quote, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood”(29). Jack is unable to commit the act of violence at the initial attempt which marks the little humanity left in him, but the thought of hunting down a pig shows the slow loss of innocence. Both of them see the enormity of the knife and also understand the culture that defines this act as violent and uncivilized behaviour, showing their identities former to their experience on the island, which scarred them for life by bringing out their inner and deeper identities forth. In these first few chapters, the boys are not facing any major difficulties other than the complete absence of adults and are completely enjoying the life on the island. As soon as hunger, survival and fear take over, the true personalities of both the boys arise.

The moment the chaos and fear establish themselves in the souls of the boys, Simon’s mystical and saintly nature starts to appear from the quiet and shy nature.

Furthermore, Simon’s gifted power of true inner visionary to look beneath the souls is revealed, “..Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick” (112). As the boys continue to indignantly quarrel and give the beast a form and figure, Simon visualizes the beast in man himself. Thus, he loses his former innocence when he realizes the ‘darker’ side of mankind, which the boys named as the beast and understands that evil is inherent in all humans. Furthermore, his eyes represent mystical wisdom and knowledge as well as magnifying lenses to see clear pictures of the obnoxious happenings such as, “The tangle of the lines showed him the mechanics of this parody; he examined the white nasal bones, the teeth, the colours of corruption” (162). Out of all the boys present, he is the only one who receives the opportunity to see the true illusion of the beast, adding more comprehension to his understanding of the beast that the more the bitter acts of violence are committed, the more the beast will come alive on the island. This also shows his ‘superego’ personality, consisting of a fully developed mind of social and parental values. With these values, he understands the difference between the right and wrong; savage and civility and is also both naturally good willed and civilized. His identity of a keen observer appears when he comprehends that on the surface, the island is extremely peaceful and calming, but the inside is where the roots of brutality grow which slyly evoke the inner savage present in all humans. Moreover, Simon’s character also has a touch of spirituality which is revealed when he hallucinates his conversation with the Lord of the Flies, where Lord of the Flies is symbolized as the devil and Simon as Jesus. He also has a

sacrificed and tragic death while he tries to convey the message that the beast is “harmless and horrible” (162), similar to Jesus, “There were no words, no movements, but the tearing of teeth and claws” (169). His death marks the end of civility and order on the island as well as the only source of information about the beast which foreshadows, even more, chaos and destruction. Overall, if not for the fall of civility and immense destruction on the island, Simon’s mystical wisdom and the saintly image would have never come out.

Through the hardships the boys face, Jack’s inner primitive self emerges due to the constant battle with the unknown fear of the beast. The painted mask that Jack dons, truly represent his drastic switch into savagery and introduces this new identity of bloodlust and violence, “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling….and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (66). This shows that due to his obsession of bloodlust and craving for violence when caged in the island, Jack reverted back to his primitive self and his mind is still stuck in Id. He is extremely irrational in his decisions as he is blinded by his cruel savage instincts of want, want and want. He wears this mask to free himself from the burden of forced civility and shame as well as to prevent himself in becoming guilty for his vicious deeds. After wearing the mask, he liberates himself from the judgement of good or bad and right or wrong. Furthermore, he completely goes against his own words of rules and orders and flows along the path of misdeeds and violence. When the devilry of the beast launches its power through fear, he sternly says, “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat—!” (99). As expected, he is the first one to break the rules and criticize them after his success of hunting which shows the superiority of savagery over civility and also adds an additional layer of pride in his personality. It clearly demonstrates that his mind is still in the stage of development due to his actions of jumping to conclusions too quickly. Unlike other who coward back with fear, he wisely uses this idea of the beast to horrifically exploit and manipulate the fear in the boys for his personal desire of bloodlust and thirst for the complete power over the island. As seen in the quote, “Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol (164). Power lay in the brown shell of his forearm; authority sat on his shoulders and chattered in his ear like an ape” (165), Jack entirely transformed from a civilized English boy to a tyrant “chief”. The ape represents the evil beast sitting on his shoulder and cunningly looking to overpower everyone else in his dictatorship and merciless rule. Thus, Jack’s inner primitive and savage self only came out when the boys were thrown into an island immersed in darkness without a proper light of guidance.

In conclusion, facing the dark and rough aspects is an another important phase of human life. Everyone undergoes various privations where an individual’s personality, character, and abilities are challenged. Although an individual might be civilized through morals, values and beliefs, only their true identity survives when tested. In Lord of the Flies, Golding does a great job to show a person can’t hide their true identity for too long, particularly in difficult times, through the characters of Jack and Simon.