Loss Of Identity In 'Lord Of The Flies And Waitress'

Music, like books, often reflects real-world problems, like loss of identity. In both Golding’s Lord of the Flies and the song “She Used to Be Mine” by Sara Bareilles from the musical Waitress, loss of identity in times of struggle is a common theme weaved throughout both. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy is the only boy with glasses. Ralph decides that they need to build a signal fire. The only way to make a fire was to use Piggy’s glasses. Later in the book, Jack splits off and creates his own tribe. The only kids left in the original group are Ralph, Piggy and the twins. One night Jack’s tribe breaks into the other’s camp to steal Piggy’s glasses so that they can make fire. Piggy’s responds to this by saying, “[The tribe] didn’t come for the

conch. They came for something else. Ralph--what am I going to do?” (Golding 172). Piggy is distressed because they took his glasses. Piggy cannot see without his glasses. Now, he no longer owns the way they make fire. All of this combined with his asthma, he is becoming more of a liability than an asset because he cannot help. He lost both his physical identity, for glasses make up a large portion of what he looks like, and he lost his identity as an asset to the group. Piggy’s response of distress and confusion at the time of his loss of identity is similar to the response of distress in the song “She Used to Be Mine” by Sara Bareilles from the musical Waitress. In the song, Jenna, the main character in the musical, sings “Sometimes life just slips in through a backdoor/ And carves out a person/ And makes you believe it's all true…./If I'm honest, I know I would give it all back/ For a chance to start over…./ For that girl that I knew”. She is singing about how often life will become tough unexpectedly, and in the process, people and their identities change. In the show, Jenna learns that she is pregnant with her abusive husband’s baby. In this song, she sings about how she would give the baby back if it meant she could have second chance to bring back her old identity. This song relates to the loss of identity Piggy feels in Lord of Flies, for the causes of their losses were unexpected. The tribe coming in and stealing Piggy’s glasses is unexpected and sudden. Jenna becoming pregnant, which is the cause of her loss of identity, is also unexpected. Both the song “She Used to Mine” and Lord of the Flies show that unexpected loss of identity is distressing and upsetting. This theme can also be seen in articles on real people’s experiences.
Loss of identity when life is rough is a recurring theme that appears in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and in Lorenz’s “Losing My identity” article. In Lord of the Flies, the chief, Ralph, begins to argue with Jack. Ralph wants to build a signal fire while Jack wants to hunt. With the support, Jack was getting Ralph was starting to lose power. Jack ends the argument declaring, “I’m not going to be part of Ralph’s lot... Anyone who wants to come can come.” Ralph loses his identity as an effective chief. He no longer is able to unite everyone with one blow of the conch shell, as people leave the tribe. The civilization aspect of this civilization is now gone and the chief in Ralph is now almost gone. If enough people even leave Ralph’s clan then his identity as chief will completely vanish. But the reason behind Ralph’s loss of power is the conflict he had with Jack. This conflict, of course, was a hardship in Ralph’s life which ended in a loss of his identity. This loss in identity can be compare to that of Lorenz Sell which he wrote about in the article “Losing my identity”. Lorenz was a CEO of a company that he had founded, but in 2009 he had to leave. He attempted to start a new company which ended up going bankrupt. He broke up with his girlfriend and went through “heartbreak and homelessness”. Describing his situation Lorenz says, “I spent 11 months living in my car and incurred massive debt just to keep things going... I went through immense psychological stress and periods of time where I could see no light at the end of the tunnel.” This all displays a clear loss of identity because Lorenz’s lifestyle experienced a sharp shift. Leaving his job as a CEO resulted in a lot of change. One’s job is a large part of their identity. Also, Lorenz probably had money from his job. One’s money and financial status is part of their identity. But it all went downhill as Lorenz lived for nearly a year in debt and in his car. Lastly, Lorenz’s mental health plunged downwards as he was heartbroken after breaking up with his girlfriend and had immense psychological stress. This shows a loss of his mental health. All this loss in Lorenz’s identity was due to the troubles of losing his job and the bankruptcy of the new company. Both Ralph and Lorenz lose their identities. Ralph loses his identity as an effective chief while Lorenz loses his identity as a financially and mentally stable CEO. These losses in identities were due to very similar reasons; Ralph had a conflict with Jack while Lorenz had conflict with his work. Not only do Lord of the Flies and “Losing my Identity” have a common theme, loss of identity; but there are other articles telling the stories of people who have also experienced loss of identity.
The article, “How Losing my Family has Stopped Defining Me From Who I Am” is connected to Lord of the Flies in that the theme, loss of identity, is shown in both.

In Lord of the Flies, of the boys on the island, Ralph has the most power. He is elected to be the chief and has power over all the boys. He is a very social person, always communicating. Whenever he calls an order, the boys obey and with one blow of the conch shell he is able to gather all the boys for an assembly. But then Ralph started losing power and one of the hunters, Jack, started to rise in position. Most of the boys joined Jack’s “tribe”. Even though Ralph loses his popularity within the group, he still has friends supporting him. A boy named Piggy, and a pair of twins, Sam and Eric, still remain supportive of Ralph and his ideas. At this point, Ralph is not lonely, but things start to change. Jack kidnaps Sam and Eric, and the tribe kills Piggy. At this point Ralph becomes lonely. He has absolutely no one and Jack’s tribe plots to kill him. Golding says in the book, describing Ralph’s circumstances as he tries to go to sleep at night, “Lying there in the darkness he knew he was an outcast”(Golding 191). Ralph loses his social identity. He goes from an identity with almost absolute power to one with friends and supporters, to like Golding says, an outcast. Ralph has to start a new life and identity as a recluse and a social outcast. But what was the reason for the loss of identity? Ralph lost his

identity because of a hardship in his life. This hardship was the loss of his friends and allies and also the fact that he is stranded on an island. Losing one’s identity resulting from hardships is a theme that does not only appear in Lord of the Flies. This can be compared to Susan Berg’s story in the article, ”How losing my family has stopped defining me from who I am”. In this article, Susan explains how her family all drowns in a boat accident. She was the only survivor, at the age of 15, and struggled to swim to shore. After the accident, Susan lost everything. She had to start over. But while starting her life over she lost her identity. She was sent to a new family. Susan says, “I rebelled against my religious upbringing, seeking solace in casual sexual encounters and party drugs – anything to disconnect from my life and to feel a sense of love.” While starting over, Susan lost her identity. Her new identity rebelled against her religious beliefs that she had always followed. Susan’s different actions and loss in an identity all relate back to one main reason. This reason was a calamity. This tragedy was the loss of her family members and her home. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph loses his social identity, becoming an outcast due to the hardship of losing friends, while Susan Berg builds a new identity rebelling against her previous beliefs due to the tragedy of losing family. Articles, including ”How losing my family has stopped defining me from who I am”, and many other books share the common theme, loss of identity with Lord of the Flies.
Loss of identity during tough times is a common theme in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding and in Emma Donoghue’s Room.

In Lord of the Flies, the boys in the tribe, face a major loss in their identities. Golding shows the loss in Bill’s identity when he writes, “Really thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt” (Golding 188). Golding shows that names and appearance are not the only part of identity, for although this person is still called Bill and resembles Bill, it is not Bill. While trapped on the island, Bill and all the other boys have changed into savages. They have lost their child-like innocence and identity while on the island. Jack, a five-year-old boy, in the book Room by Emma Donoghue also faces a similar loss of identity. Jack has lived an unimaginable life. He has lived in one room his whole life. He was born in this room and has no idea of the world outside of this room. His mother, known as Ma, on the other hand, does know about the world outside, for she is kidnapped, and impregnated by her kidnapper. When Ma finally tells Jack about the outside world, he is confused, and Ma cannot think of the right words to explain it. When she tells this to Jack, he relates it to the book Alice in Wonderland and he thinks, “Alice says she can’t explain herself because she’s not herself, she knows who was this morning but she’s changed several times since then”

(Donoghue 60). Although on the surface Jack is talking about Alice for Alice in Wonderland, it also relates to his own personal life. He is saying that he has changed since this morning after he learns that this world he has been living in is not really as it seemed. His identity, just like Alice’s, has changed when his reality came crashing down on him, and he no longer knows who he is. This is similar to Bill in Lord of the Flies. Bill, although he looks likes Bill is not really Bill. And Jack in Room still looks like Jack, but he does not know who he truly is anymore. Both Lord of the Flies and Room show how times of distress cause loss of identity.
When life gets tough one often loses their identity. This theme is not only weaved throughout Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but also in works of many other mediums. Loss of identity is not a rare occurrence. It impacts almost everyone at some point in their lives because everyone experiences rough times. Golding’s Lord of the Flies is not the only source showing identity loss in tough times. In fact, this theme can be found almost anywhere. This is why the saying, “people change” is true.