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Jacks character in lord of the flies essay
Character development jack lord of the flies
Characteristics of Jack in Lord of the Flies
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The good. The bad. The right.
The world is a crazy place. It revolves around the decisions we all make, good or bad. Though our decisions might not always be the right ones, they often define what kind of person you are and because of this, a man named Sigmund Freud came up with a theory. We are either id, superego, or ego. You might not know what these mean just yet but you will soon. A great example of these three different concepts are in a novel called Lord of the flies written by William Golding. In his book there are three characters who represent each one of these concepts, Jack as the id, ralph as the superego and piggy as the ego. In the book Lord of the flies by William Golding, a character named Jack is introduced as a very distinct person. He bases his decisions on wants vs. what is needed and because of this, Jack represents the id. By definition the Id is is the unconscious part of the brain where no thought is applied and all decisions are based on what is wanted at the moment, usually to form a way of pleasure. (McLeod, Simply Psychology, 2016). More people will know this by the devil on
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That is basically what the third concept is. The ego gains its pleasure by achieving the end of what is needed without harming anybody or the id. (McLeod, Simply Psychology, 2016). In Lord of the Flies, ralph is the best example of this. He is the leader of the group and is often looking out for everyone and his main goal is to be rescued. He always reminds himself or his people to keep a fire going so a ship might possibly see the smoke which will increase their chance of being rescued. (Chapter 4). Also he establishes a civil part still in them and holds meetings every day and creates the conch system where whoever has the conch may speak so that way each can say there part and can agree on stuff easier and reduce arguments. (BBC 2014,
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.
Ralph shows actions of id and superego by deciding to act as a leader or become savage like Jack. Montag also shows actions of id and superego by trying to save society or be part of the corrupt society. Both Ralph from Lord of the Flies and Montag from Fahrenheit 451 have the same goal to save people through superego actions, which results in having vicious people trying to kill them.
From a psychoanalytical point of view, human behavior is thought to result from the interaction of three major subsystems within the personality: the id, ego, and super ego
An id is not concerned with how his decision affects others; he just wants what he wants. Jack Merridew is a prime example of a character motivated by his id. Jack was just an innocent twelve year old, was lead chorister boy and could sing a C note. Coming from an organized society, he has rules instilled in him. Life for him and the others change dramatically on the island. His innocence is lost when he stops governing his conduct. Merridew is not granted power but realizes that he can attain it by returning to his primitive behavior. “[Jack] tried to covey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up […] we want meat” (46). At this point in the novel, he dispels his primitive behavior that hints at his lust for killing. His selfish ways as an id indicate that he wants to do what he desires. At the beginning of the story he is only concerned with his pride so his goal in the...
Hiding from his shame made him able to act however he wants suppressing the ego and superego, leaving only the id left. Another allegorical example of an id from Lord of the Flies is, “Jack spoke softly, ‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift. This silence accepted the gift and awed them. The head remained there, dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood thickening between the teeth.
For example Jack, walking back with his hunters, is happy because he had killed a pig, but, Ralph isn't happy because he let the signal fire when a ship had passed by them. "'There was lashing of blood,' said Jack, laughing and shuddering, 'you should have seen it! We'll go hunting everyday' Ralph spoke again, hoarsely. He had not moved. 'You let the fire out!'"(page 69-70). As seen in the quote he only does what satisfies him as he said, "we'll go hunting everyday." Technically that is what an id does, it only operates on the pleasure principle and demands immediate gratification. Now Ralph is the ego for example, he is placed as chief and he starts explaining the rule that has to be obeyed. "'And another thing. We can't have everyone talking at once. We'll have to have hands up like at school,' he held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth, 'then I'll give Hume the conch'" (page 33). Ralph had established rules, "we'll have to have hands up like at school" which makes him the ego. Reason being because he was rational, organized when he set up the meeting, and logical, making Ralph the
In Freud’s research on the mind he found three functional areas--the id, the superego, and the ego. These interrelated parts permit the self to function in society. The id is the innermost component of the three. It is the extreme unconscious. This is where the child-like unsocialized drives and instinctual impulses arise. The id knows no rules and does not abide to any external logical laws. It is only ruled by the desire for pleasure. When the id sees something it wants, all it says is, "I want that, I want that, I want that," like a young child in a toy store. The id is selfish; it represents self-centeredness in its purest form.
The id represents your drive for rapid gratification and is mostly responsible for any wrong judgments; the ego serves as a bridge between these two, determining if an activity or notion is worthwhile. Finally, the superego is the component that primarily understands what you should be doing and what you would benefit from the most, much like your higher self speaking to
Freud's theory of psychoanalysis defined a human's personality and then outlined causes and affects that these traits had on the person's thoughts, actions, and relationships. As he developed his knowledge of the human psych, he named three different parts belonging to it: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id is what drives the instinctual and need-based responses of a human, the Ego is the controlled and realistic force, and the Superego is what dictates and adheres to morality and social correctness. According to Freud, these three section of a human's psyche must maintain balance or the subject will fall to internal chaos and turmoil.
In Sigmund Freud’s “An Outline of Psychoanalysis”, we encounter the id, ego and the superego. Freud explains that our id controls everything “that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is laid down in the constitution” (Freud 14). Our natural instincts are controlled by the id. The fight for survival is driven by the id in our psyche. The ego “preforms by taking control over the demands of the instincts” (Freud 15) it seeks a safe
In William Golding’s classic novel, Lord of the Flies, three of the main characters are written to kill each other eventually based on their differences. These characters are so different, it raises the stakes for every event they reach throughout the novel. By writing the boys in this fashion Golding has created very strong conflicts that are constantly addressed through the entire novel, thus giving the readers an extremely interesting read. When reading this novel and taking into consideration the way Golding was thinking and how he wanted to raise the stakes for these characters, the differences that were written completely make sense. Golding wrote these characters so drastically different to show the differences between Sigmund Freud’s
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a devastating plane crash strands a group of British schoolboys on a remote tropical island with no authority figures present to look over them. The boys’ perceptions of their previous identities act as their only remaining link to their past lives. Some of the younger boys cling to their past, such as Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony who constantly repeats his full name as a way of preserving his identity. However, others embrace the new wild way of life that confronts them. A boy named Jack leads a savage, primitive group of boys that represents the “id”, a Freudian concept that describes the part of human nature where impulse runs rampant and logic cannot be found.
It is driven by the reality principle by attempting to rationalize the situation and act accordingly in order to achieve satisfaction while doing it in a socially acceptable manner. The ego is ‘like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse’ (Freud, 1923). For example, while out at a restaurant, Tom was thirsty but knew that the waiter would return to refill the water glass, so he waited until then to get a drink, even though he just really wanted to drink from Mrs. Smith’s glass. The super ego sits, omnipresent, at the top and acts as a moral compass for both the id and ego.
The id and superego are on two opposite ends of the spectrum, and they are polar opposite to another, but they each live inside humans. The id is the primal instincts of one’s self it has; it is the
The id, ego, and superego play a vital role in a person's development of their personality. If thy work together in harmony a person will grow up to be a be a healthy mentally person.