Use of Psychology in Lord of the Flies
As psychology states, the human brain can be divided up into three sections: the id, ego, and superego. In the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, this idea of the different portions of the human mind becomes apparent in a group of young boys who arrive on a stranded island. The boys try to survive with a civil delegation, without losing their learned attributes of civilization and without reverting back to the basic primal instincts of survival. The boys act with a purpose of order when they arrive; however, the longer they stay on the island, the more savage they become. Throughout the story, Golding expresses the psychological change within the boys from the time that the boysland on the island to the point of their rescue. The theme of an individual’s id conquering their
…show more content…
The conch broke into a thousand white pieces further shows the savagery within them, as it once represented an island of civilization and order has become lost through the destruction of the conch. Jack’s tribe wants to completely wipe out civilization on the island. Therefore, Jack’s tribe comes to the decision of smoking out Ralph in order to capture and kill him to be an example to everyone of what will happen if any of them turn away. However, there plan of smoking him out did not go as intended, “They had smoked him out and set the island on fire” (Golding 197). Through their attempt of smoking Ralph out to kill him, they set the whole island ablaze, burning all of the trees, animals, and fruit. The fire, which once brought them warmth, a method of cooking, and hope, had now destroyed their most important assets. The fire burns all of the wood, their hunting prey, their source of warmth is lost, and their hopes of survival dimming along with the ashes from the
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’s Lord of the Flies portrays the lives of young British boys whose plane crashed on a deserted island and their struggle for survival. The task of survival was challenging for such young boys, while maintaining the civilized orders and humanity they were so accustomed too. These extremely difficult circumstances and the need for survival turned these innocent boys into the most primitive and savaged mankind could imagine. William Golding illustrates man’s capacity for evil, which is revealed in man’s inherent nature. Golding uses characterization, symbolism and style of writing to show man’s inhumanity and evil towards one another.
Nobel Laureate Sir William Golding’s Lord of the Flies(1953) has become a compulsory stop on the route of any surveyor of the English novel published in the second half of the twentieth century. During an atomic war, an aeroplane carrying a group of young English school boys is shot down and the party is marooned on an island in the Pacific. The boys, with no elders around, initially try to organize themselves by laying down rules and calling assemblies by means of a conch. Their leader at this stage is Ralph, symbolizing the good, helped by an obese, asthmatic Piggy, symbolizing practical commonsense. But the group slowly regresses to savagery led by the hot-blooded choir leader Jack Merridew, symbolizing evil. There ensues a spate of killings by Jack and his hunters who have let loose a reign of terror and work on fear psychosis. Just at the moment when Ralph is about to be killed by Jack, a naval officer arrives on a rescue ship and escorts the boys back to civilization. However, the Edenic island is on fire and in this realistic novel, Golding shows symbolically the fall of man; democracy is made to bow down before dictatorship; evil wins at the expense of good; and civilization loses at the hands of barbarism.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
The book Lord of the Flies Jack the leader of the savages wasn't always bad. William Goldberg the author says that everyone is capable of becoming evil, where philosophers like Jean- Jacques Rousseau who implied that it was our environment that shapes us. While Golding has some good points on his theory I have to agree With Rousseau because of many of his beliefs.
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
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
William Golding's first book, Lord of the Flies, is the story of a group of boys of different backgrounds who are marooned on an unknown island when their plane crashes. As the boys try to organize and formulate a plan to get rescued, they begin to separate and as a result of the dissension a band of savage tribal hunters is formed. Eventually the "stranded boys in Lord of the Flies almost entirely shake off civilized behavior: (Riley 1: 119). When the confusion finally leads to a manhunt [for Ralph], the reader realizes that despite the strong sense of British character and civility that has been instilled in the youth throughout their lives, the boys have backpedaled and shown the underlying savage side existent in all humans. "Golding senses that institutions and order imposed from without are temporary, but man's irrationality and urge for destruction are enduring" (Riley 1: 119). The novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil nature inherent in man. If a group of well-conditioned school boys can ultimately wind up committing various extreme travesties, one can imagine what adults, leaders of society, are capable of doing under the pressures of trying to maintain world relations.
What would happen if you acted on your every desire? Punishment? Well, on a deserted island, punishment would be nonexistent. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies displays the results of isolation from human civilization, as the boys on the island begin to follow a trend of violence which intensifies as the duration of the boys’ marooning is prolonged. The physical state of the island the boys are trapped on is representative of the boys’ mental state; as the island deteriorates the boys’ mental stability does as well, and they begin to descend into a state of savagery and insanity. According to Golding’s psychological allegory, the Id is the dominant facet of the human psyche, as the island, which is symbolic of the
Lord of the Flies Essay As humans, we are susceptible to being controlled and manipulated by others. Especially if you're a child in a desperate situation, like the boys on the island in the book, “Lord of the Flies” where a plane crashes, stranding several young boys on an island. This book explores how people can control others for their own personal gain, and how an urgent situation can show your true colors. But what caused the island to go into chaos? Fear and humanity caused the downfall of the island.
In modern times television shows sometime play programs where someone goes out to the wilderness and tries to survive using their instincts. These instincts can be classified as theories of psychoanalysis which symbolize the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo. The show focuses on how much people are able to give up for survival, similar to eating food that you would normally not eat or acting in a way you would not in a normal situation . In Lord Of The Flies, Golding uses the Freudian Theory of the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo to make a second level of the story to deepen the meaning of the book as well as backing it up with the science of psychology to illustrate how the children in the island cannot control their emotions and regress from civilization.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, an important theme explored throughout the novel is the loss of individual identity experienced by all of the characters. The individuality of many boys on the island disintegrates throughout the course of the book, and these sorts of drastic changes are seen in three of the major characters from the book. The protagonist, Ralph, his ‘sidekick’ Piggy, and the antagonist, Jack Merridew. The three boys all undergo major identity loss and personality change in different ways. The critical theme of identity loss is explored through the main characters in William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’.
Misfortune strikes immediately. Ralph, stranded on an island along with a group of fellow British school boys, finds himself with little hope for rescue and the onerous task of leadership. It is he who discovers the conch and calls the boys to assembly. It is he who must navigate them through this disaster. Ralph feels the weight of the world falling squarely upon his young, and seemingly inadequate, shoulders. He finds that he is not up to the test. Despite his efforts, order, control, and civilized behavior quickly flee the island as the boys descend into an animal-like existence punctuated by inane acts of violence. His calls for the restoration of rationality and peace are rebuffed, as the boys plunge into evil and murder. Ralph is left
Every child is born with a Mother Teresa inside of them. Although one is born with this inherent goodness, an infant, a toddler, or even an adolescent are incredibly impressionable by their parents and environments. One “evil” mutated gene may exist in one in a billion children, but this rotten apple does not represent the rest of the world’s population. More often, a disillusioned childhood, lacking the necessities for a person’s well-being and healthy growth, is at fault for the Adolf Hitlers, Jeffery Dahmers, and Charles Mansons of the world. Every child is a blank slate, and what they are exposed to shapes their personalities for the rest of their lives. Almost every behavioral experiment in psychology proved that behaviors are learned