LORD OF THE FLIES

FOCUS QUESTIONS Are people innately good or innately evil? What does it mean to be “civilized”? Can a “good” person do bad things? What might cause this? What rules would you NOT follow if no punishment existed? Without enforcement, how long would it take for the trappings of society to fall away?

I. WILLIAM GOLDING  Born: September 19, 1911 in Cornwall, England  Education:  Oxford (Brasenose College), beginning in 1930  Originally studied natural sciences but changed his field to English Literature  Teaching Career:  Taught English and philosophy at grammar school  Was able to see how young children interacted with one another

I. WILLIAM GOLDING  World War II  Joined the Royal Navy  Present at D-Day Invasion and sinking of the Bismarck  Results of War  War gave him a view to what happened when men operated outside the normal limits of society  Ceased to believe in the inherent goodness of man

I. WILLIAM GOLDING  Literary Career  Lord of the Flies  Published in 1954  Originally Titled Strangers from Within  Turned down by over 20 publishers  Inspired by The Coral Island  Nobel Prize for Literature – awarded 1983  “for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.”

INVESTIGATING THE NOVEL  Literary Analysis  Allegory: a narrative that serves as an extended metaphor  Analyzing Literature from Multiple Perspectives  Psychological Perspective  Sociological Perspective  Mythological/Religious Perspective

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS  Abraham Maslow:  American psychologist who studied human behavior and placed a good deal of emphasis on both the highs and lows of humanity  Believed that people are basically trustworthy, self-protecting, and self-governing  KEY IDEA: Human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

A. Basic Needs 1. Physiological Needs:  Food, Water, Warmth, Rest  All Biological Needs  Strongest Needs 2. Safety Needs: Security, Safety  Security, Safety  Mostly Psychological

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS B. Psychological Needs 3. Needs for Love, Affection, and Belongingness  Intimate Relationships, Friends  Seeking to Overcome Loneliness and Isolation 4. Needs for Esteem  Feeling of Accomplishment, Self-Esteem  Need for Optimal Growth

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS C. Self-fulfillment Needs 5. Needs for Self-Actualization

MORAL DEVELOPMENT – PIAGET  Jean Piaget – a theorist of developmental psychology  Two Stages of Moral Judgment  Children Younger than 10 or 11  Regard rules as fixed and absolute  Older Children  Rules are not sacred or absolute; they are devices which humans use to get along  Issue with Theory: Intellectual Development after the age of 12

MORAL DEVELOPMENT - KOHLBERG  Lawrence Kohlberg –best known for his Six Stages of Moral Development

MORAL DEVELOPMENT – KOHLBERG’S SIX STAGES  Level 1: Preconventional Morality  Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation  Assumes that rules are fixed by powerful authorities and must be unquestioningly obeyed  Punishment is tied up in the child’s mind with wrongness  Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange  Recognize there is not just one right view handed down by authorities  Each person is free to pursue his/her individual interests, so everything is relative  “Right” = what meets one’s own self-interests ----BUT CONSEQUENCE?

IV. MORAL DEVELOPMENT – KOHLBERG’S SIX STAGES  Level 2: Conventional Morality  Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships  People should live up to the expectations of family/community  Good ways = good motives, intentions, and feelings  Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order  More concerned with society as a whole  Emphasis on performing one’s duties so that the social order is maintained; desire is to keep society functioning

IV. MORAL DEVELOPMENT – KOHLBERG’S SIX STAGES  Level 3: Postconventional Morality  Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights  Independently considers what morals a society OUGHT to uphold  Believe that a society is based on social contract where people freely work for the benefit of all  Believe that despite different values, all rational people agree on protection of rights and improving society  Stage 6: Universal Principles  Defines the principles by which we achieve justice  Looks through the eyes of others to determine justice

V. FREUD AND ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO  Sigmund Freud: the “father of psychoanalysis”  Argued that the human mind contains three psychic zones, which dictate mental function and motivation  Id = source of drive for pleasure  Ego = source of reality  Superego = source of ethics

V. FREUD AND ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO  Id:  Fulfills “the pleasure principle”  Totally subconscious  Amoral and lawless– no ethics or values, no knowledge of good or evil  Demands pleasurable gratification at any cost  No impulse for self-preservation

V. FREUD AND ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO  Ego:  The “reality principle”  Governs the id and channels the id’s desires into socially acceptable outlets  Superego:  The “morality principle”  Home of conscience and pride  Represses things from the id that the ego cannot divert