{ Lord of the Flies By William Golding Image Source:

As we read Lord of the Flies, begin thinking about this question: Are people flawed because society is flawed, or is it the other way around? Is there something wrong with us, and if so, what is it?

The Author -William Golding was born on September 19 th, 1911, in Cornwall England. -When England entered WWII, Golding joined the Royal Navy. -After the war he taught and wrote novels. -Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in Golding continued to write books, but never again attained the kind of popular and artistic success he enjoyed with Lord of the Flies. -Golding died in 1993, one of the most acclaimed writers in England. Image Source:

- William Golding wrote LOTF in response to WWII. - He saw WWII as the ultimate expression of man’s inhumanity to man. - The Holocaust. - Atom Bomb. Context

The Holocaust The Holocaust (from Greek holos, meaning “whole,” and “kaustos,” meaning burnt, also known as The Shoah, from Hebrew HaShoah meaning “calamity”). The Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state- sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany. Image Source: Wikipedia

The Atom Bomb The Atom Bomb was developed during WWII (codenamed the Manhattan Project) as an alternative to the planned land invasion of Japan by U.S. and Allied troops. The first bomb (uranium, code named “Little Boy”) was dropped on the morning of 6 August 1945 on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The second bomb (plutonium, codenamed “Fat Man”) was dropped three days later on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. These two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 Japanese people (mostly civilians) from acute injuries sustained from the explosion. Image Source: Wikipedia

-It was this boundless cruelty that Golding sought to understand. -How is it possible after 6,000 years of civilization to spend so much effort and energy on destruction? -Golding concluded that it had to be the result of some fundamental flaw that no amount of education or experience or wisdom could solve - a defect in the way human beings are made. -Lord of the Flies is a dark novel because it suggests that there is no hope for us. If Golding is right that the human animal is fundamentally flawed, then there isn’t any hope that humanity will survive - we are destined to destroy one another.

Golding created an allegory of the human mind at war with itself. He did this by: -Creating a setting of an uninhabited island, untainted by human influence. -Populating that island with boys who are strikingly similar – same language, same race, same educational background, same financial background, same religion (presumably). -In fact, Golding went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the characters were all the same. They have no shared history. They bring to the island no baggage of any kind, they are tabula rasa – blank slates. -Golding created a situation where the boys have to start civilization from scratch and the results – whatever they do – cannot be attributed to any external social factors, anything outside of themselves. What results can only be attributed to their innermost motivations.

Freud thought that our psyche could be divided into three parts: The Ego, the Superego, and the Id. Freud and The Lord of the Flies Image Soures:

Golding believed that when you remove the traditional influences, mankind will regress to his more animalistic Freudian roots. Golding explores this notion by dividing the human psyche into parts that are represented by the characters. Piggy – Physically weak but intellectually strong. He represents the Superego. Logic, Reason, and Rationality Jack – Physically strong. A hunter. He represents the Id. Animalistic Passions and Instincts Ralph – The Leader, a balancing influence between passion and reason. He represents the Ego. Simon – Outside this psychological paradigm, the Visionary, the Mystic. A Christ figure. Freud vis-à-vis the Characters

As we read Lord of the Flies, begin thinking about this question: Are people flawed because society is flawed, or is it the other way around? Is there something wrong with us, and if so, what is it?

Activity!

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE