1. Microcosm and Macrocosm
Mrs. King—Fall 2010

2. Microcosm and Macrocosm
Ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of reality
Pythagoras—golden ratio
Golden mean—a pattern that was reproduced throughout reality
Greeks saw reality as a whole and noticed patterns that were repeated throughout all the levels of reality.

3. Microcosm and Macrocosm
Macro- (large)
Micro- (small)
Cosom- (Order, world, or ordered world)
“Cosom” also comes from the idea of the cosmos or the universe

4. Microcosm and Macrocosm
Simply put, it is the recognition that the same traits appear in entities of many different sizes, from one man to the entire human population.

5. Applied to Lord of the Flies
Macrocosm—the entire world at turmoil during the 1940’s (World War II)
Microcosm—the small island where the boys are stranded.
The behaviors of the boys and their “society” begin to take on, or mimic, the behaviors of the larger society (the world as a whole).

6. Critics of Lord of the Flies
Dramatizes the history of civilization
Explores issues such as original sin and the nature of good and evil
Criticism of the political and social institutions of the West
Explores the problems and questions universal to the human experience