"LORD OF THE FLIES" : Critical Analysis

Author: William Golding

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Golding )

Novel: Lord of the flies

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies )

Lord of the flies was a unique modern work that focused on authentic matters in 1st half of 20th century. That modern period was an era which considered about,

1. Soul and mind about human being

2. How the individuals are struggling with social phenomena.

It means the focus of important shifted to the individuals in this era.

The author of this book is William Golding who was born in Cornwell England in 1911, was a British writer. This novel which won the Nobel Prize was a fictional novel with dark, violent, and tragic tones. Story was influenced by Goldings’ experiences during WWII because he served in the Royal Navy at that time.

The Coral Island, written by R. M. Ballantyne, a hundred years before the publication of the Lord of the flies in 1857, precursor for this. But due to Golding looked at people in modern perspective while Ballantyne looked at people in romantic perspective Lord of the flies was more popular than the Coral Island.

    The story can read under different aspects and among them one of the most considerable readings is look at the story according to the psychoanalyst theory which introduced by Sigmund Freud. Personality is the factor that determines the nature of each human being. Freud said that personality is made up of three things called ID, EGO, and SUPER EGO. Agreeing with Freud’s theory, William shows that every human has three parts in their mind using the characters of Lord of the flies, which tells about the group of English boys marooned on a tropical island after their plane was shot down during a war. 

          Id is a 100% unconscious mind comes with birth, and infant is a most suitable example for this. Id always tries to satisfy its desires and it is called pleasure principle. Jack Merridew, the antagonist of the novel symbolizes the concept of id. He wishes to operate by the pleasure principle without long term planned as the id. When he wants something he does not care about others and following things can be shown as examples.

   - He allowed the signal fire go out for hunting.

   - Stole Piggy’s glasses

   - Ordered to kill Ralph.

As well as violent, greedy nature, lawless can be seen in Jack.

“Bollocks to the rules! We are strong, we hunt. If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down and beat and beat.” 

this quotation shows  he does not help to establish rules and throughout the story we can see how he tries to make boys against Ralph and become a totalitarian leader.

“I ought to be chief.. because I’m chapter chorister and head boy.”

Further, “kill the fig, cut her throat, bash her” shows how he and his hunters behave completely as savages like the id. When Piggy said “shouldn’t fire let” Jack hit him. It implies that id hates to be instructed in morality by the super ego. Because the super ego symbolizes through Piggy and Simon, the fact that Jack is more powerful than the two of them shows that the id can over-  power the super ego. In addition to that the “Saw head” which given to beast also symbolizes the id and it emphasizes that id as a dirty thing with bad smell which inside every human. 

“We are English and the English are the best at everything.” However though they civilized in outside, all humans are same in inside.

  The Ego is the part which operates on reality principle while controlling and try to satisfy both id and superego. The protagonist, 12 years old English boy, Ralph represents the ego. The ego is not completely opposed to the principles of id, but instead tries to satisfy it by agreeing to external conditions. Freud likens the relationship between the id and ego to that of a horseman riding a horse.

Ego is the rational aspect of the mind and Ralph’s rationality exhibits through his role as a leader.

          - he focuses on the idea of being rescued and organizes the fire as a mode of getting attention of a rescue ship.

                - works on building shelters for the members of the tribe.

                - makes rules

     *blow the conch to call the other boys assembly

     *only the boy holding the conch can speak 

  ‘’we can’t have everybody talking at once. We will have to have hands up them I’ll give him the conch.”

‘’we choose those rock right along beyond the bathing pool as a lavatory.”

 Furthermore when Ralph elected as the chief he understood how it will effect on jack and therefore he gave the control of the choir to Jack.  After Piggy’s death it seems like Ralph would be easy to destroy without Piggy; ego can be destroyed easily without a powerful super ego.

  Super ego is a human’s morals and ethics which follow moral principles. And it is our inner voice, telling us to do the right thing. Super ego is divided into two parts: the ego ideal and conscience.

  Conscience means what your brain registers as wrong. These are often forbidden things and doing them can result in punishment or a feeling of guilt inside us. Piggy always tries to recreate the society that they had at home and school while representing this aspect.

“My Auntie wouldn’t let me blow on account of my asthma.”

Piggy is the voice of reason but he only able to do things with Ralph’s help. Like that super ego can active only through the ego. Always Piggy gives advices to Ralph regarding right things as an angle on a human’s one shoulder. Finally Piggy’s death suggests that intellectualism is vulnerable to brutality. 

  Ego ideals means what your brain registers as what you should do or what is right to do. Simon’s good behavior is a good instance for this, including,

   - Picking fruits for the littluns

   - wanted to maintain a sense of civilization

   - giving Piggy his share of meet when Jack wouldn’t

   - continues to work even after everyone stops

Because of these reasons his moral nature lives on through the boys even after his death as the super ego can shine a person. He is the only one who identified that true beast is in the inside the boys.

“You know, didn’t you…” The lord of the flies tells him, it is impossible to destroy evil because it lives deep within the human heart.

  As the conclusion, looking at the story from a psychological view, we can see that all three aspects are contained in every human being, and that the emergence of Id, and super ego are more or less happening through the intervention of the ego. However William Golding successfully interprets that Freud’s theory using his novel Lord of the flies.

                                          By,

                           ❤️Tharushi Fernando❤️