Throughout our lives, we have built a character for ourselves. But we have also built opinions on different aspects of life. Who knew our opinions could be so heavily influenced by society and how nature works around us? In William Golding’s novel Lord of The Flies, he showcased his views on society and humans through different symbols, characters, and allegories. Throughout the novel, it is shown that Golding believes that fear is represented in many different ways, that his political views are heavily influenced by WWII, and that he believes humans are naturally savages. Since we will be focusing on the opinions of the views of others, not only will we be looking at William’s views, but we will also be taking a look at my views on these topics.
To start things off, fear played quite a substantial role in the novel. Throughout this story, Golding presented his view that fear is represented in different ways. The first one through having a fear of the unknown. In chapter 2 we encounter a conflict between the littluns and something mysterious out in the woods. “‘Beastie’ ‘A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it.’ ‘Where?’ ‘In the woods.’ […] ‘He says the beastie came in the dark.’” (34) Being a small boy in an unexplored island with who knows what, a fear of the unknown is likely to unfold. Making a big jump to chapter 12, we have the twins, Sam and Eric, providing a visual of the fear of pain. “He heard a cry and a flurry from the rock. The twins had grabbed each other and were gibbering.” (208) Ralph was calling out to the two boys, but they suddenly acted on impulse and spoke in gibberish due to the fear of Roger hurting them. Which showcases the fear of pain that exists. Another quote in chapter 12 provided an excellent representation of the fear of death. “Ralph screamed, a scream of fright and anger and desperation. His legs straightened, the screams became continuous and foaming. He shot forward, burst the thicket, and was in the open, screaming, snarling, bloody.” (221) We have Ralph acting irrationally while on the run from the hunters because of his deep fear of death. William Golding’s view that fear is represented in different ways is accurate. The world is so complex and mysterious. There are many things we don’t understand and things we cannot fathom, which leads to us, specifically, to the fear of the unknown. Even though fear is represented in different ways, it’s all because of our fear of the unknown. The mystery of what happens after death, and the unknown amount of pain we can take.
William Golding’s second view that’ll be mentioning is his views on politics. In fact, his views on politics are heavily influenced by his experience in WWII. Because during Golding’s lifetime, he experienced the wrath of the issues and conflicts of what was happening during his time. We can view Jack and Ralph as a representation of Germany and the other countries. In chapter 2, Jack showed himself as a representative of dictatorship amongst the boys. “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain” Said Jack, “So you shut up.” (42) In which Jack didn’t give others a say in anything and took control. Ralph, on the other hand, represents democracy. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak.” (31) Ralph made sure that everyone had a chance to speak out and voice their opinions, just like how a democratic government would be. This gives us the representation of Jack being Germany and Ralph as the other countries. I agree that Golding’s views were heavily influenced by WWII because Germany had a bit of a jealousy issue with the other countries. Just like how Jack is jealous of Ralph’s power as chief. When Adolf Hitler became a leader, he promised his people that he’ll help them get out of recession and make their country better. Once again similar to how Jack came to be in the book, he promised the hunters and the other boy that fun will be restored. Through the similarities with Jack and Hitler’s story, it is really evident that Jack’s representation and the political views in the book were heavily influenced by WWII.
Lastly, we’ll be taking a look at Golding’s view on human nature. Golding believes that humans are naturally savages. In chapter 2, the boys find it difficult to abide by Ralph’s rules and democratic style “They’re hopeless. The older ones aren’t much better. D’you see? All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing.” (51) The boys enjoy hunting, violence, chanting and having fun. They don’t want to help maintain the signal fire, build shelters, or even take care of the littluns. Later on, in chapter 9, the boys were becoming more violent and their inner savageness was coming out. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill the blood!” This quote is used by the boys quite often throughout the book. They use it as a chant when killing a pig and when they killed the “beast” which was in fact, Simon. But the boys felt no remorse when engaging in those violent activities, instead, they cheer, chant, and dance as if it was to be celebrated. In the next chapter, we had a bit of character development from Piggy. “P’raps he was only pretending-” (173) says Piggy, talking about the death of his peer, Simon. Even the person you’d least expect to be savage has savage tendencies too. Piggy blatantly denies the killing of Simon and tries to make excuses for what he and the other boys did or did not do. Do I agree with Golding that humans are natural savages? Yes, I do agree because if we were to get rid of any form of organization or government in the world, the world would be in utter chaos. Take the movie The Purge as an example. Although it’s not based on a true story, without law and order the world would be filled with murders and criminals. Because as humans, the only thing that is stopping us from doing such things is the law. This situation is similar to the Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. In which our personality is characterized by certain stages: the Id, which is our natural human instincts of instant gratification. The ego, which is focused on reality. And the superego, which is focused on morality. With our id, humans have tendencies to be savages and to take things for ourselves, but our superego (which is similar to law and order) reminds us of what is right and what is wrong.
Throughout the novel, William Golding expressed his views in different ways. It is shown that Golding believes that fear is represented in many different ways, that his political views are heavily influenced by WWII, and that he believes humans are naturally savages. Even though fear is represented in different ways, it’s all because of our fear of the unknown. Through the similarities with Jack and Hitler’s story, it is evident that Jack’s representation and the political views in the book were heavily influenced by WWII. Although we have morals and laws, when it’s taken away humans have tendencies to be savages and to take things for ourselves. Whether it be in a form of symbols, character personalities, allegories, and literary devices. William Golding did an outstanding job of showcasing his views and opinions through his craft of literature.
Outline Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nw_oCCc8hrHmfIeCaLm5Ovn31emKrPJ-RYfHOpSELzY/edit?usp=sharing
ELISHA SERVANO 