☆ Introduction:
" They understood only
too well the liberation
into savagery that the
concealing paint brought . "
William Golding was born on 19 Stember 1911 and died on 19 June 1993 in England. He was an Brith novelist, Playwright, and poet . He was best known for his debut novel ' Lord of the Flies ' published in 1954.
☆ His Works :
His most important novel are ;
- ' The Inheritors ' - 1955
- ' Lord of the Flies ' - 1954
- ' pincher Martin ' - 1956
- ' Free Fall '- 1959
- ' The Spire ' - 1964
- ' Darkness Visible ' - 1979
- ' Rites of Passage ' - 1980
☆ His Awards :
" He won the Booker
Prize of 1980 for his
novel 'Rites of Passage'."
" He was awarded the
Nobel Prize of literature
in 1983 for his novels that
illuminate the human
condition in the world
of today. "
☆ Theme :
● Human Nature :
William Golding once said that in writing Lord of the Flies he aimed to trace society's flaws back to their source in human nature. By leaving a group of English schoolboys to fend for themselves on a remote jungle island, Golding creates a kind of human nature laboratory in order to examine what happens when the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over.
● Civilization :
Although Golding argues that people are fundamentally savage, drawn toward pleasure and violence, human beings have successfully managed to create thriving civilizations for thousands of years. So that disproves Golding's theory about human nature being savage, right? Wrong. The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud argued that without the innate human capacity to repress desire, civilization would not exist. In Lord of the Flies, Golding makes a similar argument.
● Savagery and the "Beast" :
The "beast" is a symbol Golding uses to represent the savage impulses lying deep within every human being. Civilization exists to suppress the beast. By keeping the natural human desire for power and violence to a minimum, civilization forces people to act responsibly and rationally, as boys like Piggy and Ralph do in Lord in the Flies. Savagery arises when civilization stops suppressing the beast: it's the beast unleashed.
● Spirituality and Religion :
Most of the boys on the island either hide behind civilization, denying the beast's existence, or succumb to the beast's power by embracing savagery. But in Lord of the Flies, Golding presents an alternative to civilized suppression and beastly savagery. This is a life of religion and spiritual truth-seeking, in which men look into their own hearts, accept that there is a beast within, and face it squarely.
● The Weak and the Strong :
Within the larger battle of civilization and savagery ravaging the boys's community on the island, Lord of the Flies also depicts in great detail the relationships and power dynamics between the boys. In particular, the novel shows how boys fight to belong and be respected by the other boys. The main way in which the boys seek this belonging and respect is to appear strong and powerful.
☆ Symbol :
● The Island :
The tropical island, with its bountiful food and untouched beauty, symbolizes paradise. It is like a Garden of Eden in which the boys can try to create the perfect society from scratch.
● The Conch Shell :
The conch shell symbolizes the rule of law and civilization. It's used to call assemblies and as a kind of microphone that grants the right to speak to whomever holds it during assembly.
● Piggy's Glasses :
By allowing the boys to create fire, the first necessity of civilization, Piggy's glasses represent science and technology, mankind's power to transform and remake their environment to best suit its needs.
● Fire :
Fire is a complicated symbol in Lord of the Flies. Like the glasses that create it, fire represents technology. Yet like the atomic bombs destroying the world around the boys' island, fire is a technology that threatens destruction if it gets out of control. Fire also symbolizes the boys' connection to human civilization: their signal fire gives them hope of rescue.
● The Scar :
A rip in the forest caused by the crash landing of the boys' plane on the island. The scar symbolizes that man, and his savage nature, destroys paradise merely by entering it.
● The Ocean :
The ocean symbolizes the unconscious, the thoughts and desires buried deep within all humans.
● Adults :
Adults symbolize civilization and social order to the boys. But to the reader, the world war raging outside the island makes it clear that the adult "civilization" is as savage as the boys' "civilization" on the island.
● The Lord of the Flies (the Beast) :
The "Lord of the Flies," or the beast, inhabits the severed pig head that Jack's hunters stake into the ground and leave as an offering.
☆ Conclusion :
Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows that humans are prone to self-destruction and that the line between civilized order and savagery can be blurred. The book ends with Ralph and the other boys preparing to reenter society after the officer turns away and allows them to pull themselves together.
