The ID, Ego and Superego in Lord of the Flies

Sigmund Freud created the structural model of personality that describes the id, ego, and superego parts of a person. Id is represented as the devil and based on the pleasure and benefiting themselves. Ego is the angel and devil together, where there is balance of good and bad. Lastly, superego is shown as the angel with good behavior and morals. In Golding’s book Lord of the Flies, he uses Jack, Ralph, and Piggy to represent Sigmund Freud’s theory of the three personalities: id, ego, and superego.

Simon's attributes demonstrate the good of humanity. Simon strives to continually be moral and help those around him. He continually looked out for the younger kids-the ones who were vulnerable. He wanted to help the little ones and keep them safe, "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands" (33). He made sure that all of them were fed and put himself in danger so that he could pick what they could not. He was constantly putting himself last so that he could help others and do what is right. He stood up for the defenseless, "He went crouching and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got there first, found them for him" (41). He stands up for Piggy when others push him down and try to take away his glasses. Simon's moral choices contrast to Jack's immoral actions.

In the book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding shows examples of the mind set ID, Ego, and Super are part of one’s mind set when born. ID is the primitive mind, it contains all the basic needs and feelings of a person this demonstrates the character Jack . Ego is the growth of a person's mind, it relates to the real world actions meaning it operates with the reality principle, it compromises the good and the bad this represents the character Ralph. The next mind set is the Superego, this is called the “moral part of the mind” the parental and societal values. it stores and enforces the rules of what is needed to know this describes the character Piggy.

One of the character traits of another character Simon is he very helpful and hardworking. An example of this is when he was willing to help Ralph build and keep the fire. Another example of these traits is when Simon was helping the young ones and was nice to them.

The third type of the human psychic apparatus is the superego, which is part of Simon’s character. His kindness of heart provokes him to do favors for nothing in return. One example of this is when the boys were trying to get fruit, the Littluns, “lugged him towards the trees”; “when he had satisfied them he paused and looked round” (Golding 56). The littluns lack the physical capability to get what they want. Simon does the dirty work, but he goes out of his way to attend to each boy’s wants rather than only making half the

Simon is introduced as a weak/frail boy that embodies a kind of human goodness that is deeply connected with nature. He represents the good quality of man while the other boys somewhat represent the bad qualities of man (Jack). Simon’s role is shown as an outcast. But as an outcast, his values are the most important. He supports kindness and spiritual goodness.

Simon, meanwhile, seems to exist outside the conflict between Ralph and Jack, between civilization and savagery. We see Simon’s kind and generous nature through his actions in this chapter. He helps Ralph build the huts when the other boys would rather play, indicating his helpfulness, discipline, and dedication to the common good. Simon helps the littluns reach a high branch of fruit, indicating his kindness and sympathy—a sharp contrast to many of the older boys, who would rather torment the littluns than help them. When Simon sits alone in the jungle glade marveling at the beauty of nature, we see that he feels a basic connection with the natural world. On the whole, Simon seems to have a basic goodness and kindness that comes from within

Simon is dismissed in many ways by others. One being his overall physical frailty and uselessness to the boys for most tasks. Also, Simon seems too good and pure to Ralph, that he is seemingly “wicked”. Even being rejected by the boys, Simon continues to try to confront the devil and try to understand his identity so the boys will finally realize the devil doesn't exist, and it merely an idea representative of the beast inside of all of them. He sacrifices himself for the boys’ peace of mind. By courageously seeking to confront the figure on the mountaintop, Simon fulfills his destiny of revelation. He doesn't get to share his revelation with the other boys because they are not ready to accept or understand it. Instead he dies as a result of being made the scapegoat for the boys' unshakeable fear. On a deserted island the cruelty of man becomes very

Golding was born on September 19, 1911 and began writing his first novel at the age of twelve(SparkNotes).His parents were persistent that he study natural sciences at Oxford College, but by his junior year he switched to English Literature to pursue his calling(SparkNotes). After graduating from Oxford for a short period of time he worked as a theater actor, wrote poetry, and then he became a school teacher(SparkNotes). After, Golding joined the Royal Navy during World War II, which had an enormous effect on his view of humanity, he began writing novels(SparkNotes). The first and greatest success was Lord of the Flies and his inspiration for the book was the evil textures of human nature,but also a lot of his success from his book was due to the real life reality entered into the novel(Golding). The three divisions Sigmund Freud developed in psychoanalytic theory is Id, Ego, and Superego. Id is represented by Jack, Ego by Ralph, and Superego by piggy(Golding).

The ego is the part of us that makes moral decisions while thinking of our decisions in the long run. Still satisfying the id with decisions that are socially acceptable (Cherry). In Lord of the Flies, Ralph portrays the ego by making decisions that will benefit everyone in the long run in trying to make it off of the island. Ralph is the first to actually take in the fact of the crash landing and how they need to get off this island as soon as possible. One of Ralph’s main ideals throughout the entire book is the rescue fire. Without this, he says rescue is impossible. While the id of our brain may not want not to always be tending to a fire, Ralph knows it must to be done. Furthermore, Ralph wants to keep everyone in one tribe to avoid conflict and knows if not, serious consequences will follow (Golding). Knowing that Ralph is basically the equalizer between Jack and Piggy we can understand he is in a very tough

“good” because he seeks for the welfare of the group. However, this view was also something that did not do so well when Simon was being killed by the boys when they believed him to be the beast. Ralph could have stopped the boys but even he could not think clearly in the midst of the blood lust. Ralph is

The ego is considered to be the balance between the superego and the id. Ralph is not savage like Jack, and he does not have the capability of thinking logically or considering others feelings like Piggy does; he falls right between the two. Ralph illustrates the internal conflict between the id and superego when the other boys are chanting and dancing. Ralph watched them, “envious and resentful” (75). Ralph wants to join in and give into that id but he knows that he cannot because he is the chief and he has to set an example. Ralph has some self-control and moral values, enough to know not to join in. This affects the others boys by showing them that Ralph still has some control. Most boys continue to listen to Ralph because he has the conch. However, once the other boys soon take notice of Jack and commit to their id. Ralph watched as Simon was murdered, and he just stood there. Ralph does not participate in the killing, but he does not help to save Simon either. Ralph comes to the realization and says “That was murder” (156). Ralph knew what he did was wrong; he watched a murder but didn’t help because he knew something bad could happen to him as well. This event shaped the last chapters of the book; it showed that the id had total control over the island. Ralph (the ego) was too scared to act because of the potential consequences he could

According to Sigmund Freud, there are three parts that make up the personality which are id,ego,and superego. In the book, Lord of The Flies, William Golding uses three characters to represent each of the part of the personality. Jack represents the Id, Ralph represents ego and Piggy represents the superego. In the next three paragraphs, how each characters represents their corresponding part of the personality will be explained.

Everyone has found themselves struggling between what is deemed right, and what is deemed wrong. Sigmund Freud believes that this experience is the product of each individual having three deeply rooted aspects of personality, the ID, ego, and superego. Freud demonstrated his beliefs through metaphor, comparing these aspects to an iceberg. On the surface, you find the consciousness, or the ego; this is considered the middleground of the ID and superego. Below the surface lays the instincts, whether they are considered good or bad. There is the superego, where your morals are stored, most often society taught. Then the ID, which would be the very bottom of the iceberg, which holds all of the primitive instincts. In Lord of the Flies, there

In the textbook, the authors discuss Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in which, according to Freud, individuals acted out their desires and behaviors in response to a mental system made up of the ego, superego, and id (Cervone & Pervin, 2013). The ego seeks reality. On one hand the ego wants to meet the desires of the id, but at the same time the ego also wants to satisfy the demands of the superego. The superego controls the moral and social acceptable aspects of an individual’s behavior. The id is the part of the system that functions under the pleasure principle. Simply put, the id wants to achieve pleasure and it wants to avoid pain. Individuals entered states were they would seek to relive tension and to achieve pleasure. These states are called instincts or drives.