In William Golding’s allegorical novel Lord of the Flies, examples of Sigmund Freud’s psychological theories are illustrated within the main characters through there personal thoughts and actions. Freud’s theory explores the inner separations of the mind and the effects on ones personality. Jack, the antagonist, can be seen as the immature and bloodthirsty Id, who hungers for meat and stops at nothing to get what he wants. Piggy and Simon can be seen on the other end of the spectrum as the SuperEgo, through their intellect and compassion. Ralph represents the Ego, the middle ground between the two extremes, by his responsible decision making skills and leadership qualities. All three characters balance each other out, and when either …show more content…
According to Freud, the id wants whatever it wants without any consideration for the needs of others, reality, but only for self satisfaction. The Id can be seen as childish and immature because they care little for others needs and show no remorse or understanding of their action’s consequences. Often times the Id proves to be barbaric and uncivilized, regularly becoming violent. There are several examples of Jack portraying the Id. When given the responsibility of tending the fire that is supposed to alert anyone passing by of their location, Jack ignores the need of the group. He instead chooses to go hunting for pigs in the woods. While abandoning his responsibility, the fire goes out, making the lost boys undetectable. His reaction, or lack thereof, upon his return show that he is the Id through the absence of regret. “Ralph spoke. “You let the fire go out.” Jack shrugged, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance, but too happy to let it worry him. “We can light the fire again … we had a smashing time… I cut the pig’s throat.” (Golding, 75) This quote illustrates Jacks immaturity through his inability to realize the consequence of his mistake. The fire Jack was supposed to be tending was built with the intention of alerting rescuers, and his lack to tend to it could be the difference between life and death for the group of stranded boys. His failure to recognize the severity of his mistake displays his
Similar to most literary classics, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies contains allusions to the Christian Bible and character archetypes that convey universal ideas. Golding’s story focuses on a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an island and ultimately succumb to their innate savage tendencies. Literary analysts often compare components of Lord of the Flies to various aspects in the Christian Bible. For instance, the setting in Lord of the Flies is often linked to the Garden of Eden, and some characters are thought to have religious-inspired names. Critics believe Simon’s name originates from Jesus Christ’s disciple, Peter, whose name was originally Simon. Biblical allusions exist throughout the novel associated with
Throughout the book, it can be noticed that Jack has the id personality. He wants to kill the pigs not for the benefit of the group, but for himself. He can also be seen as the devil because of how he acts. When Ralph and Jack were talking to each
Jack shows little concern for others, and his needs always come first in his mind. The Id's little concern for others becomes apparent when Jack becomes obsessed with killing the pig, even to the point where he and his painted tribe of boys chants "Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Bash her in!" (Golding 79). It becomes a source of joy to Jack to kill the pigs, and he ignores his other responsibilities, such as keeping the signal fire going, in order to hunt for pigs. Even at the beginning of the book, Jack shows himself as the Id, with the need to be the leader, because he wants to be in charge, he wants attention, and his desires come first. ““I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”, (Golding 19). He even starts denying Ralph the privilege to be a part of his tribe, “You go away, Ralph. You keep to your end. This is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone” (Golding 176), simply because they don’t get along and he wants to feel more
In Lord of the Flies Jack represents the id. The id is the primitive and instinctive part of the personality. Jack can most often time be seen making decisions based in on these two. One such example is when "[h]e [tries] to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that [is]
In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, a few dozen boys are stranded on an island after a plane crash. The six to twelve year old kids turn to savages under the lead of the older males, and ultimately cause their own deaths. However, the smaller boys, such as Piggy and Sam and Eric, are the hope and reason of the group. Golding’s purpose of writing the book was to show that the defects in society originate at the defects in human nature. Golding allows the little ones to have no identities or personalities. This is symbolically showing that in society, the ignorant and innocent children are the only hope to a humane society. Innocence is purity, and the innocent children, in which are not corrupted by the bad people and things in the
English novelist and politician Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, once said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”. We,as humans, have always had the feeling of fear. No matter how many people say they don’t have that feeling, they have it somewhere within them. This fear has always thrived us to think in a radical way and has pushed us to make some good and bad choices in life. Because of this fear human beings have felt the need to protect themselves as much as possible and they believe that by having the most sizable, vigorous, and lavish weapons, they will be safe and protected from all harm and will keep order within society stable. But what Lytton wants us to realize in his quote is that you really don’t
Throughout William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, there lies an interesting battle between being civilized and adhering to one’s primal instincts. This is clearly illustrated through two distinct characters: Ralph and Jack. While the two of them clash, they are still strangely able to get along at times. By illustrating this relationship, Golding is able to present both an intriguing duality and represent the two characters as the "Id" and the "Ego”.
Leadership is a huge aspect in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Jack may not have been voted in as the leader, but he obviously possessed the best leadership traits. The article “10 Unique Perspectives on What Makes a Great leader” by Brent Gleeson provides ten detailed descriptions of the way a leader should be, and Jack seems to fit most of them. One view that the author had on a leader, was that they focused on helping others. Gleeson states “[being a leader is] about making sure your team stays focused on their goals” (Gleeson).
Jack’s desire to kill is not the only detail that Golding utilizes to compare him to the “ID”. Throughout the entirety of the story, Jack is apathetic towards the heinous actions of the boys. After Piggy’s death at the hands of Jack’s sadistic henchman, Roger, Jack shows no remorse towards the abominable action that had just occurred: “Suddenly Jack bounded out from the tribe and began screaming wildly. ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore!”(Golding 181). Jack’s refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation demonstrates his disregard for the logic and reason. Moreover, as the “ID,” he only acts on his instinctual, animalistic impulses; he is fully lethargic towards the rational side of the mind. Furthermore, Golding implements this specific dialogue to convey Jack’s connection to the “ID,” employing this detail to additionally portray Jack’s primitive inclinations. Here, Jack is acting instinctually and to satisfy his own lust for malice. Thus, the psychological allegory is continually emphasized through Jack’s recurring similarities to the “ID.”
“Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.” -Will Durant. This is demonstrated when a new war begins, and a group of boys are left to fend for themselves on an abandoned island due to a plane crash. They must learn to live without adults, rules, or structure, however, as time goes on and conflict grows, this becomes increasingly difficult. William Golding 's Lord of The Flies explains how without order, unity, and rules a society will resort to chaos/savagery and becomes useless, as shown through the character archetypes of Learner, Ralph, and Shadow, Jack.
“Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness” (Werner Herzog). In places such as the Middle East, many places are in chaos. With much of the time spent fighting against others, for what cause or what price, seems irrelevant. However, many times during the fighting, when everything is scarce, the true natures of people come out. If there is a shortage in food, or medical supplies, people are not afraid to turn on once neighbors to steal if need be. Once “the law” stops caring, there is nothing stopping people from doing whatever they like. In the Middle East, in the places where war is going on, many people don’t really notice the beasts around themselves. In Lord of the Flies, Golding shows an island
As stated in his theory, the Id is what creates the urges we tend to have and demands satisfaction immediately. The article “Sigmund Freud’s Division of the Mind: Id, Ego & Superego” by David B. Stevenson, proves this by stating that “the id demands immediate gratification… demanding satisfaction now, regardless of circumstances”. This can be represented in chapter 4 of LOF, where Ralph comments that “‘They let the bloody fire out’” (68), in reference to Jack. Jack and a handful of other boys, let the signal fire out, which could have helped the boys get off the island.Instead they focused on hunting and killing a pig (69). In this scenario, Jack had the urge to kill a pig because he states “we need meat” (71). In other words, Jack’s priority should have been getting rescued, and keeping the signal fire going, but his id got to the best of him, making him forget this priority and killed a pig for meat. Since Freud states that the id is what makes one have urges, it is evident that Jack is a clear example of his
William Shakespeare states, in one of his famous plays, Hamlet, that “We know what we are, but not what we maybe,” (4.5. ). The author suggests the idea of the human’s true self, hiding behind one’s mask, which further leads to the question of human identity. The question “Who am I?” becomes one of the most complex topics in literature and philosophy because no one yet finds the answer. This subject inspires different writers such as Phillip K. Dicks, Aldous Huxley, and William Golding to pursue people seek for the unknown. One of the dystopian novels, called Lord of the Flies by William Golding, tells the story of a group of children, on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean during the atomic bomb war. By choosing the character between the ranges of ages 6 and 12, the author displays the idea that men return to their natural creatures without identity as the human nature. Identity allows humans to rise beyond other creatures by giving people the power of creating new identities, and reminding one about human’s state of evolution, as well as constructing one’s consciousness.
Lord of the Flies written by William Golding. The story is about boys that land on the island and who try to survive but most boys make it except Simon and Piggy. The boys start from being very innocent to becoming savages corrupted by the “beastie” that all exist within human beings. The character that will be analyzed in this story is Ralph, the Chief,of the boys on the island who possesses three character traits determination,hardworking, and leadership without these traits he wouldn’t have survived.
In chapter 8, he comes across a mother sow “ Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands ”(pg.135), satisfying his lust for blood which falls under the ID (ID Ego Superego ). Jack as ID remains the same throughout the book. Toward the end of lord of the flies, Jack began to attack Ralph and the rest who aren't in his group to steal piggy's glasses and has lost the value the fire carries civilization and rescue. In response to Thomas Hobbes I believe people were born evil because it’s a primitive at the beginning that grows over time based on the values and morals they set for themselves. The boys don’t know their selves or self values. The Dionysus ,“The boys blindness to their own irrational natures leads to their destruction ”(Dickson). As these kids are blindly living they easily fall to Jack's example. Jack right hand man Roger influences to burst out to fall under ID. it starts with his bullying around a littlun throwing stones, since his parents weren’t around, “”()he felt the need to take advantage of his freedom. When he got the chance he pushed a boulder killing