Lord of the Flies: Context

Navy

Education - Teacher

Religion

He joined the Royal Navy in 1940.

He grew up in an environment full of rules + authority. His father was very strict and punished him if he acted in disallowed ways.

Title of the book comes from the Bible - Beelzebuz -- aka the devil

  • He witnessed the cruelty and savagery that lies in men.
    This led him to believe that without rules and order all men are instinctively savages --

He worked in an English school - hence the English boys.

War // Cold war

The Island became a metaphor for the Earth after a nuclear holocaust

He saw how boys reacted to authority and in general how teenagers acted.

Original sin: Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit. The Beast can be linked to the devil disguised as a snake in the story of Adam and Eve.

Freud's theory - similar to what Golding believed -- If the ID goes unchecked it can overpower the ego + superego

  • The ID -Instinctual needs and desires.
    Jack
    When he wants something he takes it
    • Abandons the signal fire to go hunting
    • Stealing Piggy's glasses
      Acts impulsively and irrationally
    • Disregard for human life
    • Violent, blood thirsty nature

After the first atomic bombs were detonated at the end of the second war, the USA and Russia began building their own nuclear weapons, people began to fear apocalyptic nuclear conflict.

Schools practiced drills and people built bomb shelters.

Golding basically used the story - an allegory of boys stranded on an island with no adults to reinforce rules - to explore the possible human drive and instincts towards evil.

He was part of the invasion on D-Day.

" Before WWII i believed in the perfectibility of social man... but after the war i did not because i was unable to. I had discovered what one man could do to another.'"

He intended his novel to be a warning of the specific dangers of nuclear proliferation - but his editor did not agree.

Golding criticised the 'Totalitarian regime' rising in the East.

This led to Golding believing all men are inherently evil it is just suppressed to to society and civilisation.

The school's choirs were seen as elite, superior and respected compared to others.

He believed evil was inherent and they were fighting it in other nations although it was within.

"One of our faults is to believe that evil is somewhere else and inherent in another nation"

Quotes - Evil:

  • MAN PRODUCES EVIL AS A BEE PRODUCES HONEY

  • "I wanted to show how the shape of the society they evolved would be conditioned by their diseased, their fallen nature"


  • The boys try to construct a civilisation although it ends in blood and terror because they are suffering from a terrible disease of being human.


  • "The only enemy of man is inside him"

  • Man is a being, he is gripped by original sin
  • “Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead.” - Beginning of novel to directly reference

Quotes - totalitarian regime:

  • "I am a European and an optimist"
  • 'Vileness beyond all words, year after year, in the totalitarian states"
  • " There are always enough silly people in any country to form a sizeable mass movement."

Links:

  • Jack was the head choir boy, top of the hierarchy, even though the schools structure breaks down on the island, the boys still see him as a leader. They follow his commands and are scared to disobey him.
  • Due to Jack being head boy he believes he should be the leader - e.g. he can sing 'C sharp' what makes him superior.
  • Roger could have been the school bully although in the island he does not have any restrictions.

Everything around the boys was violence. War. If everyone around them was fighting each other and killing why couldn't they? Influenced by the actions of the adults around them and the effortless killing.

  • The Ego - the rational and conscious mind
    Ralph
    Ralph tying to maintain order although is caught up at one point
    • Viewed as the Ego giving in to the ID
    • He follows the rules although falters - like the ego
  • Superego - sense of conscience and morality.
    Piggy
    Wants to maintain order
  • After Jack lets the fire go out he confronts him, forgets all his timidity etc.
    Simon
    Exemplary behaviour
    • Picking up fruit for the littl'uns, giving Piggy his share of meat, being aware of the real beast

The story is a metaphor for 'original sin' -- The island is the fruit and the boys are the snake. When they arrive on the island they poison it (snake v apple) They ruin the paradise

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