Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book of tragedy, realization, life lessons, and triumph.
The novel illustrates the flaws of humanity, as well as the assets. Lord of the Flies offers a remarkable amount of insight just from a first glance read, but when you understand the book and comprehend it from a larger perspective you grasp and appreciate the true messages, morals, and allegories of this profound novel. Lord of the Flies can be interpreted as a political, psychological, and religious allegory.Lord of the Flies can be exposed as a political allegory to the Second World War, as well as a psychological allegory to Sigmund Freud’s theory of the id, superego, and ego, and furthermore the novel is a religious allegory relating to the Christian faith, and the bible. The novel Lord of the Flies can be interpreted as a political allegory to the Second World War.
The characters of this novel as well as certain situations, symbolize the holocaust. Jack is a representation of Hitler as he rules by fear, and as noticed throughout the book Jack is sadistic.He waited until things were at an all time low when the boys had essentially lost all hope, and tried to use his power and persuasiveness to gain the respect and trust of the group and remove them from Ralph’s possession. “ “Who’s going to join my tribe? ” Ralph made a sudden movement that became a stumble. Some of the boys turned toward him. “I gave you food,” said Jack, “and my hunters will protect you from the beast.
Who will join my tribe? ”” - (page 150) This passage from the book takes place after Jack holds a feast and invites Ralph’s tribe to join them.Jack has taken advantage of the hungry and desperate boy’s, and has manipulated negatives on the island such as food, and the beast to appear to the boys as no longer a worry or threat if they join Jack’s tribe. Piggy symbolizes a Jewish person in the allegory to the holocaust. Not only is Piggy treated very poorly, but by the boys calling him Piggy against his will, it dehumanizes him. This makes him less of a person and more of an object; it makes Piggy easier to dispose of.
In the holocaust Jewish people were stripped of their names, and they were given a number.This took away the human aspect to them, and made them easier to extinguish just as the boys did to Piggy. Roger symbolizes an executioner; he is sadistic and strongly follows as well as encourages Jack. He has no problem inflicting pain on other living things.
“Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. ” This passage from the novel is from a scene when Jacks new tribe is slaughtering a sow, and Roger shoves a spear up the pigs butt, an unnecessary act of violence for his own amusement.These symbols such as Jack as Hitler, Piggy as a Jewish person, and Roger as an executioner display an allegory to the Second World War, specifically the holocaust. The novel Lord of the Flies can be interpreted as a psychological allegory to Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Id, Ego and Superego.
This theory contains what Freud believes to be the three contributors to ones personality. The Id is the seat of our impulses; it is that little devil on our shoulder that encourages us towards our desires even when they are destructive. Jack represents the Id in Lord of the Flies.Jack is the villain in the novel, as well as the individual that expresses the desires everyone else shares but refuses to admit, such as the craving for meat above everything else.
All the boys on the island are hungry for something more than the faulty fruit, yet Jack is the one that comes forward and expresses, as well as acts on it. The ego is the negotiator of the Id, your ego attempts to harness your Id and use its desires to accomplish more important tasks. The ego is constantly trying to mediate between the Id’s demands and the world around itself, which makes Ralph the ego.Ralph is in constant battle with Jack trying to give him his way, as well as do the right thing, and to keep the hope of being rescued alive and possible. The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society.
The superego is our sense of right and wrong, and is constantly judging the performance of the ego. This makes Piggy our superego. Piggy is the insight of real intelligence and correct civilization as well as reality in this novel, he is constantly reminding us of how things should be properly done.Moreover he is constantly reminding Ralph, our ego.
He is always critiquing and trying to tell Ralph how to handle things. With these remarkable similarities between the novel and a simple theory of how the human personality is shaped, it shows an allegory between Lord of the Flies and Sigmund Freud’s theory of the id, ego, and superego. The novel Lord of the Flies can be interpreted as a religious allegory the Christian faith and the bible. The Garden of Eden is extremely similar to the island. The boys have a beautiful island all to themselves, with all the resources they need to survive.
Although they still manage to make something so beautiful, unpleasant because of their actions. One representation of this allegory between the novel and the Christian religion is the connection between Ralph and Jack and Cain and Able. The story of Cain and Able is about two brothers, one good; Able, and one evil; Cain. When Cain begins to believe his parents like his brother more than they care for him, he begins to resent his brother and eventually murders him. This can correlate with the relationship of Jack and Ralph. “Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t be chief? ” He looked expectantly at the boys ranged round, who had frozen.
Under the palms there was deadly silence. “Hands up,” said Jack strongly, “whoever wants Ralph not to be chief? ” The silence continued, breathless, and heavy and full of shame. Slowly the red drained from Jack’s cheeks, then came back with a painful rush. He licked his lips and turned his head at an angle, so that his gaze avoided the embarrassment of linking with another’s eye. ”” –(page 127) This passage shows Jacks betrayal of Ralph, and his resentment.When Jack begins to realize that the boys like Ralph more than him he finds it abhorrence.
He gains an extreme hate for Ralph and at the end of the novel attempts to kill him. Another connection between the Christian faith and Lord of the Flies is the relationship between Simon and Christ. Just as Christ did, Simon died because of the foolishness and sins of others. Although Simon was trying to help aid the fear of the beast to the boys, he was killed by the children in an act of foolishness, and fear. Simon had to die due to the actions of others, just as Christ did.
Additionally a connection between the novel and Christian religion is the comparison of the beastie, to the snake from the Garden of Eden. The beastie is first described as a snake like entity. “ “He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake-thing. ” Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed with him. The small boy twisted further into himself.
“Tell us about the snake thing. ”“Now he says it was a beastie. ”“Beastie? ”“A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it. ”” The beasties also tricks the boys into betraying their duties, just as the snake from The Garden of Eden accomplished to do to Adam and Eve.
The novel Lord of the Flies, when examined, and taken in on a more complex degree, offers you a whole new outlook on life. As well as the allegories that have been cleverly used to show bigger messages and create eye openers to the truths of society whether corrupt or delightful. This novel presents several allegories relating to Politics involving the holocaust, psychological theories such Sigmund Freud’s the id, ego and superego, and furthermore religion such as the Christian faith, and the chronicles of the bible. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book of tragedy, realization, life lessons, and triumph.
