Lord of the Flies
William Golding
• Golding was born September 19, 1911 in
Cornwall, England
• He attended both Malboro and Oxford
colleges, but he graduated from Oxford
• He studied natural science and English
•Golding trained as a scientist, briefly worked
as an actor, and finally settled on being a
teacher
•During World War II, Golding joined the
Royal Navy
•It was during the war that Golding lost the
idea that men are inherently good after he
witnessed the evil of war from both sides. He
no longer believed that humans have an
innocent nature
•After the war, Golding resumed teaching
and began writing novels and published an
anthology of poems
•Lord of the Flies was Golding’s first
success and he was able to retire from
teaching to continue writing
•Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 1983
•Golding died in 1993—he was considered
one of the most acclaimed writers in
England
What should you come to
understand by the end of this
unit?
• There is a little bit of evil in all of us.
• The true nature of humans has
perplexed thinkers for thousands of
years.
• Novelists often use their fiction to
make statements about their personal
or political beliefs.
Essential questions…
• What is our true human
nature?
• Why do people disagree
about our true human
nature?
• How does Golding use
setting and characters in
Lord of the Flies to express
his ideas about people?
Lord of the Flies facts
• Most of the characters, actions and
objects in the novel symbolize larger
ideas
• Golding’s novel deals with the conflict
between the rational mind and natural
instinct
• Golding believed that people were
instinctively evil and society was needed
to protect humans from each other.
Lord of the Flies continued
The novel takes place
during a fictional
nuclear war.
A group of British
schoolboys are flown
out of their country to
“protect” them from
the horrors of war.
Lord of the Flies continued
However, their plane crashes,
killing all the adults on board.
The boys remain stranded on the
tropical island to fend for
themselves…
All of Golding’s novel takes place on
the remote tropical island.
In Golding’s day a popular boys
adventure story was…
• The Coral Island
• A story most boys and
adults in England
would be familiar
with.
The Coral Island
• Written in 1858, it’s a
lighthearted tale about
boys stranded on a
deserted, tropical island
• The major characters
are Jack, Ralph, and
Peterkin
• It’s an adventure story
with hidden treasure
and a happy ending
Is Lord of the Flies like The Coral
Island?
We’ll see…
Basic Issue:
• Is man essentially good or is man
essentially evil?
John Locke
• English essayist and philosopher (16321704)
• Believed that people were neither good or
bad, but blank slates.
• Locke argued that we are the result of the
experiences we have in our life. We are the
result of our environment—he called this
the Tabula Rasa Theory.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
• French philosopher (1712-1778)
• Disagreed with Locke—he believed that mankind,
in his primitive state, is pure, but the institutions
of society corrupt us.
• Based his findings on observations of primitive
peoples. He found that even without written
language or societal institutions, these people were
still kind and thoughtful. He called this the Noble
Savage.
Charles Darwin
• English naturalist (1809-1882)
• Says that the question is really beside the
point—people are neither good or bad, they
are most like animals.
• Believed in the idea of the survival of the
fittest.
• Like animals, people bring certain
knowledge into the world—instincts.
Darwin continued:
•
Categories for instincts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Eating
Self-defense
Propagation of the species
Maternal instincts
Territorial imperative (defending one’s
territory)
Sigmund Freud
•
•
Austrian psychiatrist (1856-1939)
Believes in 3 components of the human
mind:
1. ID—functions in the irrational and emotional
part of the mind. It is the primitive mind and
is concerned only with the pleasure
principle—I want it and I want it now!
Freud continued
2. EGO—functions with the rational mind.
The EGO’s job is to get the ID’s pleasures
while negotiating the long-term
consequences. It denies instant gratification
and pious delay of gratification.
Freud continued
3. SUPEREGO—the moral part of the mind.
It is the embodiment of parental and societal
values—it stores and enforces the rules. Its
power to enforces rules comes from its
ability to create anxiety.