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Miramontes 1
Angie Miramontes
Mr. Ayres
Honors World Literature 0
31 October 2008
Life's Unhealthy Imbalances
Despite what we may think, people are never quite what we think they are. A similar situation occurs in the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by English author William Golding, in which a group of boys find themselves stranded on an island with nothing but themselves, and in the process, are reduced to nothing but their own human nature. Sigmund Freud developed a theory explaining that, submerged beneath every human being's conscious, there are three conflicting forces: ego, superego, and id. In this novel, an imbalance of the three Freudian forces ego, superego, and id cause the entire island to be submerged in chaos and conflict. Not only do individuals conflict internally, but also conflict amongst each other as an abundance of one particular force.
One particular character, Jack, carries an abundance of id, the principle force of aggression, violence, and emotion. At the point of the boys' arrival on the island, Jack was presented as merely a bossy, indignant boy. As the story progresses, however, he devolves and develops an obsession with hunting: “ ' They don't smell me. They see me, I think. Something pink, under the trees.' He smeared on the clay,” (Golding 64). Jack's single-minded tenacity toward hunting pigs reaches such a level that he resorts to camouflaging himself, thus covering up any part of the person he was before ever reaching the island. Jack's newly discovered impulsive nature leads to him only tending to what he desires, thus ignoring all else: “'Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same I'd like to catch a pig first-'” (53). As this entire degeneration occurs, Jack can no longer be thought of a a boy, but more of an animal or savage. This entire mentality of abandoning civilized life and embracing primitive tendencies conflict with those with rationalized thought and logical habits.
Two characters, Piggy and Simon, embody the superego; the force that withholds the last remnants of civilization left on the island, keeping order in society and religion (Ayres). Specifically Piggy, intellectually superior amongst the boys, uses reason and logic to aid Ralph in being chief: “Only Piggy would have the intellectual daring to suggest moving the fire from the mountain,” (129). Piggy's intellect may have helped tremendously with a few tricky problems, however, he and the other superego, Simon, were still alienated and set apart by the rest of the boys. Their differences set them apart, thus making them outsiders and disregarded all together. Simon, with more religious value, tells Ralph words as guidance and shows much more sympathy than anyone else: “As Simon thought this, he turned to the poor broken thing that sat stinking by his side. The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible,” (147). Simon, capable of seeing and thinking what other people wouldn't, hardly put any of his thoughts into words, and everyone else thought of him as crazy. Piggy and Simon, ironically, were killed in this novel, mostly because they tried to keep the remaining parts of civilization alive on the island and to live like they did before. Those working in unison for the greater good were considered weak, and therefore, killed.
In the midst of all this chaos on both sides of the spectrum, Ralph, the ego, represents the reasonable mediator or conscientious person between the two extremes. Ralph, immediately described as the mild-mannered, impressive boy, finds himself elected chief by all of those who Miramontes 3
look up to him: “...but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil,” (10). Ralph, being more in the middle of the id and superego, is like a person with an angel and a devil on their shoulder; the id being the more malevolent devil and the superego being the law abiding angel. Ralph, as elected chief, has to listen to what every side has to say; In response to this, Ralph resorts to his own thoughts to escape reality: “He lost himself in a maze of thoughts that were rendered vague by his lack of words to express them...Frowning, he tried again,” (76). Ralph loses himself in a mess of thoughts due to his sensitivity toward what people think and his regard for what has to be done, such as his effort to keep the fire going to keep his burning desire of being rescued alive. As chief, Ralph could never completely control the fury of all of these forces, and was replaced by Jack. After this, all three forces begin to get tangled up in a mess of conflict and disagreement, to the point of total anarchy.
Due to all of the differences between the competing forces, there seems to be a cycle of hatred and conflict toward each character throughout the story. In the beginning, their differences were perceived as a good thing; something that would create a balance throughout the entire island: “...what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy, while the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out...” (22). However, when one force begins to show hatred toward another (in this case id versus superego), the civility and rationalization on the island begins to decay and the overall balance of the forces on the island is no longer: “Spontaneously they began to clap and presently the platform was loud with applause. Ralph flushed, looking sideways at Piggy's open admiration, and then the other way at Jack who was smirking and showing that he too knew how to clap,” (37). Slowly, through a string of disagreeable actions mostly made by the id, the island is divided and thrust into an all out war. In this wave of intense emotions, the true nature of man (and child, apparently) is shown to all. All begin to recognize the human capacities for evil and the nature of our morals. Feelings such as irrational fear and overpowering anger eventually lead to murder and death; even among children.
For human beings, an extreme amount of one particular Freudian force above another is obviously unhealthy. It takes a balance of all three Freudian forces to make one mentally stable for the individual and the society as a whole. If not, destruction, evil, and the violation of morals can consume an entire civilization and life as a whole. Works Cited
Ayres,Robert. "Lord of the Flies." Poly High School. Riverside,California. 1 October 2008.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1954.
 BoredProcrastinator · Mon Nov 03, 2008 @ 08:23am · 0 Comments |
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