William Golding's debut post- war novel Lord of the Flies is the tale of a party of English school boys who after a plane crash marooned on a desert tropical island. To establish their own model of ...community based on rules, order and democracy, they attempted to arrange an assembly, deciding to elect a chief. The democratic election was a kind of tug of war (power struggle) between Ralph and Jack which ironically instead of bringing peace and solidarity sowed the seeds of discord and enmity and led to a split and antagonism in that vulnerable fledgling community and potentially paved the way for the later conflict and confrontation between the two communities whose points of differences and type of values were significant. The present paper aims to study the formation of two communities under the leaderships of Ralph and Jack and examine their sets of principles and ethics in the light of Bakhtinian theories and those of Eric Fromm. The paper also demonstrates the way one community was based on such Bakhtinian dialogic and ethical values as "responsibility," "answerability" and "self-other" relationship whereas the other was based on monologic principles and those qualities, delineated by Fromm, such as individualism, total freedom and authoritarianism. Key words Bakhtin; Eric Fromm; William Golding; Lord of the Flies; escape from freedom
The present paper aims at a close analysis of two novels that bring to light the issue of human behaviour and survival in unfamiliar conditions: The Coral Island, by Robert Michael Ballantyne and ...Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Although the former novel has served as a source of inspiration for the latter, its utopian atmosphere and the power relations in it are cruelly overshadowed by the dystopian perspective Golding offers. Strikingly enough, the characters in both novels are cast on islands of almost equal beauty and resources and are let free to choose in fairly similar extreme contexts. However, the reader is faced with two unexpected unveilings of human manifestations that reveal the inner structure of the acting people in both cases. By means of a transfer of concepts from the psychological field of Emotional Intelligence, the profiles of the characters gain new dimensions, and the reader gets a deeper insight into the intricate inner workings of the human mind and human relations, and not in the least, into the power of the context to turn these relations into beneficial or destructive outcomes. The boys themselves - with their emotional and ethical heritage - determine the courses of action and in the end they either rejoice in the emotional and the moral choices they have made or deplore the flaws of their character.
This paper first considers the provenance of an incomplete meta-fictional novella which Richard Hughes intended as the basis of a screenplay for Lord of the flies, which was commissioned by Horizon ...Pictures in 1958. It sets out the debate concerning the guidelines for adaptation championed by the producer, Sam Spiegel. After describing in detail the substance of Hughes's revisions, the paper considers their philosophical basis in the author's own convictions regarding species survival in the shadow of global nuclear armament. Although the manuscript of the novella is provisional, the author argues that it suggests some of the complexities of contending with apocalyptic narrative, and advocating a prudential contrary.
The ties of loyalty Healy, Mary
Ethics and education,
01/2013, Letnik:
8, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The consideration of how societies hold together and function as one with the coexistence of potentially conflicting ideas and commitments remains a topic of crucial importance. This paper advocates ...a renewed interest in the subject of loyalty as one of the bonds tying us together in society. It acknowledges that the nature of loyalty has often been seen as problematic, particularly where ties to some affect our abilities to make moral judgements. It purports that the area of conflicting loyalties needs greater philosophical attention within our understanding of the moral life. Using two literary exemplars, Antigone and Lord of the Flies, the paper explores how loyalties play a fundamental part in our psyche and our social lives. With this in mind, it suggests that greater consideration should be paid to how schools should support children in coping with competing loyalties and with making judgements required by loyalty claims.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding should be read as an instance of an allegorical discursive practice of the English society during the Second World War. The allegory is interpreted as an ...interweaving between the apparent contradictory sides of a semiotic square and a Rubik cube that should merge through different permutations having as a final effect the knowledge that the children's innocence comes to an end. Our analysis unfolds the “semiotic web” (Sebeok) based on the metaphorical reasoning that the main characters, shipwrecked on a deserted island, use in order to make sense of the new environment.
A seemingly simple tale of schoolboys marooned on an island, the novel "Lord of the Flies" is an enigmatic and provocative piece of literature. This casebook probes the many layers of meaning in the ...novel, examining its literary, philosophical, historical, scientific, and religious significance. The casebook integrates analysis and primary documents, with excerpts from materials as diverse as the Bible, the writings of Darwin, and war crimes interviews, to explore the nature of human aggression and evil. The interdisciplinary approach of the casebook helps students situate the lessons of "Lord of the Flies" in diverse contexts. The casebook is divided into the following chapters: Introduction; Literary Analysis; the Ignoble Savage; Education; The Adventure Story; Religion; Biology, Evolution and "Lord of the Flies"; and War and Postwar. It will spark students to consider connections between William Golding's masterpiece and broader concepts of civilization, altruism, political leadership responsibilities, and the history of western imperialism. Ideas for class discussions and research topics, along with carefully chosen further reading suggestions, enhance the casebook as a teaching tool. (NKA)
Good grief : Lord of the Flies as a post-war rewriting of salvation history Golding's Lord of the Flies, first published in 1954, reflects a bleak sense of post-war pessimism. But with undue ...attention focused on its portrayal of original sin and the problem of evil, readings have often remained reductive. In this article it is argued that the novel's symbolic narrative is polysemic and, when it is read as anagogic myth, may be seen to span Judaeo-Christian Heilsgeschichte or salvation history, rewriting its chapters of creation, Fall, the problem of evil, the failure of law, the hope of salvation, the mission of a messianic figure, and - in the clearest departure from the Biblical narrative - an ambiguous representation of his return. This study examines the novel's often paradoxical symbolism using Frye's phases of anagogic myth, with its poles of apocalyptic and demonic imagery. It traces the relation of symbols to their counterparts in Biblical narratives, drawn in particular from the symbolic writings of the origin and end of humanity, to elucidate Golding's bleak but certainly not hopeless rewriting of the salvation story for a post-faith readership. Lord of the Flies as 'n na-oorlogse herskrywing van die heilsgeskiedenis Lord of the Flies deur William Golding het in 1954 verskyn en weerspieël die na-oorlogse pessimisme van hierdie tyd. Hierdie roman word dikwels simplisties gelees as 'n vertelling behep met erfsonde en die kwaad. Die simboliese verhaal is egter meer kompleks en kan as 'n religieuse mite verstaan word wat die hele heilsgeskiedenis, die skepping, sondeval, die kwaad, die mislukking van die wet, die hoop op verlossing, en die roeping van die Messias oorvertel, asook - in 'n duidelike afwyking van die Bybelverhaal - 'n dubbelsinnige uitbeelding van sy terugkeer behels. Die artikel ondersoek die dikwels paradoksale simboliek van die roman aan die hand van Northrop Frye se fases van die anagogiese mite, met apokaliptiese en demoniese beelde as teenpole. In die artikel word die verwysings van die roman se simboliek na die Bybel ook nagegaan - veral die simboliese verhale van die mens se begin en einde. Sodoende word gepoog om aan te toon hoe Golding die heilsverhaal vir post-Christelike lesers op 'n somber wyse, maar tog nie sonder hoop nie, herskryf.
'Terror' is the name we give to vague and pervasive anxieties within us Unlike 'fear' it has no specific location but is all around us. Yet you cannot pursue a 'war on terror' without targeting ...specific persons. The very vagueness of terror prevents us thinking clearly about it. You cannot fight an abstraction. When we locate particular instances of terror we are often wrong, e.g., The Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We claim to discriminate better than do terrorists, who often target civilians but do we? Is it possible to win even a conventional war without 'breaking' the enemy so he flees in terror? Does not 'killing at a distance' consitute terror? Have we not killed more civilians or their side than losses of soldiers on our side? Does 'shock and awe' differ from terror? The local population will unltimately rally to the forces who know who they are. Hence it is possible to lose politically even as you win militarily. But are not many Islamic websites rabidly antisemitic and intolerant of the smallest dissent? Yes, indeed. But this should make us cautious about inflicting agonies so severe that only totalitarian systems can survive them, as the Soviets withstood Germany, as North Korea and North Vietnam withstood the USA. Terror is similar to the Devil. He cannot be defeated. He is with us always, because as the character Simon says in The Lord of the Flies, 'he is us'.
Golding’s Lord of the Flies, first published in 1954, reflects a bleak sense of post-war pessimism. But with undue attention focused on its portrayal of original sin and the problem of evil, readings ...have often remained reductive. In this article it is argued that the novel’s symbolic narrative is polysemic and, when it is read as anagogic myth, may be seen to span Judaeo-Christian Heilsgeschichte or salvation history, rewriting its chapters of creation, Fall, the problem of evil, the failure of law, the hope of salvation, the mission of a messianic figure, and – in the clearest departure from the Biblical narrative – an ambiguous representation of his return. This study examines the novel’s often paradoxical symbolism using Frye’s phases of anagogic myth, with its poles of apocalyptic and demonic imagery. It traces the relation of symbols to their counterparts in Biblical narratives, drawn in particular from the symbolic writings of the origin and end of humanity, to elucidate Golding’s bleak but certainly not hopeless rewriting of the salvation story for a post-faith readership.
Considered is the reader's use of metonymy in approaching William Golding's Sea Trilogy (1991), a narrative that represents a ship voyage in an unknown world remote from present-day experience. ...Metonymy is described as a relationship of contiguity formed within a single material or conceptual domain. Golding employs metonymy in situations in which the reader is likely to encounter problems in the interpretation of scene, character, or plot. Specifically, Golding tends to use ornamental, conventional metonymies to describe his characters as wearing styles of clothes typically associated with particular kinds of familiar figures. It is argued that the metonymic references are a primary means of ensuring understanding of the experience of the main character's voyage, the incomprehensible rituals of shipboard life, & episodes of disgrace & death. It is demonstrated that Golding's use of metonymy in this trilogy is predated by similar usage in his first novel, The Lord of the Flies (1954). 24 References. Adapted from the source document
PDF
