Lord Of The Flies Analyzed

English novelist and Noble Prize winning author William Golding's Lord Of The Flies was ingenious and mind boggling(Golding S.___). The book was about how a group of adolescent boys survived on an island with their only company being pigs and the Ocean. This book took place during WWII which explains why their plane was shot down over the Pacific. The first two characters that were introduced were Ralph and Piggy. The two boys called a meeting, all the others reunited and this is where they met Jack. These are the three main protagonist of the book. As the three boys made up for there being no adult supervision on the island they embodied Freud's theory of super ego, ego, and id.

On this island the boys became savages. Savages doesn't mean climbing on trees it means actually turning against each other to the point of murder. One of the determining factors of whether they would survive or not was how well they adapted to their new environment while remaining civilized. On this island one of the main signs of civilization was the conch and the meetings which were all put forth by the brainy Piggy which makes him the super ego. Jack was the key player in the separation between the boys and was responsible for them breaking up because of his selfish personality which makes him the id. Lastly, Ralph was the leader who tried his best to keep everything in order and fair which makes him the ego.

Sigmund Freud is the author of this theory of personality and a highly respected psychologist. He has written and researched material that has changed the way people view life" Freudian theory has had wide impact, influencing fields as diverse as anthropology,education,art and literary critisism."He is the author of such books as The Interpretation of Dreams, Three essays on The Theory of Sex, The Ego and The ID, and many more. Freud was a great doctor before he was a great author and treated his patients with such remedies as hypnosis and free association-"patient say whatever comes to mind-no censoring or editing"(Steinberg,549). He was "basically concerned with the eternal nature of man"(Freud,___)

Super ego as Freud see's it is the part of people "Ð'....which tells us what we should and should not do"(Bernstein,484).Piggy is always trying to follow and enforce rules that's why he represents the super ego. Say a person wanted a candy bar but didn't have enough money for it and they get this crazy idea to steal the candy. The super ego is what will say no it's wrong to steal walk away from the candy. The super ego in plain words is a conscience. Just think of the super ego as a mother or father standing over their child saying no don't do that or yes it's O.K. to do that.

Now the reason they have the crazy idea to steal the candy in the first place is due to id. Sigmund Freud views the id as the "inborn, unconscious portion of the personality where instincts resides". The id says if a person is hungry get something to eat by any means necessary. The id is selfish and only thinks about ways for being satisfied for the moment. Id doesn't think about whoÐ''s going to be affected and how due to it's actions or any type of consequences that it might have to pay . Id lives for the movement.

Sigmund Freud says the ego is "The ego is responsible for organizing ways to get what a person wants in the real world, as apposed to the fantasy world of the id".

Ego is going to tell a person to go and ask their parents for the money for some candy. Ego is regular people most of the time. Thinking logically and planning ahead. Say a person was late for work and listening to the news and on the way out heard that there was a chance that it was going to rain. The ego makes them go and get the umbrella.

Say a person is late to work. They hop in the car and a few feet ahead see a stop sign. The superego says don't run the stop sign because they might get a ticket. The id says their late and have to get to work, get there on time no matter what. Now the ego has different responsibilities depending on which takes over the super ego or the id. If they didn't run the stop sign and now the ego says we need to leave fifteen minutes earlier so we don't chance getting a ticket again. If they did run the stop sign and get stopped the ego get's out and asks the cop not to give them a ticket because they were just trying to get work on time. Or the ego can listen to the super ego and stop at the stop sign just in case there are any cops because they just bought a new computer and you don't have any extra money until their next check.

The super ego is the part of a person that is always thinking too much, worrying and wanting to play by the book. Piggy shows signs of being the super ego when he was first brought into the book. His and Ralph's whole conversation was him asking questions and telling Ralph the rules he had to abide by at home with his auntie. He started by asking if there were any adults on the island "Aren't there any grownups at all"(Golding,8). Next he tell's Ralph about how his aunt forbid him to run and play because of his asthma "My auntie told me not to run" he explained "on account of my asthma" "Ass-mar?" "That's right. Can't catch my breathe. I was the only boy in our school what had asthma" said the fat boy with a touch of pride. "And I've been wearing specs since I was three"(Golding,9).Later he tells Ralph that they should have a meeting and get a list of names of all the boys on the island "I expect we'll want to know all their names, said the fat boy, "and make a list. We ought to have a meeting."

The boys would often have meeting and in order to talk one at a time whoever had the conch was who everyone listened to and Piggy told Ralph what it was and how to use it "S'right. It's a shell! I seen one like that before on someone's back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It's ever so valuable" "How did your friend blow the conch?" "H e kind of spat," said Piggy. "My auntie wouldn't let me blow on account of my asthma. He said you blew from here". Piggy laid a hand on his jutting abdomen. "You try Ralph. You'll call the others"(Golding,11). Piggy represented rational thinking on the island and contributed a great deal of his knowledge in order to help the boys survive which was appreciated by most and taken for granted by some. If Piggy would have been the only older boy on the island with the litthuns more of them would have survived