Lord of the Flies: Exploring the Psyche's Vulnerability in the Face of Trauma, Study notes of Voice

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Lord of the

Flies

Chapter 7 Analysis

Mythological

Approach

Thesis

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses archetypes to

show us that civilization is better than freedom.

Passage #1- The ocean

“Then gradually the almost infinite size of this water forced itself on his attention. This was the divider, the barrier. On the other side of the island, swathed at midday with mirages, defended by the shield of the quiet lagoon, one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the ocean, the miles of division, one was clamped down, one was helpless, one was condemned, one was- Simon was speaking almost in his ear. Ralph found that he had a rock painfully gripped in both hands, found his body arched, the muscles of his neck stiff, his mouth strained open. “You’ll get back to where you came from.” Simon nodded as he spoke. He was kneeling on one knee, looking down from a higher rock which he held with both hands, his other leg stretched down to Ralph’s level. Ralph was puzzled and searched Simon’s face for a clue. “It’s so big, I mean-” Simon nodded. “All the same. You”ll get back all right. I think so, anyway.” Some of the strain had gone from Ralph’s body.” (pg 110-111)

Struggle for power

“-I’m going up the mountain to

look for the beast-now.

Then the supreme sting, the

casual, bitter word.

-Coming?

The word was too good, too bitter, too

successfully daunting to be repeated.

-I don’t mind

Astonished, he heard his voice come

out, cool and casual, so that the

bitterness of Jack’s taunt fell

powerless” (pg 119-120)

If Simon hadn’t given Ralph back his hope, do you think this conversation would have turned out the same?

Passage #2- Human instinct of savagery

“-I hit him all right. The spear struck in. I wounded

him!

He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that

hunting was good after all” (pg 113)

Answer- Overcoming desire

“Then they lay quiet, panting, listening

to Robert’s frightened snivels

-Oh, my bum!”

“Just a game, said Ralph uneasily. I got

jolly badly hurt at rugger once”

Ralph is ashamed of himself

for letting his instinct of

savagery take over. To

make himself and the

others feel more civilized

after their savage action,

Ralph alludes to a civilized

game he used to play.

Passage #3- The cottage memory

“Mummy had still been with them and Daddy had come home every day.

Wild ponies came to the stone wall at the bottom of the garden, and it

had snowed. Just behind the cottage there was a soft shed and you could

lie up there, watching the flakes swirl past. You could see the damp spot

where each flake died, then you you could mark the first flake that lay

down without melting and watch the whole ground turn white. You could

go indoors when you were cold and look out of the window, past the

bright copper kettle and the plate with the little blue men.” (pg 112)

Passage #4- Simon

“You’re batty*.” Simon shook his head violently till the coarse black hair

flew backwards and forwards across his face. “No, I’m not. I just think

you’ll get back all right.”

*crazy

Analysis

Black= darkness, the unknown, death, wisdom, melancholy Hyperbole= Simon shakes his head “violently” to make the way he feels very clear

All of these words represent Simon quite accurately. Each archetypal definition that associates to the colour black also relate back to Simon and his purpose. First of all, Simon doesn’t mind the darkness. In fact, he seems to like it. He left the boys to go warn the others with no hesitation or time for them to disagree. Simon also has a message that he’s trying to convey to the rest of his group, but no one seems to understand what he’s trying to say, therefore his message is unknown. Although his message is unknown, it’s very wise. Simon knows from an early point in the story that the real monsters are the humans themselves. Before things get out of hand and the boy’s savagery takes over, Simon tries to warn them about their instinct of savagery but sadly they make fun of it instead. Simon then feels melancholic because he can’t convey an important message because of his insecurities. In this quote he tells Ralph that he’ll make it because he’s sure he will, since he can see civilization in him. Finally, Simon dies.

How do you think this analysis relates to my thesis?

New Literary

Criticism

Summary

In chapter 7: “Shadows and Tall Trees”, Ralph, Jack, Robert, Sam and Eric are on a struggling journey up the mountain to discover the truth about the beast. On the way the boys make a stop to gain their energy and retain themselves before a long day of walking up the mountain. Ralph sits in a field looking out to the empty sea thinking about how these boys have no hope of escaping the island. However Simon reassures him that they will get back safely with a matter of time. Later on in the day they run into pig droppings realizing that they are on a pig-run, they decided to stay along the pig-run trail and hunt as long as it reaches them to their wanted destination which is the mountain. Spotting a boar along the pig-run the boys excitedly decide to follow it. Ralph took the initiative and aggressively threw his spear at the boar, targeting the animal right in the snout. Excited and caught up in the moment they grabbed Robert and started jabbing him with their spears, not realizing that they were hurting him. Robert escaped and Ralph reminds everybody that it was a game. Darkness falls on the islands so Ralph suggested to wait until daylight to continue their journey up the mountain since they left Piggy alone with the littluns and because they did not know what enlightenment awaited for them at the top of the dark mountain. Jack refused and insisted that he climbed the summit of the mountain alone, which left Simon to volunteer to head back to Piggy to let him know that the boys will be back tomorrow during daylight. Jack heads up the mountain alone, leaving Roger and Ralph behind. Sooner than anticipated Jack came rushing down the mountain clearly terrified explaining to the two boys what he saw at the summit. The three boys headed up the mountain together. Once they reached the peak of the mountain they came to find a shadowy figure, flapping in the wind with it’s ape-like body going up, down, up, down. Horrified the boys rushed down the mountain to go warn the others of the beast that they had just seen.

Passage #1 - Character Development.

“They got his arms and legs. Ralph, carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it

‘Kill him! Kill him!’

All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with strength of frenzy. Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close. The chant rose ritually, as at the last moment of a dance or a hunt...

Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering” (pg.114-115).

Analysis Ralph took pride and joy into the moment where he threw his spear that landed right in the pig's snout. Knowing that he was capable of having such strength and power in him made him see a new self, a new characteristics that he has developed. Having this feeling of power and potential, all of the boys got carried away, started grabbing Robert and pretended that he was a pig. Poking and stabbing him with their spears and ticks the boys after realized that each and every single one of them had the capability and even the audacity to hurt a little vulnerable boy. The boys were fighting to get close to willingly “hurt” a little boy, which shows that this new society/island that they live on has been changing their perspective of their surroundings. This was more expected from the other boys on the island but as for Ralph, getting carried away enough that his desire to hurt and release his anger out has completely taken over shows that Ralph has changed and actions like this cannot be taken back once done. Ralph is seen as a boy who is civil and realistic but now he is play fighting to get closer to a boy to get a good jab at him which shows that putting certain boys, even Ralph in certain positions will most definitely change their actions. At the beginning of the book Ralph would blow the conch, sit down, take things slow and try to have a civil conversation with the boys but now trying to survive and avoid starvation on this island has been making Ralph consider new possibilities and new ways of surviving, for example, when he ran half way up to the mountain to figure out whether he should keep going to keep the fire going and get a signal out to the ship that is passing their island or if he will he run back down the mountain to stop Jack and his posse of boys from fooling around on the beach? Having said this this shows that not only Ralph but the other boys have been completely removed from normal civilization and now have to think as adults to survive, their is no time for games in Ralph's eyes.