I started Lord of the Flies at the beginning of the summer, thinking I'd get a good, solid academic read in before I started with the lighter fare for the summer. Well, I got two chapters in and could tell where it was headed...kids killing kids...and I stopped for a few months.
I picked it up again this weekend and quickly devoured the remainder of the book. It was depressing, but I had the urge to write a literary analysis paper on its use of the Freudian id.
The id is the part of the human psyche that is responsible for pleasure and survival...it wants gratification NOW. In the novel, this element of humanity is responsible for the destruction of innocence, even in a group of well-educated English youth.
While I completely understand the destructive nature of the id, all of the parts of psyche have the potential for good and evil. Without the id, the characters may lose the will to survive in the first place. If the super ego had mastered them, an irrational necessity and anxiety for order could have caused similar catastrophes. So, stop giving the id such a hard time, William Golding.
On a semi-related note, I watched a 9/11 documentary last night, which left me grieving the loss of so many lives in such a horrendous manner. A sentiment from Golding came back to me: The children are saved by the adults at the end of Lord of the Flies, but who will save man from himself? Indeed, humanity has the potential for great good and for great harm. I am thankful that the good often wins out, and we are not utterly hopeless.
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