The Aspect of Ignorance in Golding's Lord of the Flies

Dossier / Travail de Séminaire , 1998 , 20 Pages , Note: 1,0 (A)

Philologie Anglaise - Littérature

The Author’s Life and Work

Born in 1911 in St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, William Gerald Golding spent his childhood in an area of historical wealth. In all his life, he would never leave South England for a longer period of time. Golding attended the Marlborough Grammar School in Wiltshire, where his father was teaching. For his son, Alec Golding embodied rationality and knowledge. Even as a child William Golding did a lot of reading. Some of his favourites were Tarzan of the Apes (E. R. Burroughs), Coral Island (R. M. Ballantyne) and adventure stories by Jules Verne. These books portray man as basically good and fighting the evils brought upon by society. At the age of twelve, Golding decided to become a writer. He made early, ambitious attempts at writing. So he planned a twelve-volume work on trade unions of which not more than the first sentence ever was completed. Initially, his studies at college weren’t promising, either. As his parents had intended him to make a career as a microscopist, he began reading sciences at the Brasenose College in Oxford in 1930. But soon he felt that these rational subjects were not what he desired for and that “a career as a writer was inevitable” (Contemporary Writers 1). Hence he changed to literature and graduated from Oxford as a Bachelor of Arts. Neither did his Poems, published in 1934, nor the four years he spent acting and writing in London bring him satisfaction and success. After getting married in 1939, he took up teaching at a boys’ school in order to earn enough money for a living. Yet, again, he didn’t feel satisfied, but considered teaching a chore. In 1940 he joined the Royal Navy and took part in antisubmarine and antiaircraft operations. As a naval officer he was involved in D-Day. This six years of military service changed Golding’s concept of man’s nature. The atrocities of war he had witnessed contradicted his belief in man’s perfectibility and in man’s basic innocence. In his essay ‘Fable’ he states that “anyone who moved through these years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or sick in the head”, a sentence which has been cited by all his critics (e.g. McCarron 1-2) and which has branded Golding a pessimist. Accepting this term first, Golding had a hard time getting rid of it again.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • The Author's Life and Work
  • Robinsonades in General
  • Lord of the Flies and the Aspect of Ignorance
• Body
  • A Short Outline of the Plot
  • Symbols
  • The Way of Their Characterisation
    • Single Characters
      • Piggy
      • Simon
      • Ralph
      • Jack and the Hunters
      • Samneric
  • Lord of the Flies and Coral Island: A Comparison
  • Lord of the Flies an Adventure Story?
    • The Children's and the Adults' Ignorance
    • Children as the Cast
• Conclusion
  • Final Assessment
  • Deficiencies of the Discussion and a Prospect

Objectives and Key Themes

This paper aims to analyze William Golding's Lord of the Flies, focusing on the theme of ignorance and its impact on the characters' actions and ultimately, their downfall. The paper seeks to explore how Golding uses the novel to challenge the notion of inherent human goodness and the power of civilization to control inherent badness.

• The nature of ignorance and its role in the characters' actions
• The contrast between civilization and savagery
• The destructive potential of human nature
• The importance of reason and morality
• The influence of symbolism in shaping the characters' destinies

Chapter Summaries

The introduction of this paper explores William Golding's life and work, placing his novel in the context of Robinsonades, specifically contrasting it with Robert Michael Ballantyne's Coral Island. The paper argues that Golding's Lord of the Flies presents a more cynical view of human nature than Ballantyne's work, emphasizing the inherent darkness within humans. The chapter discusses Golding's experience in World War II and how it shaped his belief in the potential for evil within mankind.

The body of the paper delves into the novel's plot, analyzing the characters and the way they are characterized. The focus is on the characters' ignorance and how their actions are driven by their limited understanding of their own nature and the consequences of their choices.

The paper also draws comparisons between Lord of the Flies and Coral Island, highlighting the contrasting perspectives on human nature and the importance of civilization. It explores how the children's actions in Lord of the Flies differ from the idealized depiction of British youth in Coral Island.

Keywords

This paper explores the key themes of ignorance, civilization, savagery, human nature, symbolism, and the role of morality in shaping individual and societal behavior. Through its analysis of the novel, the paper emphasizes Golding's pessimistic view of human nature and his concern about the destructive potential of unchecked instincts.

• Université: University of Leipzig (Institute for Anglistics)
• Cours: Literature from a Child's Perspective
• Note: 1,0 (A)
• Auteur: Gesa Giesing (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 1998
• Pages: 20
• N° de catalogue: V28621
• ISBN (ebook): 9783638303521
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Aspect, Ignorance, Golding, Lord, Flies, Literature, Child, Perspective