The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0126/01261.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 21KB | 409 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01261}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Works of William Golding
Summary Of The Inheritors}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Golding, William}
$Affiliation{Department Of English, Bard College}
$Subject{new
lok
fa
mal
neanderthals
old
tribe
river
woman
group
see
pictures
see
figures
}
$Date{}
$Log{See Lok Digs a Hole*0126101.scf
}
Title:       Works of William Golding
Book:        Inheritors, the
Author:      Golding, William
Critic:      Dewsnap, Terence
Affiliation: Department Of English, Bard College

Summary Of The Inheritors

Chapters 1 and 2

     A group of eight primitive people are migrating to the mountains to their
summer camping grounds. Later we learn that they are the last of a Neanderthal
tribe decimated by forest fire. Coming to a river, they discover that the log
on which they crossed in past years is missing. They seem terrified of the
water. After their aging leader, Mal, advises them to lay a birch log on the
water, they all manage to cross, except for the old man, who falls from the
log and has to be dragged from the water by Ha, the second in command.

     When they come to the camping grounds, on a hill by a waterfall, they
see, on the mountain above, ice formations resembling the form of a woman,
and they all begin to cry, "Oa, Oa," the name of a goddess. Reaching their
cave, they listen while the mortally ill Mal assigns the duties of gathering
wood and hunting.

Comment:

     Neanderthal man is an early species of man, parts of whose skeleton were
found in western Europe in the Neanderthal, a valley of the Rhine River. An
extinct species, Homo neanderthalensis is said to have preceded the human
species, Homo sapiens. As a foreword to the novel Golding includes a quotation
from H. G. Wells' Outline of History, describing the Neanderthal man as
gorilla-like, with "an extreme hairiness, and ugliness, or a repulsive
strangeness in his appearance over and above his low forehead, his beetle
brows, his ape neck, and his inferior stature. . . ." Golding's Neanderthal is
a primitive creature, capable of only the most rudimentary thought, who
operates in imitation of remembered pictures rather than according to logic.
For example, Mal remembers from long ago the floating of a log on water, and
so is able to suggest such a maneuver to the group. The tools that the tribe
possesses are not thought of as instruments suited to purpose, but are
remembered in connection with previous use. In other words, the Neanderthal
uses a sharp stone not to create something new, but simply to imitate the
action of someone else, perhaps his father. The characters say, instead of "I
think," that "I have a picture." This is to indicate a primitive mentality
that deals in sensations, feelings, and visual memories rather than in
rational ideas of cause and effect.

     But in spite of its primitiveness, this group shares many characteristics
with modern society. The parallels in Lord of the Flies between the primitive
existence of the boys on the island and the actions of civilized man are
repeated here. The group of cave dwellers is an organized society, with a
leader, and with carefully designated roles for hunters and wood gatherers.
The care of children is divided among the group. And while the primary end of
the society is its own perpetuation, its members, like people today, respond
to the beauty of their surroundings, especially old familiar associations of
sight and smell. Members are bound by ties of loyalty and feeling, such as the
tenderness expressed for children and for the aged. The tribe has a religion
that goes beyond the personification of water and fire to the worship of a
personal deity, Oa, who "brought forth the earth from her belly." And there is
a religious legend, resembling the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, of
the time "when it was summer all year round and the flowers and fruit hung on
the same branch." All of these elements make the primitive group sympathetic
and understandable to the modern reader.

Character Analyses:

     In general, the characters have the intellectual development of children
not more than two years old. Golding gives them extremely simple names to
signify that their language is undeveloped.

     Mal - the dying leader whose mind is stocked with a lifetime of memories
of the activities of the tribe as well as a genealogy of its leaders back as
far as Oa.

     The Old Woman - presumably the wife of Mal, although family relationships
are loosely defined in this primitive group. A wise and dignified woman, she
tends the sick and is the first to arise in the morning to build a fire.

     Ha - responsible and heroic, it is Ha who manages to drag the birch log
across the river.

     Nil - a nursing mother, probably Ha's mate.

     Lok - an attractive but silly young man. Golding, although he uses
the omniscient author point of view, tends to rely on Lok's outlook. Lok
becomes the protagonist.

     Fa - a mate of Lok's, although she carries and cares for Nil's baby.

     Liku - a young girl who carries with her a doll-like replica of the
goddess Oa and who rides on the shoulders of Lok, whose affection for her
rivals his love for Fa.

     The New One - Nil's baby boy.

Chapters 3 and 4

     Fa, Lok, and Liku, searching for food, come upon a carcass of a doe
surrounded by hyenas. They fight off the beasts with sticks and stones. When
they return to the camp there is joy and feasting. But soon Nil, who has been
gathering wood with Ha, returns and reveals that Ha is lost. When she last saw
him, he seemed to be smiling at someone on the cliff overlooking the river.
Later, when she came to the river, she found the scent of another man. Nil and
Fa run to the river howling after the lost Ha.

     With Mal ill, the old woman takes charge, sending Lok to search for Ha.
At the edge of the river Lok calls out, and a strange cry rises from an island
in the river, and a human form appears. Later, he meets Fa and accompanies her
to the ice women (the icy forms on the mountain) to make a prayer offering in
a cave that echoes the sound of her voice. When they return, Mal is dying,
and requests to be laid in the ground. As they dig, they scatter the bones of
previous generations. Mal dies, and they lay him in the hole, pour water on
his face and place a haunch of meat beside him before covering him with dirt.

[See Lok Digs a Hole: Lok digs a hole for Mal to be buried in.]

Comment:

     This remnant of prehistoric civilization is endangered from within and
without. Mal, in his feebleness, has brought the group, too early, to their
summer home, so that they must bear the cold of a winter climate. And now,
with his death, the group is without a leader. Ha, who should take his place,
is missing. We later learn that the Neanderthals are being preyed upon by a
tribe of Homo sapiens, the progenitors of modern man. The result is that the
tribe is in danger of falling into confusion. Lok, the only man left, is
silly and immature, and, though a strong and able hunter, he cannot
distinguish between the "pictures" in his memory and actual events, so that
he is incapable of assuming the responsibilities of leadership. Thus the old
woman must provide direction for the group.

     It is interesting to note that this tribe, a naturally joyous people
given to games and laughter, has a healthy attitude to death. The old man,
Mal, realizing that his time has come, calmly asks to be laid in the
traditional burial place. The others view the fact with quiet sadness. There
is a modest eulogy in the old woman's statement: "When Mal was strong he
found much food." There is the beginning of a simple ritual in her burial of
the food and water with the words, "Eat, Mal, when you are hungry," and
"Drink when you are thirsty."

Chapters 5 and 6

     Lok, again out hunting for Ha, sees a fire on the island and shouts
across, but the new people run for cover. Then he hears, nearby, the sound of
laughter, and the shrieks of Like as she is carried across the river. As Lok
r