CP/M/CPM_CDROM.iso/mbug/mbug180.arc/THEMES

Text File | 1979-12-31 | 10KB | 261 lines

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What are THEMES anyway?
They are the ideas or points an author would like us to think
about when we read his book.

Sometimes a theme may be very clearly or explicitly stated.
Other times we may have to search for clues to discover the
theme.
Often a novel will have one overall theme which we can see
when we look at the novel as a whole and frequently there may
be several minor themes - which may or may not be related to
the main theme.

What themes can be discerned in 'Lord of the Flies'?
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The following themes are discussed in these notes. There are
others which you may discover for yourself or learn about in
class.

1. Evil exists inside Man.

2. Democracy/Dictatorship

3. Order/Disorder

4. Leadership

5. Imagination
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1. Evil exists inside Man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the main theme of the novel the unifying idea. It is
expressed in another way on the final page of the book as
'...the darkness of Man's heart.'

You may know that Golding borrowed the idea for the plot and
even some of the characters' names from another book 'The
Coral Island'.
That book is an adventure story about three boys stranded on
an island. The three boys survive happily through many
adventures and return home safe and sound at the end.
Golding sets out to show that this is in fact a most unlikely
outcome.
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1. Evil exists inside Man (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golding believed that in real life the co-operation and
common-sense described in 'The Coral Island' would never be
seen.
This is apparent in the break-down of democracy in 'Lord of
the Flies'. Instead of helping each other in the fight for
survival Golding's characters revert to savagery and end up
killing each other.

This important idea is made even clearer by using young
children (youth = innocence) as characters and by placing them
in a seeming paradise.
Conditions are ideal for the boys to make a success of their
life on the island but notice what happens instead.
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1. Evil exists inside Man (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the boys gradually forget their former life they deter-
iorate into savages who are even prepared to hunt down and
kill their former leader.
A prime example of this deterioration is Roger. At first he is
shown as being restrained by his memories of his former life.
Later the full violence of his nature is released.

Note that it is not just the 'bad' characters who show this
tendency. Even Ralph in Chapter Seven reveals the dark side of
his nature.
Ralph too was fighting to get near.... The desire to squeeze
and hurt was over-mastering.
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1. Evil exists inside Man (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golding is saying that the capacity for evil exists within
everybody - that only the rules and constraints of our society
prevent us from behaving like savages.
You will sometimes hear this idea called 'The Doctrine of
Original Sin' a term used by students of the Bible meaning
that eveyone is born sinful.

Of all the boys on the island Simon is the only one who
recognizes that it is the boys themselves who have caused
things to go wrong.
However when he tries to express this idea the others mock
him. (Chapter Five)
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1. Evil exists inside Man (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We may not agree that the seed of evil lies within each one of
us but Golding's skill is such that his version of events on
an island paradise is a much more compelling one than 'The
Coral Island'.

We are forced to examine ourselves and to ask whether or not
we too would lose our surface layer of civilisation if we were
in such a situation.

Golding's view would explain why the people of Germany seemed
to lose all common human decency under Nazi rule. This idea is
examined in more detail in the next theme:
Democracy/Dictatorship
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2. Democracy/Dictatorship
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember that Golding wrote this novel a few years after the
end of World War II. At this time people were still trying to
understand the underlying causes of the great conflict.
'Lord of the Flies' presents strong evidence that people are
attracted to the kind of dictatorial government represented by
Jack and frequently reject the responsibilities of democratic
government represented by Ralph.

At first the boys are delighted with the
...toy of voting.

as Golding calls it in Chapter One.
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2. Democracy/Dictatorship (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
However Ralph soon finds his fledgeling democracy falling
apart as the boys neglect their duties and resent his attempts
to control them.
It may seem illogical that that they prefer to be ruled by
force and fear as members of Jack's tribe but the clues are
there as to why this is so.

Being part of the tribe releases the boys from the burden of
having to make their own decisions. Jack's word is law and the
'Chief' accepts all responsibility.

The tribe also offers a kind of security which the boys
previously lacked.
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2. Democracy/Dictatorship (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Afraid of the 'Beast' tormented by nightmares the boys are
glad to accept a place in what Golding calls
...this demented but partly secure society.

It is interesting to note parallels with what happened in
Nazi Germany. Jack is the Hitler figure who attracts followers
by the force of his personality and by the shrewd manipulation
of their fears.
He gathers around him a select group of henchmen (Roger
Maurice) who aid him to control the rest.

Ritual and the identification of scapegoats (Ralph Piggy) are
used to unify Jack's followers.
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2. Democracy/Dictatorship (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even the rational and moral characters of Piggy and Ralph are
drawn almost hypnotically towards the tribe. In Chapter Nine
they attend the tribe's feast.
There they cannot resist the urge to join in the ritual dance
and take part in the frenzy of violence that causes Simon's
death.

And so Golding has shown us that even the ordinary citizen can
give in to the temptation to conform rather than to face the
fear of isolation.
The security of belonging to even an organisation governed by
terror is easier than bearing the lonely responsibilities of
democracy.
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3. Order/Disorder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This theme is common to many works of literature.
You are probably familiar with the play 'Macbeth' and it is
interesting to compare Shakespeare's treatment of this theme
with Golding's.

Shakespeare presents the view commonly held in his time that
order is natural and correct and flows from God down through
the King to his subjects.
Golding seeks to express a much more modern stand that it is
natural for things to fall apart; that all else being equal
disorder will reign.
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3. Order/Disorder (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 'Lord of the Flies' order is represented by the assembly.
The boys' first instinct is for organisation similar to the
familiar school situation.
This comforting order is broken when Jack challenges the
usefulness of the assembly and questions the authority of the
conch the other symbol of order shouting:
'Bollocks to the rules!'.

From this point on Ralph finds it increasingly difficult to
keep order as Jack leads his breakaway group in direct
defiance of the rules which Ralph tries to enforce.

The rule of order has given way to total disorder.
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4. Leadership
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What makes a good leader?
Ralph seems to possess all the qualities necessary - he is big
strong and physically attractive. He plans things out in a
thoughtful and responsible way. He considers the other boys'
feelings.
Why then do things go wrong?

Few people would claim that they would like to have Jack as
their leader and yet he is able to unify the boys and control
them in a way that Ralph has no hope of doing.

These points make us consider the nature of leadership.
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4. Leadership (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note that Ralph is chosen as leader for rather illogical
reasons. (Does this ever happen in real life? How do you
choose your class leaders for example?)

Although he tries hard to lead the boys he fails to show the
authority that they obviously need. His kind of leadership is
not enough without the backing of an ordered society.

It is apparent that Jack is a stronger leader than Ralph. It
is interesting to speculate as to what would have happened if
Jack had been chosen as Chief in Chapter One instead of Ralph.
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4. Leadership (Cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golding's view seems to be that the most responsible or the
most moral person of a group is not necessarily the best
leader.
Although life with Jack as leader would not have been pleasant
he probably would have held the group together better than
Ralph did.

However it is clear from other events in the novel that this
strong leadership quickly becomes perverted and cruel.
Perhaps what Golding is really advocating is a mixture of the
two styles - the assertive confidence of Jack with the moral
thoughtfulness of Ralph.
What do you think makes a good leader?
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5. Imagination
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The boys are often shown as having daydreams and nightmares.
These reveal their fears and innermost wishes.
Their imagination invents a physical thing to fear (the Beast)
so that they can avoid discovering the real evil inside
themselves.

Their imagined creation becomes more real to them than reality
itself. Another example is the killing of Simon. Note that
Golding calls him 'the Beast'.
At that moment for all the other boys that is what he is.

Golding reveals the importance of imagination to all of us.

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