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Lord of the Flies, a story that tells the adventure of a group of boys that has been dropped on a tropical island, seems susceptible of various interpretations. It can be read as a moral fable, social fable and religious fable that examines personal integration and explores social regression. When viewed as a moral fable, Lord of the Flies seems capable of endorsing Freud's three part analysis of the mind. It is possible to view the boys as representatives of various instincts or elements of personality. Sigmund Freud, an Australian neurologist who founded modern theory of psychoanalysis, believed that the personality had three basic components: the id, the ego, and the superego. When the child is first born it is a mass of id.
The demand "I want" is the sum total of its minds' contents. Jack Merridew, who constantly exerts control over others with his militaristic attitude, fits the perfect description of id, the most primitive or instinctive part of the personality. He hungers for leadership position and is eager to make rules and punish those who break them. His main interest, hunting, develops the savagery that eventually turns into an overwhelming urge to master and kill other living creatures.
His action operates according to pleasure principle, that is, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain regardless of social beliefs or restraints. He never hesitates to break rules when he needs to further his own interest. The id desires in here and now and doesn't make plans for the future. On the island, Jack quickly loses interest in the world of civilization as social conditioning fades rapidly from his character. He feels no compunction to keep the fire going or attend to any of the other responsibilities for the survival of the group. Ironically, his animal instincts flourish in the jungle.
Although he only cares about himself and is driven to destroy anyone who gets in his way, one can argue that in extreme situation such as this, perhaps it is necessary to use extreme methods. In Freud's approach to personality, the ego is the problem solving part of the personality, which operates according to the reality principle. Piggy, the intellectual, is undoubtedly the one that fits its description. Having poor eyesight, weight problem, and asthma, Piggy is the most physically vulnerable of all boys. The lack of leadership qualities further cripples him from "fitting" in with the rest of the group. He asserts that "Life is scientific. " As a brainy representative of civilization, Piggy seeks pleasure and avoid pain only in rational ways that society approves.
When id says, "I want, " and the ego tells it to wait; the id says, "Go forward, " and the ego says, "Protect and preserve yourself -- - survival is more important than instant gratification. " Sadly, Piggy's intellectual can only benefit the group through Ralph as he acts as Ralph's advisor. Brilliant as he is, he does not succeed in taking the demand of Jack's id and determines how to satisfy them in an acceptable manner. Piggy can't think as others think or value what they value. Even up to his death, he still thinks everyone should share his values and attitudes when he asks, "What's grownups goin' to think?" The third component of personality, according to Freud, is superego. The superego reminds the person of what would be ideal behaviors and what behaviors are totally unacceptable. It is where conscience is found.
This role is played by Simon, who, like Piggy, is different from other boys due to his physical frailty. His consistent concern for the littles and his closeness to nature also make him a loner and an oddity among the group. According to Freud, the superego is the self-critical aspect of the ego which judges the conscious and the unconscious decisions of the id and ego. It develops from the ego in its continued attempts to negotiate with reality.
Simon has an abstract understanding of the evil that exist in mankind but lack rationality and power to reveal it. He seems to have reached a maturity well beyond other boys and is capable of understand things that not even Piggy can accept. He possesses a quality of imagination which forces an "ancient, inescapable recognition" upon him in front of the decapitated pig on the spike, a place of realization. This saintly figure eventually dies as a result of being made the scapegoat for the boys' fear for the beast. Ralph, unlike Jack, Piggy, and Simon, undergoes profound change of personality during the island stay. At first, he represents leadership, the properly socialized and civilized young man.
He demonstrates common sense in establishing rules to run the assembly and taking Piggy's advice to make use of the conch. He works vigilantly to keep the group's focus on the hope for rescue and even takes the lead alone to investigate the castle rock. His superego side of personality changes gradually as he loses his schoolboy romantic attitude toward so called "adventures" on the island. While he starts to lose his authority to Jack, the group also starts to fall apart. At times, he has almost succumbed to the delicious tastes of meat, the savageness and the id side of his personality, but he holds on to what he has left -- - his conscience.
Only after Ralph becomes prey that he realizes that he still has some "sense" left in him -- -not just common sense but a sense of his identity as a civilized person. He then tries to think like Piggy, to search for his "ego" and to find the "sensible thing" to do. The catastrophe occurs on the island because the qualities of intelligence, leadership, courage, conscience, decency, organization and insight are divided among Jack, Piggy, Simon, and Ralph. Each of them lacks some vital gift and part of the personality thus none of them is a complete person.
Free research essays on topics related to: piggy, ego, lord of the flies, superego, common sense
Research essay sample on Lord Of The Flies Common Sense
