Id, Ego, And Superego In The Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

795 words - 3 pages

Lord of the Flies was written by a British author in 1954. The book is about a group of British school boys that crash on an island and have to survive. During their time on the island they turn their backs on being civil and become savages. Ralph is the elected leader and always thinks civil. Jack leaves the group and starts a tribe with the boys and is a savage. Piggy is a boy who is knowable. Simon is compared to Jesus through the book and is the only naturally “good” character. The littleuns are the littler kids on the island. Roger is a cruel older boy who is Jack’s lieutenant. Samneric are twins who are close to Ralph but, are manipulated by Jack later on. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding some of the characters represent id, ego, and superego. Id, ego, and super ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus expressed by Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche. Golding expresses his message of evil and how it is natural in every person, and how we must recognize and control it through id, ego, and superego.
Jack is the id in Lord of the Flies. Id is a part of a person's unconscious mind that relates to basic needs and desires. Jack is a savage who only wants to hunt and kill. After the killing of the first pig “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink” (Golding, 70).
The fact that Jack would compare stealing the life of a living creature to a satisfying drink shows the savagery inside of him. Also, all Jack can think about are memories from the hunt he obviously desires hunting. As Jack went hunting by himself “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up” (Golding, 51). At this point hunting has consumed Jack. All Jack can think about doing is killing to satisfy his needs.
Ralph is the ego in Lord of the Flies. Ego is a part of the mind that senses and adapts to the real world. Ralph...

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1762 words - 8 pages Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a fictional novel highlighting natural characteristics of man kind. The Book was created during the post World War II period. Before creating this novel, William had experience in the navy where he learned of the nature of mankind. The introduction of the book portrays a plane crash where a large group of boys are stranded on an island. Here they grow in character and human instincts

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1690 words - 7 pages William Golding was influenced by World War II because he joined the military, also because of his life in England before during and after the war. Throughout Goldings time in the military he accomplished many things, but he also witnessed plenty of horrors that almost definitely influenced him in the writing of Lord of the Flies. William Golding went to school at Oxford university where he studied English and ended up becoming a teacher and a

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1322 words - 5 pages Symbolism is using words, places, people, and objects for a meaning that is deeper than its literal meaning. In the novel, “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding uses so much symbolism that the novel could arguably be viewed as an allegory, or a writing with a double meaning. While not all of the symbols are very obvious, the novels title for example, a few of them are, for example, the conch shell, the fire and the parachutist are all very

"Lord Of the Flies" by William Golding

1661 words - 7 pages The classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exciting adventure deep into the nether regions of the mind, the part of the brain that is suppressed by the ordinary tasks of modern society. It is a struggle between Ralph and Jack, the boys and the Beast, and good and evil. This wonderfully written allegory on human society has a fantastic approach toward reality. It is a simple narrative that is exciting and moving while having a

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

1175 words - 5 pages truly have nothing to keep them from fully becoming savages. The use of imagery aided the readers in picturing savagery as an entity within the boys through the facial changes in the plot, the killing of the pig, and the death of Piggy. For the entire novel, not one happy feeling is felt. This book was written by William Golding; he fought in World War 2, witnessing the horrors and destruction mankind caused. Lord of the Flies is based on his

Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 1029 words

1029 words - 4 pages is no structure or laws to abide by; man is amoral, brutal, and bad in general. We need structure and government in our lives and society in order to tame this nature and protect us from our fellow counterparts. With the use of representative characters and religious references Golding portrays Hobbes’ belief in the Leviathan. We must know the true nature of ourselves in order to govern ourselves better and a society full of structure and laws. 1Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (England, 1651). 22 Kings 1:2-3 (ARV) Works Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin Group, 1954. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. England, 1651.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

962 words - 4 pages William Golding explores the vulnerability of society in a way that can be read on many different levels. A less detailed look at the book, Lord of the Flies, is a simple fable about boys stranded on an island. Another way to comprehend the book is as a statement about mans inner savage and reverting to a primitive state without societies boundaries. By examining the Lord of the Flies further, it is revealed that many themes portray Golding’s

Lord of The Flies by William Golding

1179 words - 5 pages maintain civility, order, be good and practice what’s right. However, they slowly give in to the darker side and by the end they all become savages, killing two out of the three still civil persons on the island and hunting down the last (Ralph). There are many symbols throughout the book that help the reader see this fact and foreshadow what might further on come in the book. The three main symbols in the novel (in my opinion) were the conch, the signal fire and the Lord of the Flies. These three symbols slowly graduate form civil to savage as so do the boys. Bibliography: Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1954.

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

925 words - 4 pages The novel "Lord of the Flies" written by William Golding does reflect the time in which it was written (just after the war) to a certain extent and it does show the beliefs of the author, but I do not believe the novel will endure throughout time because it's not successful in revealing universal messages about humans.William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911 and was educated at Marlborough Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford. His

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

843 words - 3 pages Lord of the Flies by William GoldingSummaryThe Story ´Lord of the Flies´, written by William Golding deals with a group of boys (no girls) that got evacuated by airplane from nuclear war. The plane crashed on a tropic island and now the boys are on their one - no adults, no civilisation. The main plot of the story is the forming of an society in order to create organised living conditions. In the beginning the boys build a

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1002 words - 4 pages Lord of the Flies by William Golding Lord of the flies was written by William Golding in 1954. It is an enthralling, book that explores the concept of the behaviour of man when he is exempt from society. Golding achieves this by stranding a group of British schoolboys on a secluded island, in the midst of a war. Throughout this period the boys evolve from being civilised and let savagery take over. This book is well written and

The Theme Of Id, Ego And Supergo In "Lord Of The Flies" By William Golding

1469 words - 6 pages "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding tells the classic tale of plane wrecked English school boys decent to savagery on a desert island. Purposely stranded on an island the story shows how, when isolated, the weaknesses of human nature will emerge. Throughout the story three characters represent each side of Freud's theory of the human psyche; the id, the ego and superego. Jack represents the id, Ralph represents the ego and Simon

Id, Ego And Superego In Lord Of The Flies And Heart Of Darkness

1439 words - 6 pages hence disturbing the balance between his id, ego and superego. William Golding's Lord of the Flies similarly deals with this deteriorating awareness of societal standards in foreign environments, but does so with a group of young boys on an uninhabited island. Throughout Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and William Golding's Lord of the Flies Marlow, Kurtz and the boys clearly demonstrate the capacity of the human mind in reflection to the

Lord Of The Flies: The Id, Ego, And Super Ego

1321 words - 5 pages that everyone possesses a savage id side, it is only suppressed by the civilized ego and super-ego sides (“Sigmund Freud” n. pag). It can be inferred that Golding’s common belief with the Structural Model regarding the underlying savagery of man comes from his traumatic experiences in World War II. Golding served in the Royal Navy on board a destroyer, later becoming an officer after participating in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day (“William

The Ego, The Superego And The Id

1919 words - 8 pages The structure of the personality in psychoanalytic theory is threefold. Freud divided it into the id, the ego and the superego. Only the ego is visible, or on the surface one may say, while the id and the superego remain 'hidden', below the surface of what we show of our personalities to others, but each has its own effects on the personality nonetheless. This essay seeks to explore these three layers of personality and how they work with one

Id, Ego, And Superego In The Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Find Another Essay On Id, Ego, and Superego in The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

"Lord Of the Flies" by William Golding

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 1029 words

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of The Flies by William Golding

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Similar Essays

The Theme Of Id, Ego And Supergo In "Lord Of The Flies" By William Golding

Id, Ego And Superego In Lord Of The Flies And Heart Of Darkness

Lord Of The Flies: The Id, Ego, And Super Ego

The Ego, The Superego And The Id

Other Popular Essays