LOTF context

General context

General context

• Written by William Golding

• Outbreak of WW1 - 1914

• He saw lots of action (including the Normandy Landings) and said that the war was a turning point for him when he saw what human beings were capable of

• He was a naval officer in ww2 (influenced his writing)

• No girls (realistic to him)

• Lots of separate gender-ed schools

World War 2

• 1 Sept 1939 – 2 Sept 1945

• Allies & Axis

• Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland

•  War dragged on for 6 years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945

• After the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, and the Second World War came to an end

• Biggest and deadliest war ever, with over 30 countries involved

The Cold war

• 12 Mar 1947 – 25 Dec 1991

• An ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II

• Berlin crisis

The holocaust

• Lead by a dictator - Adolf Hitler

• Mass genocide

• The killing of Jews by Nazis

• Similar to Jack - he uses fear (of the beast) to manipulate the boys and gain their trust

J. G. Ballantyne’s ‘Coral Island’

• Book that inspired Lord of the flies

• Written by Ballantyne in 1858

• All Ballantynes books were written on personal experiences

• About civilising effect of Christianity

• Golding felt that this was very inaccurate and therefore wrote LOTF

• He was a teacher in an all boys school and felt that coral island was inaccurate as he knew how boys actually behaved

How Goldings’ experiences influenced the novel

• He would’ve seen many people unnecessarily lose their lives, similar to Simon showing the narrow mindset the boys had

• People's ability to easily turn on others

• Ralph & Jack represent 2 opposing leaders – a democracy vs dictatorship

• No mention of the plane crash or the pilot dying, fully dismissed 

• The murder of Jews by Nazis were similar to the killing of pigs by the savages

• Both Jack & Hitler used others for their own gain and promised them things

• LOTF was almost a challenge to Coral Island - he felt it was very inaccurate

Thomas Hobbes & Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Golding had similar views to Thomas hobbs. 

• William Golding and Jean Jacques Rousseau had very different points of view on society. Golding thought that all humans are born evil and that is what makes society horrible. Rousseau thinks the complete opposite; he thinks that all humans are born pure, nice, and innocent and that society is what corrupts humans.

Sigmund Freud

• Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behaviour is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego.

• Jack (id) is the representation of the id. His craving for power is shown through his bitterness towards Ralph. His mask urges him to follow his desires without recourse or remorse. When Jack ignites the island he does so on impulse so he can get to Ralph faster.

• Ralph (Ego) isn’t as wicked and self-centred as Jack, yet he also is not as logical or empathetic as Piggy and Simon. In many ways, Ralph represents the everyman.

• Piggy (Superego) He often offers a "parental" voice, and his glasses and substantial physique suggest he is older and wiser than the boys.