The Lord of the Flies
Published in 1954, The Lord Of the Flies was written by William Golding and soon after its publishing, became a significant part of American literature. Golding wrote and got got published the novel when working as a teacher. Prior to his teaching career, Golding was involved in the Vietnam War, an experience that influenced many of the darker aspects of his novels. His main inspiration for Lord of the Flies, however, came when he, “[...] felt compelled to write about man’s evil” (Bloom). Lord of the Flies contains the literary element of symbolism with the Lord of the Flies, the literary element of allegory in Golding’s description of the island, which embodies the garden of Eden, and a separation of male and female figures, seen most prominently with …show more content…
The novel’s lack of female characters is not an act of blatant sexism on Golding’s part, but using the assumption that males have a higher tendency to commit acts of violence and antagonism. The only references to female characters are mothers of some of the boys, and Piggy’s aunt who never actually appear. Additionally, while female characters themselves do not make an appearance in the novel, Piggy and the sow Jack and his hunters kill represent the female counterpart of society in the novel, and are feminized characters. Piggy is feminized “[...] in the negative stereotypical sense of physical softness, fearfulness, nagging.” He is the only character in the novel to have a mother-like sense, as he is the only one who bothers to care for the littluns. The sow that Jack and his hunters kill is also highly feminized, as the scene in the novel at which the sow is killed highly alludes to a rape incident. Golding uses the deaths of Piggy and the sow to represent females trying to overcome male brutality, but they fail due to their weaknesses
Published in 1954, The Lord Of the Flies was written by William Golding and soon after its publishing, became a significant part of American literature. Golding wrote and got got published the novel when working as a teacher. Prior to his teaching career, Golding was involved in the Vietnam War, an experience that influenced many of the darker aspects of his novels. His main inspiration for Lord of the Flies, however, came when he, “[...] felt compelled to write about man’s evil” (Bloom). Lord of the Flies contains the literary element of symbolism with the Lord of the Flies, the literary element of allegory in Golding’s description of the island, which embodies the garden of Eden, and a separation of male and female figures, seen most prominently with …show more content…
The novel’s lack of female characters is not an act of blatant sexism on Golding’s part, but using the assumption that males have a higher tendency to commit acts of violence and antagonism. The only references to female characters are mothers of some of the boys, and Piggy’s aunt who never actually appear. Additionally, while female characters themselves do not make an appearance in the novel, Piggy and the sow Jack and his hunters kill represent the female counterpart of society in the novel, and are feminized characters. Piggy is feminized “[...] in the negative stereotypical sense of physical softness, fearfulness, nagging.” He is the only character in the novel to have a mother-like sense, as he is the only one who bothers to care for the littluns. The sow that Jack and his hunters kill is also highly feminized, as the scene in the novel at which the sow is killed highly alludes to a rape incident. Golding uses the deaths of Piggy and the sow to represent females trying to overcome male brutality, but they fail due to their weaknesses