The Psychological Analysis of Lord of the Flies In Lord of the Flies, young boys ranging from six to twelve are stranded on a desert island after their plane has crashed. They have no connection or communication with society and the outside world, therefore they have no adults regulating their actions and behaviors. Without adults controlling them, they are able to make their own rules to abide by. But as the novel progresses, some of the boys begin to disregard the rules and societal rules that they were once familiar with. Soon, their actions become animalistic and they turn into small savages that do not regard morals and societal standards. This negligence of recognizing morals brings out the evil in some of the boys, showing the primitive
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There are moments where Ralph acts with the superego side of his personality. When Jack stole Piggy’s glasses Ralph said, “You pinched Piggy’s specs. You’ve got to give them back…You played a dirty trick-we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it…You could have had fire whenever you wanted. But you didn’t. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy’s glasses” (page 176)! In this scene, Ralph is aware of what is acceptable in society and knows that stealing is not moral so he criticizes Jack for his wrongdoing. On the other hand, Ralph acts with id-like moments in some scenes. An example would be when Piggy asked Ralph not to tell the other boys that “Piggy” was the nickname given to him by people back home. But Ralph disregards Piggy’s feelings and tells the boys …show more content…
Golding shows that savagery has always been in human behavior but has been controlled by society. After the young boys are stranded alone, with no adults interfering with their actions, their behavior soon reenact the behavior of humans in the beginning before socialization. Golding explains that human savagery is never gone, but is only masked and controlled by societal standards and morals. He gives a glimpse of the balance between the three parts of the human psyche, id, ego, and superego. The feud between the three create a person’s personality and as a result, a person will act according to one of the three
There are moments where Ralph acts with the superego side of his personality. When Jack stole Piggy’s glasses Ralph said, “You pinched Piggy’s specs. You’ve got to give them back…You played a dirty trick-we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it…You could have had fire whenever you wanted. But you didn’t. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy’s glasses” (page 176)! In this scene, Ralph is aware of what is acceptable in society and knows that stealing is not moral so he criticizes Jack for his wrongdoing. On the other hand, Ralph acts with id-like moments in some scenes. An example would be when Piggy asked Ralph not to tell the other boys that “Piggy” was the nickname given to him by people back home. But Ralph disregards Piggy’s feelings and tells the boys …show more content…
Golding shows that savagery has always been in human behavior but has been controlled by society. After the young boys are stranded alone, with no adults interfering with their actions, their behavior soon reenact the behavior of humans in the beginning before socialization. Golding explains that human savagery is never gone, but is only masked and controlled by societal standards and morals. He gives a glimpse of the balance between the three parts of the human psyche, id, ego, and superego. The feud between the three create a person’s personality and as a result, a person will act according to one of the three