The Psychological Allegory Portrayed in Lord of the Flies
Sigmund Freud categorized human personality into three groups that are all dependent on each other: the id, ego, and superego. The id controls impulsivity, the ego focuses on reality, and the superego is concerned with morals. The id and superego are clashing opposites that need the ego to keep the balance between them. William Golding tie this psychoanalytical idea into his novel, Lord of the Flies, where a group of young boys stranded on an island soon became conflicted with following either their savage human instincts or the rules of civilization. Within the novel, the concepts of the id, ego, and superego are developed and represented by the characters Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. …show more content…
Ralph was the balance between the superego that always wants to do what is moral and the instinctive id. When Jack was selfishly focusing on hunting, Ralph brought Jack back to reality by telling him,“I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!” (Golding 54). With Ralph’s constant reminders of the need to be rescued by making a signal fire, Jack acted civilized and complied with the rules of society. Jack followed these rules due to Ralph acting as the middle man between Jack and Piggy. Without Ralph, there would be no balance between Piggy and Jack. Piggy voices this when he explains to Ralph, “[Jack] can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s me,” (Golding 93). Piggy’s fears soon became a reality after his death. Along with his death, the superego's power diminished, letting the id, Jack, take control. With Jack as the new chief, the boys succumbed to their savage primal instinct because there was no balance from Piggy or Ralph. Without the balance of the superego and ego, the id and its savagery dominates.
Lord of the Flies uses the characters Jack, Piggy, and Ralph to represent the id, superego, and ego. The psychological allegory developed throughout the novel showed how Jack’s savage actions resembled the id through his unceasing desire to hunt. Piggy was depicted as moral and conscientious like the superego, and Ralph served as the rationalizing balance between the id and superego. As a whole, the balance that was lost between the boys caused human savagery to overpower civilization and order showing that without balance, the human psyche cannot function
Sigmund Freud categorized human personality into three groups that are all dependent on each other: the id, ego, and superego. The id controls impulsivity, the ego focuses on reality, and the superego is concerned with morals. The id and superego are clashing opposites that need the ego to keep the balance between them. William Golding tie this psychoanalytical idea into his novel, Lord of the Flies, where a group of young boys stranded on an island soon became conflicted with following either their savage human instincts or the rules of civilization. Within the novel, the concepts of the id, ego, and superego are developed and represented by the characters Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. …show more content…
Ralph was the balance between the superego that always wants to do what is moral and the instinctive id. When Jack was selfishly focusing on hunting, Ralph brought Jack back to reality by telling him,“I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!” (Golding 54). With Ralph’s constant reminders of the need to be rescued by making a signal fire, Jack acted civilized and complied with the rules of society. Jack followed these rules due to Ralph acting as the middle man between Jack and Piggy. Without Ralph, there would be no balance between Piggy and Jack. Piggy voices this when he explains to Ralph, “[Jack] can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s me,” (Golding 93). Piggy’s fears soon became a reality after his death. Along with his death, the superego's power diminished, letting the id, Jack, take control. With Jack as the new chief, the boys succumbed to their savage primal instinct because there was no balance from Piggy or Ralph. Without the balance of the superego and ego, the id and its savagery dominates.
Lord of the Flies uses the characters Jack, Piggy, and Ralph to represent the id, superego, and ego. The psychological allegory developed throughout the novel showed how Jack’s savage actions resembled the id through his unceasing desire to hunt. Piggy was depicted as moral and conscientious like the superego, and Ralph served as the rationalizing balance between the id and superego. As a whole, the balance that was lost between the boys caused human savagery to overpower civilization and order showing that without balance, the human psyche cannot function