Who Is The Superego In Lord Of The Flies

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, had many unique and sometimes controversial ideas. However, the most prominent of his ideas was the existence of different personality aspects in one's mind, these being the id, ego, and superego. The id is the source of one’s selfish desires and impulses; the superego reflects society and it’s rules and is influenced by the world around it instead of it’s own wants; the ego is the bridge between the other two, acting as a decider of whether something is right or wrong. Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding about a group of boys and their experiences on a deserted island, contains characters that personify each aspects of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Jack Merridew, the antagonistic hunter, …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Piggy attempts to remind the boys of the rules of society and to be the voice of reason. He is influenced by the lessons taught to him by his auntie, much like how a superego is influenced by the laws of society. While Jack represents the devil on one’s shoulder, Piggy represents the angel. This is because he is always trying to do what is best for the other boys in order to get rescued. This is evident through the quote, “Which is better –to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?...Which is better –to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?...Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” (Golding 166). In this quote, Piggy is asking the boys whether they want to do the right thing and be civilized in order to increase their chance of rescue, or follow Jack and become violent savages that care only about killing. While he does present both sides of the argument, he does so in a way that favors his side and makes the opposing side look terrible in comparison, much as an angel on someone’s shoulder would in regards to a devil on the other shoulder. Piggy was present for nearly every significant event in the novel. In fact, he was the one who found the conch and told Ralph to blow it in order to summon the other boys. He was also one of the few boys to not join Jack’s savage tribe …show more content…
He is the most rational thinker out of all the boys on the island, and this is shown through his leadership. Since his primary focus is being rescued, he organizes the signal fires in order to gain the attention of a passing boat. He is also in charge of the construction of shelters for the tribe. Ralph tries his best to keep the meetings he holds as orderly as possible in order to keep the boys united and civilized, despite Jack’s constant attempts to gain control of the tribe. He, like the ego, attempts to keep the balance between the instinctual needs of the id and the societal needs of the superego. In many situations, Ralph has to look at both sides of an argument and decide what is best for the tribe, much like how the ego considers both the id and superego’s wants before making a decision. At many points in the novel, Ralph has to decide on whether to please Jack or to do what Simon advises him to do. He strives to be the best leader that he can be in order to keep the trust of the other boys and to help them survive and ultimately get rescued. While Ralph usually follows Simon or Piggy’s advice, he occasionally gives in to his own id. One example is when he and Jack were reenacting a hunt, with another boy, Robert, playing the boar. “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering” (Golding 106). In the reenactment, things get a little too