LORD OF THE FLIESWilliam Golding

“A complex tale that attempts to trace the defects of society back to defects

of human nature.”

Intro to Novel…

What is human nature?

Are we more a product of our environment (nurture) or DNA (nature)?

How much of your “good conduct” is dependent upon the fact that someone is watching you?

Intro cont’d

Who is at fault…When a teacher leaves the room during a test and kids cheat?

When kids drink at an unchaperoned party?

When someone speeds because they know no radar is patrolling his speed?

Where do you think evil comes from?

How would the Greeks answer that question?

Intro cont’d

What do you think is the greatest evil?

So, how do you think we try to prevent evil?

Rules/laws – to help keep us from doing wrong

Enforcer – a person in charge (teacher/parents/police)

Social Contract Theory

Social Contract Theory

One of the dominant theories in Western political thought

Criticism – some are left out..who?

Hobbes…

William Golding

Born Sept 19,1911

Cornwall, England

Remarkable parentsMother – suffragette movement

Father – school master

Encouraged William – study sciences

Two important events - life

Changed major from science to English literature

WWIILieutenant – commanded rocket-launching ship

Participated in D-Day Invasion• At sea – read ancient Greek writers – reevaluated

their pessimistic view of mankind

LESSONS from WWII

Bad people make wars – not vice versaEvil comes from within

“We saw a hell of a lot in the war that can’t be accounted for except on the basis of original sin.”

“You think you’ve won the war and defeated Nazism, so you’re all nice, decent people, but look out, the evil is in all of us

Lessons cont’d

Golding sees no essential difference between Allies and Nazis – the good and the bad – we could so easily be them!

DO YOU AGREE?

After WWII

School teacher in EnglandLearned about children – how they interact, talk, etc.

Realistic portrayal of children in the novel

Motive behind writing of Lord of the Flies published in 1954

Grief over what man can do to mankindNazis

Mengele’s experiments on children

Bombing of Germany

Stalin

Atom bomb

Golding’s Style: Realism in Lit

Emphasis on verisimilitude

Character more important than action

Characters complex

Ethical issues – subject of literature

Simple, direct prose

Objectivity is essential

Events will be believable

Allegory

Combinations of characters, objects, actions represent ideas or qualities

Teaches a moral lesson\

Garden of Eden

Microcosm

Point of View

By chapter 3 – 3rd person omniscient (remember objectivity)

Narrator isn’t character in the book

Judgments are made by the reader

“The veneer of civilization is very thin…”

Consider while you read…Is the struggle to survive MORAL or PHYSICAL?Is this book optimistic or pessimistic about human nature?Who is right? Rousseau or Golding? Are they both right?The significance of the title of the book…

Literal?Metaphorical?

THE PHILOSOPHERS

Hobbes

“Life is short, chaotic, brutal, uncivilized, and solitary” and not very much fun!

So…MAN IS NATURALLY EVIL…BORN EVIL.

Thomas Hobbes

17TH centurySocial Contract Theory– man needs government to keep peace and order

One of the most dominant moral and political theories in history of Western civilization

Individuals give up just enough of their natural rights for authority to be able to ensure peace and order

Human NatureMan is selfish – concerned with own selvesEverything we do is motivated solely by the desire to better our own situationsMan fears death most of allState of Nature – worst possible situation that man can find himselfHumans are also reasonable

So, man will choose to submit to authority and give up just enough of their natural rights to be able to ensure peace and order ie. SOCIAL CONTRACT

John Locke

Humans are born BLANK SLATES, neither good nor evil

It’s our experience that determines who we are.

We are more a product of nurture that nature.

John Locke

Believes in Hobbe’s SOCIAL CONTRACT

Natural law –

Man uses his reason to determine what institutions (government) will optimize material and spiritual welfare

Education makes the man

Used by Jefferson and Founding Fathers – gave citizens the right to revolt against the English king

Man agrees to live together under common laws

Man agrees to create a force to uphold those laws

Jean Jacques Rousseau

French writer 1800s

Philosophy – emotion vs reasonOpposed education – spread society’s contamination

Man’s natural goodness need only to be let alone to produce moral behavior

Rejects doctrine of original sin• “nothing can be more gentle than man in his primitive state.”

Rousseau and Golding disagree

Humans are born good

Abraham Maslow

Maslow is a humanistic psychologist. Humanists do not believe that human beings are pushed and pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements (behaviorism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis). Humanists focus upon potentials.

They believe that humans strive for an upper level of capabilities. Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of consciousness and wisdom. This has been labeled "fully functioning person", "healthy personality", or as Maslow calls this level, "self-actualizing person."

Consider as you read…Who is right?

Hobbes?

Locke?

Rousseau?

Maslow

Homework: Journal Freewrite

Abraham Lincoln said, “Human nature can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed.” Using examples from your own life experiences, history, and/or literature, support or attack this statement.