primarily so that I can make use of a ‘literature’ tag.
I finished reading Lord of the Flies today. For all William Golding has talked about how his experiences in World War II shaped his ideas on civilization and the relationship between society and individual personalities and demons–there is a very cynical part of me who can’t imagine a book like this being written by anyone other than a former teacher. 😉
So. Civilization is a fine veneer over our savage instincts, eh whot? I think the most powerfully fascinating moment in the book for me was the fatal dance in which Simon was killed. The first fatality, the descent into chaos, and even the characters that Sparknotes likes to reduce to avatars of goodness, decency, and intellect were in on it. Gave me shivers, it did.
I am still undecided on whether Jack or Roger represents the worst of human evil. I’ll have to maunder on it for a bit.
Post-Criticism Hunt Edit: Leon Levitt wrote an intriguing piece called “Trust the Tale: A Second Reading of Lord of the Flies” arguing against the standard view that Lord of the Flies upholds the Calvanistic/Freudian notion that man is inherently evil/sinful. Ergo, the faults in civilization are due to the inherent faults in man (I think Golding himself has made a statement to this effect.)
Levitt argues that the opposite is really the case: that the faults of society are the cause of the faults in individuals. He argues along the line that the children come to the island already fully indocrinated with the mores and values of western culture, which is militaristic and obsessed with supremacy, and victimizes the meek and the intellectual.
Lacewood 