Themes in Lord of the Files
Uploaded by swaungcenter on Apr 18, 2004
When William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies, we have no idea what he intended to write about. However, either through his ability to interweave many themes and concepts into one story, or because too many people have tried to analyze it, there are three that seem to be echoed throughout the book and supported at every turn. These are: a demonstration of Frederick Nietzsche’s ideas and philosophies, an allegory of the Christian stories and figures, and an allegory of the Cold War.
The first one is a demonstration of Frederick Nietzsche’s philosophies and ideals. Nietzsche believed that humans did not have morals, that these “morals” are actually the instincts of the society that the human lives in. According to him, a person is what they are because of the society that they live in. Nietzsche believed that a person is born with instincts, and it is upon those instincts that society embeds its own morals.
The second theme is an allegory of the Christian ideals and stories. There are several parts to this allegory. One is the symbol of Jesus Christ. In the book, Christ is represented by Simon. He is shown to have the littluns (the commoners) following him and having him do things for them. “Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him… Simon found them the fruit they could not reach, pulling off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, stretching hands” (59). Just like here, the commoners flock to Christ because he cares more about them than does the rulers, or the ‘biguns’. The ‘biguns’, like the rulers, dislike Simon/Christ, for the simple reason that the littluns/commoners like him more than they. “They [Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Roger…] think you’re batty” (163). Another part of the allegory is relating the island to the Garden of Eden and the inhabitants going from innocent to full of knowledge. When the children arrive on the island, they are innocent, not having been influenced by society yet. As they progress, they form their own society, and thus are influenced by one. They gain knowledge about what is right and wrong, as do Adam and Eve. Yet another aspect of the allegory is the correlation between the Fallen Angels and...