Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Fiction or Warning Novel? Part 2. Who are we - people or animals?
How do children perceive law and culture? Only through adults in the course of education. And the more harmonious the upbringing, the more human in the child, the greater the desire to comply with the rules of the human community, the stronger the influence of culture.
However, even in a developed person, especially a child, the cultural layer is washed away in special life circumstances. In the novel "Lord of the Flies", such circumstances were the plane crash and life on a desert island without adults.
Part 1. What happens when children are left without adults …
"Who are we? People? Or an animal? " - such a question in despair cries out one of the main characters of "Lord of the Flies" Piggy. System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan gives a clear answer to this question, without unnecessary emotions and oppressive horror inside.
The fact is that we are born archetypal and are able to behave in accordance with the ancient program, peculiar to the first people who were exclusively concerned with the issues of survival. However, thanks to civilization and culture, we gradually develop into our opposite - we become law-abiding citizens who abide by the rules and laws, we absorb a culture that teaches empathy and kindness.
How do children perceive law and culture? Only through adults in the course of education. And the more harmonious the upbringing, the more human in the child, the greater the desire to comply with the rules of the human community, the stronger the influence of culture.
However, even in a developed person, especially a child, the cultural layer is washed away in special life circumstances. In the novel "Lord of the Flies", such circumstances were the plane crash and life on a desert island without adults.
The fall into the archetype is especially evident in the example of Jack, who has a skin vector. The specific role of the skin man is a hunter-alimentator who provides food for the entire flock. And Jack, from the very first days of his stay on the island, becomes obsessed with hunting - he devotes all his strength and time to preparing weapons and tracking wild pigs.
According to system-vector psychology, a person with a skin vector in the archetype is a breadwinner, or simply a thief: he takes from the weak and steals from the strong. This is shown in one of the episodes of the book, when Jack and his hunters attack Ralph and Piggy's hut at night and steal his glasses. Ralph is indignant: “They came at night, in the dark, and stole our fire. They took it and stole it. We would have given them fire anyway, if they had asked. And they stole …"
It should be noted that Jack's archetypal nature is especially evident in contrast to Ralph, who still holds on thanks to internal cultural restrictions and his friend Piggy, who helps him maintain common sense. Ralph reasons: “We need rules, and we must obey them … There were always adults at home. “Sorry sir! Allow me, miss! - and everything will be answered. Eh, now would be!..”Only these two on the island remember that the only salvation is the signal fire. The rest have become so wild that they no longer need salvation.
Archetypal is also the absence of a developed consciousness, the ability to think sensibly and understand cause-and-effect relationships. At the end of the story, the hunters set fire to the island in an irresistible desire to drive their victim - Ralph. Running away from them, Ralph is horrified: “Idiots! What unfortunate idiots! Fruit trees will burn - and what will they eat tomorrow?"
“Beat the pig! Cut your throat! Let the blood out!"
Why does Golding's novel Lord of the Flies evoke such a tumultuous mixture of feelings and emotions - horror and fear mixed with disgust? Because in the course of the narrative, before our very eyes, a violation of the main human taboo - the prohibition of murder, occurs. And since children become cruel killers of their own kind, this is doubly scary and disgusting.
Once on a desert island, at first the little Englishmen automatically continue to abide by the rules and laws of a civilized society. However, under the pressure of superstress caused by the tragic circumstances of the catastrophe and the need for independent survival, they lose their cultural layer, slide into an archetypal state and lose their natural taboo on killing.
This is also facilitated by the ritual dances that hunters arrange, painting their faces with multi-colored clay, turning them into red-white-black masks. "The mask fascinated and subdued … the feeling of wildness and freedom was given by the protective paint." And Jack laments only that there are not enough drums. …
William Golding showed us in great detail the gradual process of becoming a murderer. So, at the first meeting with a wild pig in the jungle, Jack could not stab her with a knife, because "it is even impossible to imagine how a knife will cut into a living body, due to the fact that the sight of spilled blood is intolerable." However, very little time passed, and murder became a daily routine for him.
What do we see in the end? At first, the ritual song: “Beat the pig! Cut your throat! Let the blood out! " allows hunters to kill animals - led by the author of the novel, we can observe how they "clamped down the beating pig … and then for a long time, greedily, as they drink in the heat, took away her life." When the dam of prohibitions and restrictions is broken, it is already impossible to stop - we see the murder of Simon, then Piggy. And finally, we hear the words of the twins Eric and Sam, full of horror: "Roger sharpened a stick at both ends …" What do these cryptic words mean? And the fact that they are going to cut off Ralph's head, impale it and sacrifice to the Beast …
Social robinsonade of our children
So we analyzed the systemic "great and terrible" novel by William Golding "Lord of the Flies." System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan helped us understand the riddles of events and human behavior, turning them into simple and understandable clues. Most likely, the person will breathe a sigh of relief and involuntarily dismiss the serious and harsh conclusions made after reading this novel: “Well, what does all this have to do with us? The rarest case when children remain in isolation, and even for a long time. We have no coral islands here! And there is no war, thank God. Our children are under supervision - this will never happen to them! " And it will be wrong …
During lectures on system-vector psychology, Yuri Burlan explains:
“Children are naturally aggressive. If children are left without upbringing, they can only create an archetypal flock, even if they are the most golden ones born. Everything depends on education! It is even to some extent more important than training."
But today our children are largely left without upbringing, and for this it is not at all necessary to end up on a desert island.
In the modern world, parenting is not an easy lot. Quite often, parents themselves are disoriented and do not clearly understand how to raise their own children. After all, the time has changed, and the "grandmother's methods" of education no longer work. And the experience of their own childhood does not help: modern children are so psychologically different from their parents that traditional methods of upbringing too often fail. As a result, our children may not always develop the way they could. This may explain the adolescent brutality and the wave of school violence we face today.
Often, with our lack of understanding or powerlessness to figure it out, we leave our children alone with their problems. In a situation of insufficient participation of adults in the life of children and the absence of full-fledged upbringing, they are simply forced to solve their problems on their own - as best they can, that is, archetypally.
Now imagine that very soon our children will grow up and become full members of society. What will this society be like if it consists of individuals who are not developed to the modern level? The novel-warning "Lord of the Flies" helps to present this.
