Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Fiction or Warning Novel? Part 1. What happens when children are left without adults …
During an unknown war, a group of children is evacuated from England. But the plane crashes, as a result of which the children find themselves on a desert island. At first, well-bred boys try to find at least one of the adults - the pilot and "that guy with the megaphone", but very quickly it turns out that there is no one else on the island except them. The island's tropical nature promises heavenly life and exciting adventures, but the idyll does not last long.
Once on the island, children begin to rapidly turn into savages …
William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies was released in 1954. The first book of the English writer made its way to the reader long and hard: before the novel was published, the manuscript was in more than twenty publishing houses - and everywhere it was rejected. But the writer did not give up, and his debut novel was still published, and after a while it became a real bestseller. Later "Lord of the Flies" was included in the literature program of many US educational institutions.
Today we know this novel as Lord of the Flies. However, the author's title of the book was different - "Strangers who appeared from within." The new name was invented during the preparation of the book for publication and gave it some mysticism: "Lord of the Flies" kind of refers us to Beelzebub, the devil.
Attempts to better understand the essence of this literary work continue to this day. Some call it a philosophical parable, others an allegory, others a grotesque dystopia or a warning novel. Some have tried to see the hidden biblical plot in Lord of the Flies.
However, all the controversy about the novel does not provide a clear explanation of why it is so attractive and at the same time repulsive and frightening. In 2005, Time magazine included Lord of the Flies as one of the 100 Best Novels Written in English. And at the same time, Golding's book is one of the most controversial works of the 20th century. What is the secret of this novel? System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan will help us to answer this question.
Robinsonade of the 20th century
During an unknown war, a group of children is evacuated from England. But the plane crashes, as a result of which the children find themselves on a desert island. At first, well-bred boys try to find at least one of the adults - the pilot and "that guy with the megaphone", but very quickly it turns out that there is no one else on the island except them. The island's tropical nature promises heavenly life and exciting adventures, but the idyll does not last long.
To act in concert, children need a leader, whose role is claimed by two - Ralph and Jack. The boys arrange an election in which Ralph wins. The clever fat man Piggy acts as a faithful and wise advisor to Ralph and proposes the necessary steps to rescue: build huts as shelter and build a fire on the highest point of the island that will be clearly visible from the sea - in this case they can be noticed and saved. However, the very first fire, which they managed to make with the help of Piggy's glasses, ends in a fire, after which one of the younger boys was missing.
The second contender for leadership, Jack, refuses to obey. In times of peace, he was the head of the church choir. The entire choir was evacuated, and the rest of the choir still recognize Jack as their leader. Together they declare themselves to be hunters. The boys sharpen their homemade spears with enthusiasm and chase the wild pigs that are found on the island all day long. From the moment of killing the first pig, Jack finally separates - he creates his own tribe, luring the rest of the boys to himself with the promises of an exciting hunt and guaranteed food.
Meanwhile, inexplicable things are happening on the island, giving rise to fears. The boys from the Jack tribe create a primitive pagan cult of the worship of the Beast. Children try to call his mercy with sacrifices, arrange primitive dances. In the midst of one of these wild rituals, going into ecstasy and losing control over themselves, the "hunters" stab one of the boys, Simon, with spears.
So, until recently, civilized little Englishmen are turning into a tribe of savages before our eyes. Ralph and Piggy are desperate. They are unable to change this situation. But, having collected the remnants of will and reason, they continue to maintain the fire on the mountain, dreaming that they will be noticed and help to return to their former life. However, at night the hunters attack their hut and take away Piggy's glasses: they need fire to cook meat, and they don't know any other way to get fire except through a magnifying glass. When friends come to Jack's pack to pick up glasses, the savages kill Piggy by throwing a huge stone on him from the cliff.
Ralph is left alone. For the savages, he is now a stranger, a dissenter, so he automatically turns into a victim - the hunt begins for Ralph … In attempts to drive their prey into a corner, the hunters seem to have gone mad. They are committing a suicidal act - setting fire to the jungle. Fleeing from the spears aimed at him, Ralph runs ashore. He runs out of his last strength without any hope of escape. Stumbling and falling, he prepares to die. But, raising his head, he sees a military man: having noticed the smoke, rescuers landed on the island.
Strangers from within
How did it happen that William Golding, at the age of forty, took and wrote such a strange and even terrible novel? The writer himself largely explains the features of his worldview by the experience of war:
“As a young man, before the war I had a lightly naive idea of people. But I went through the war, and it changed me … The war taught me something completely different: I began to understand what people are capable of …"
Thinking a lot about life and society, he makes even harsher conclusions:
“The facts of life lead me to believe that humanity is afflicted with a disease … which we must understand, otherwise it will be impossible to control it. That is why I write with all the passion I can, and say: 'Look, look, look, this is what it is, the nature of the most dangerous of all animals - man!'
If we consider these words from the point of view of the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, we can say that the writer is brought to such conclusions by his visual sensitivity and sound reflections. The main idea that the author conveys in his novel is a surprisingly paradoxical human trait to turn from a civilized member of society into a savage in the shortest possible time. Upbringing and cultural restrictions, the desire to observe the rules of decency in society, civic position and social responsibility very often fly off the previously civilized person as an unnecessary plaque when it comes to survival, when we receive stress that we are unable to adapt.
“While we’re rescued, we’ll have a great time here. As in a book!"
Children, not adults, are the protagonists of William Golding's violent novel. Why? There are several reasons for this choice of heroes. One of them lies on the surface and is declared by the author himself: "Lord of the Flies" with its unusual plot and even the names of the main characters refers us to "Coral Island" by R. M. Ballantyne (1858). This adventure novel in the style of Robinsonade was once read both by Golding himself and his peers. However, the fascination with this romantic-idealistic story, which glorifies the imperial values of England of the late 19th century, did not prevent the grown-up readers of Coral Island from later turning into cruel killers, as Golding saw during his military service.
The fact that the heroes of Lord of the Flies are teenagers is also the author's response to the notion that children are angels in Western countries. William Golding has toughly debunked this myth. And so that no one had any doubts, his heroes were exemplary boys, torn by the war from the very heart of human civilization - well-bred England. No wonder one of the heroes at the beginning of the story, not without snobbery, declares: “We are not any savages. We are English. And the British are always and everywhere the best. So, you have to behave properly."
The writer did not stop there. He tore off protective masks not only from civilized good manners, but also from religious piety: the most savage and cruel murderers in his book are the singing boys from the church choir. The transformation into pagan savages of those who not so long ago sang with angelic voices in the temple is happening at such a speed that it leaves no hope for the help of the church and religion in human attempts to remain human (as opposed to the "Coral Island" in which children, on the contrary, local savages are converted to Christianity).
It would seem that the writer does not leave his readers hope for a better outcome. We must live with this terrible beast inside, which slumbers for the time being, but at any moment can break out. But this hope is given to us by the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan.
Humanity is not at all sick, it is not degrading, but on the contrary, it is developing rapidly! In Golding's novel, the archetype of man is written out in the most detailed way, which was quite appropriate at the time of the first people, tens of thousands of years ago. But in our time, in a civilized society in which skin laws and restrictions are observed and visual culture is developed, such human behavior is unacceptable.
Security system builders
It should be noted that the heroes of Lord of the Flies are exclusively boys. On the one hand, this is the same reference by the author to the works of children's literature of the past, when boys and girls were still trained and raised separately. However, the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan gives its clear explanation of this phenomenon, which at the time of writing the novel the author could not have known.
According to system-vector psychology, only men are carriers of a species role, that is, they perform certain tasks assigned to them by society. Women, except for the skin-visual ones, who accompanied men on hunting and war, do not have such a specific role - the main task of a woman is to give birth to offspring and take care of it. Therefore, the task of building a collective security system that allows the human species to survive and continue its path to the future lies entirely with the male part of humanity.
Boys, entering puberty, are separated from loved ones, families and, becoming full members of society, begin to support the system of collective security created in it. Such a security system is built primarily on strict ranking, which ensures that each member of the flock fulfills its specific role. When ranked correctly, the flock functions perfectly well. This provides the pack members with the opportunity to survive together.
It is the process of ranking and the attempt to create our own security system that we can observe while reading the novel. Why teenagers who ended up on a desert island could not create a viable model of human society, obeying one leader and each fulfilling their role, we will consider a little later.
There are no adults here … We all have to decide for ourselves …
Why do children, once on the island, so rapidly turn into savages? According to the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, the basic need that gives a child the opportunity to develop normally is a feeling of security and safety, which is provided by parents (primarily mother), the immediate environment and society as a whole.
Moreover, the younger the child, the stronger his need for a sense of security and safety. In Lord of the Flies, this can be seen in the behavior of the younger six-year-old boys who cry and scream in their sleep. Older boys behave differently. During adolescence, children gradually become more independent and begin to build their own lives.
But how can children without adults solve pressing problems? Yuri Burlan gives an exhaustive answer to this question, revealing that children who are still developing their properties and gaining cultural restrictions, without adults, can only build an archetypal community, uniting on the feeling of dislike for the victim or someone else:
“Children are looking for a victim. This way they unite and get a sense of security and safety. How do they do it? Archetypal. They need a sacrifice - someone who stands out. They try him for the role of a victim - by his actions, but especially by name. And they begin to persecute this child … "[1]
In Golding's novel, we can observe such an archetypal criminal child community in every detail. It is even surprising how naturally and in detail the author managed to describe what the absence of wise adult guidance in the lives of children can lead to, because in ordinary life there are practically no cases of complete isolation.
There is an episode in the novel in which Roger, already unconsciously ready to become a cruel killer, throws stones at a kid who plays on the beach, building sand castles. Stones fall around, breaking sand turrets, but Roger cannot launch a stone at the boy himself, whose name is Henry - he is still held back by past prohibitions, ready to collapse at any moment:
“But there was ten yards in diameter around Henry that Roger didn’t dare to target. Here, invisible but strict, hovered the prohibition of the former life. The squatting child was overshadowed by the protection of parents, school, police, law. Roger was held by the hand of a civilization that did not know about him and was crumbling. " [2]
The significance of the work of William Golding is, first of all, that he, without any romantic embellishment, showed us what will happen to the "crown of nature" when the civilization within him collapses. When stress, the threat to survival is so great that it knocks down all the skin prohibitions of the law developed over the centuries and the visual cultural restrictions on which civilization rests.
An impostor or a leader?
The leader of the hunters Jack forces members of his "tribe" to call himself the leader. But is he a real leader or is he just an impostor? From the very beginning, a rivalry arose between him and Ralph for the role of chief. At first, Ralph won, but he failed to retain power. In the end, through a fierce struggle, Jack achieved his goal - but what did it lead to? Corporal punishment (one of the kids is shown beating with sticks), murders and an island engulfed in fire.
As Yuri Burlan's system-vector psychology says, the desire to be a leader is one of the properties of the skin vector. But a real natural leader can become a person with other aspirations, with a different structure of the psyche - the owner of the urethral vector. Only for the urethral, his flock is above all, and the life of the flock is more important than his own life. A real leader does not need to prove his supremacy, to seek power by sophisticated methods - all this and so belongs to him by right. Members of the pack on an unconscious level feel the security that comes from someone who is ready to give his life for their lives, and naturally unquestioningly obey the urethral leader. The urethral nucleus unites the flock, otherwise separation begins.
However, no urethral was found among the boys on the island. An undeveloped skin leader cannot lead the flock over long distances - the flock will die. We see this path to certain death at the end of the book.
Part 2. Who are we - people or animals?
[1] Quotes from the training on system-vector psychology by Yuri Burlan
[2] Lord of the Flies, William Golding
