Lof Essay
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses his argument that all living things have a desire to exercise control over another living thing, through utilizing the liminal process.
When a plane evacuating many British boys suddenly crashes onto a vacant island, they separate from their narcissistic “model A” into a limen of savagery. Contrary to the Genesis and the Greek and Chinese creation stories, the boys did not start in a chaotic environment [SP 4a]. They start in a strong, orderly civilization. Many British people at the time have a “model A” that includes believing that they are the best at everything. Loren Eiseley, the author of The Universe Itself Was Laughing, painfully recalls a moment in which a British poacher states he would kill the last fox on earth if he could (26). British people’s actions and arrogant statements such as this one teach young British boys to have a cognitive model of arrogance and narcissism. The separation of the plane crash along with the boys’ cognitive model of the world leads them to believe that they can create an orderly society, that would be similar to Treasure Island and other books they have read; however, as the boys later discover, even British people can become savage and give into “mankind’s essential illness”(34) [SP 1a].
Unfortunately, the boys did not create the utopia and orderly society they envisioned. Life on the island became chaotic. “Mankind’s essential illness” is responsible for creating this chaos. Golding developed a theory through personal experience including the Holocaust, World War One and Two, and the Cold War: that every living thing has a desire to exercise control over another living thing. He writes many examples of his argument in the book. For instance, there is a scene in which Henry exercises his control over small transparencies (61). Roger experiments with his control even further by throwing nuts at Henry to make him recoil; however, at this point Roger still remembers
When a plane evacuating many British boys suddenly crashes onto a vacant island, they separate from their narcissistic “model A” into a limen of savagery. Contrary to the Genesis and the Greek and Chinese creation stories, the boys did not start in a chaotic environment [SP 4a]. They start in a strong, orderly civilization. Many British people at the time have a “model A” that includes believing that they are the best at everything. Loren Eiseley, the author of The Universe Itself Was Laughing, painfully recalls a moment in which a British poacher states he would kill the last fox on earth if he could (26). British people’s actions and arrogant statements such as this one teach young British boys to have a cognitive model of arrogance and narcissism. The separation of the plane crash along with the boys’ cognitive model of the world leads them to believe that they can create an orderly society, that would be similar to Treasure Island and other books they have read; however, as the boys later discover, even British people can become savage and give into “mankind’s essential illness”(34) [SP 1a].
Unfortunately, the boys did not create the utopia and orderly society they envisioned. Life on the island became chaotic. “Mankind’s essential illness” is responsible for creating this chaos. Golding developed a theory through personal experience including the Holocaust, World War One and Two, and the Cold War: that every living thing has a desire to exercise control over another living thing. He writes many examples of his argument in the book. For instance, there is a scene in which Henry exercises his control over small transparencies (61). Roger experiments with his control even further by throwing nuts at Henry to make him recoil; however, at this point Roger still remembers