Lord of the Flies Five Paragraph Theme
Have you ever wondered how some people can be so evil, while others always seem to do the right thing? In society, there is the potential for both good and evil. William Golding uses this motif throughout his novel. He uses characters to symbolize certain aspects of psychology. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding uses characterization to prove Sigmund Freud’s theory of the three physic zones Id, Ego, and Super Ego.
Id is the primary source of all psychic energy and functions to fulfill the primordial life principles. This principle is seen as the source of all our aggression and desires. In Lord of the Flies, Jack represents Id. He is the most aggressive and hostile boy on the island. Jack’s aggression is shown through his blood lust. He always wants to hunt and kill, and isn’t very concerned with the things that need to happen after that, such as starting the fire. Jack’s determination for hunting is displayed with the quote, “Jack tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.” Jack also acts on impulse. He would go hunting with out having a fire prepared to cook the meat. Jack does evil things throughout the novel that mirror Sigmund Freud’s profile of Id. In chapter ten, Jack takes Piggy’s glasses. If Jack needed fire, he just needed to ask Ralph, but instead he took the opportunity to be cruel and see Piggy miserable. The pleasure he got from seeing Piggy suffer is known as fascination for the abomination. Not only Jack, but Jack’s tribe represents evil. The tribe represents evil because it instills fear on others. This was displayed when Piggy said, “I’m afraid of them, Ralph.”
The opposite of Id is Super Ego. Super Ego is the moral censoring agent and repository of all conscience and pride. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy represents the Super Ego. Piggy shows more compassion and logic than Jack. He thinks things through and is usually right. Piggy’s...