I know your comments would be very interesting. Golding wrote a number of books. The LOTF is the only one I have read. It has been a lot of years so I don't remember it well.
Ralph--REASON
Jack--AGGRESSION/INSTINCT/POWER/RELIGION
Piggy--COOPERATION/COMMONALITY/SHARED PURPOSE
Simon--SENSITIVITY/COMPASSION/INSIGHT/IMAGINATION/HUMANISM.
The human species is multifaceted: Need, desire, fear, meaning--so many motives inform our behaviour, and so many combinations of types inform our communities. The interplay of force, reason, need, etc. creates so many kinds of people; so many kinds of societies. Golding chose to depict one which was both visceral...and relevant to the horror of the war he had just gone through.
The only thing I remember about religion was the BEAST who was fearsome by virtue of being unknown. I suppose the ritual dances, where reason became subservient to the mob/group/ritual/instinct was religious. In this sense--the connection of blind frenzy with violence and cruelty certainty comports with religious history and with the immediate insanity of the war which Golding had gone through.
In a way, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon represent Reason, Democracy, and Humanism; while Jack and Roger represent Force/Power/Control/Dictatorship...and Superstition/Religion/the absence of Reason. An equality of persons versus a hierarchy of power based on the ability to hurt and kill.
As I said, I would have to re-read the book to give a very (hopefully) sensible review. But from what I remeber, religion was not the door to safety; but, rather, it was precisely the way they were all headed before the rescue. The elements of Force/Faith/Fear/Obediance were destroying the elements of sensitivity, compassion, kindness, and reason. And of course our history is a non fictional parallel to this wonderful story. Am I remembering it with any accuracy? I would love to read this again since you brought it up, but I don't own it.
I would love to hear what you see in the book, X. |
