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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
Life is as intricate as the human being. What is the purpose and meaning of life when we do not know about its beginning and the life after death? What is the difference between life and existence? Such metaphysical questions have been engaging the human mind since the beginning of human civilization. Theologians, philosophers, thinkers, scientists and literary writers have been struggling hard to know the answers of these questions for themselves and for all the

humanity. Religion, science, philosophy and literature all deal with life. C.S. Lewis, a British scholar and novelist has defined literature , Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. According to this quote of C.S Lewis, literary writers not only present the real picture of life but also add their thoughts and

emotions in their works. Although Plato is against this blend of reality and emotions and therefore he condemns poets and arts in his book The Republic. Literary works are the reflections of the thinking patterns , social behaviours, culture, and the whole life of a society. These works provide a food for thought, imagination, creativity and better understanding of life. Poetry ,fiction , drama, prose, autobiography etc. all genera of literature based on philosophy , religion, history, art, culture and science and these fields are the different aspects of life. So, we try to understand life ,in fact the human beings, through literature. In the beginning, the only purpose of literature was to raise the morality of an individual and consequently, the whole society. The early literary writers of English literature like Caedmon, Saint Bede , King Alfred and Cynewulf wrote on religious and Biblical themes. The same trend of didactic writings can be seen in all the periods of

English literature. Miltons message to justify the ways of God to man in the Paradise Lost, John Donnes poetry, George Herberts poetry, Christopher Marlows Doctor Faustus , Francis Beacons essays, Joseph Andrews novels, Shakespeares dramas and sonnets , Samuel Taylor Coleridges The Rim of The Ancient Mariner,

Joseph Conrads novels, John Ruskins essays and lectures and many other English writers have attempted to improve the moral values of the society through their literary writings. The fundamental purpose of literature was to strengthen the inner virtuous aspects of human nature.

In 1880 a new trend in English literature emerged that was called Aestheticism. This movement was often associated with the French term fin de sicle, (end of the century). It was the end of nineteenth-century and the thoughts and the ideals of Victorian Age were losing their charm and superiority and replaced by Aesthetic values. The Aesthetic movement declared the purpose of art as art for arts sake and chief pursuit of art and life is beauty. Purpose of art is not preaching the moral values and discussing the worldly issues like politics but its sole objective is to appreciate the intrinsic beauty and to appeal the senses. The aesthetics like Oscar Wilde were greatly influenced by Walter Pater and his book The Renaissance : Studies in Art and Poetry published in 1873. On Oscar Wildes

trial, this movement which began in 1895 is often considered to have ended. But this movement paved the path for Modernism in the twentieth century. The modern period started from 1910 to 1935. The major influences on the literary writings of this period were the industrial revolution, the first world war, atheism , innovations in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud , Darwinism , materialism and loneliness of human beings. Symbolism and stream of consciousness were the common techniques that were used by the writers of this period. Post war literature was mainly depicted the horrible influences of war on the lives of people specially the revolutionary changes in the attitudes of people. Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf has portrayed the psychological influences of second world war in their literary works. William Golding, being the active participant in the 2nd world war as a lieutenant, experienced the horrific scenes and brutal nature of human beings. He displayed his experiences of war in the form of his first novel Lord of the Flies. Although the writers of this period do not claim their writings as didactic writings but indirectly moral lessons can be drawn. Many critics and researchers have studied different aspects of the Lord of the Flies and produced a valuable literature. Van Vuurn Merijik in his critical essay, Good grief: Lord of the Flies as a post war rewriting of salvation history, has attempted to explain the

post-war pessimism and also focused on its portrayal of original sin and the problem of evil. According to him this novel is the symbolic representation of Genesis and Apocalypse. It is about the original sin, the fall of man, the problem of evil, the failure of law, the hope of salvation and the mission of a saviour. All the characters and events represent the story of creation. It is a well structured allegory and the novel does not groan under a dogmatic burden as some critics have alleged. He examines the novel by using Frys phases of mystical myth, with its poles of apocalyptic and demonic imagery. The apocalyptic world is a projection of desire and the demonic world is one of nightmare. The apocalyptic and demonic worlds, being structures of pure metaphorical identity, suggest the eternally unchanging, and lend themselves very readily to being projected existentially as heaven and hell (Frye, 1957:158). These poles are depicted in novel very clearly. The tale can be divided into two parts, each begins with an air battle followed by an exploration of the island. The first part shows a peaceful and harmonious environment but gives way to the fear pervading the second search and that is the search for the Beast. This part reveals the dark side of the human nature which shows its appearance in violence and destruction. The paradise like island has been turned into a burning hell by the children and the imagery which is at first apocalyptic finds its demonic

counterpart in the second part. The isolated tropical island with a lot of fruit, water, shady palm trees flowering trees and peaceful environment is a paradise as boys have said good island (Lord of the Flies: ch.1,p.37). This remark of the boys recalls Genesis account of creation, God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (Gen. 1.13). The island has two different sides one is the world of dream and the other is the nightmare. In the second part that is the demonic part Ralph discovers the other aspect of island that of nightmarish isolation. There is a jungle with full of creepers, roots and obstacles to progress which may denote the curse on nature brought about by the Fall (Gen. 3.17,18). So, this island is both a paradise and a prison for the boys. In the demonic phase the boys search for the Beast which is a Biblical symbol of the anti-Christ who is a powerful human ruler in opposition to God. In fact, this symbol shows the human bestiality. Golding has given a clue for this beast as in the chapter The beast from water. This proves in the government of Jack and his tribe. Under his lawless and irresponsible authority the civilization has turned into savagery. Their individuality and morality has been concealed by the painted masks. Simon wants to tell them about mankinds essential illness(Lord of the Flies: p.97) but mistakenly has killed by Jack and other boys. He was shouting like a prophet but no one heard him. That is also a Biblical reference. He is a saint and a Christ-figure in his priestly function who has sacrificed his life for others.

Vuurn also talks about the failure of rules. The conch that is the call for piece and democracy which is associated from the beginning with Ralphs rule. Jack defies the laws. When Ralph indicts him for this, Jacks reply is, Bollocks to the rules! Were strong- - we hunt! (Lord of the Flies: p.100). Piggy is killed with the conch. The last reminder of the rules of adults world and sign of goodness has destroyed. Only Ralph has remained to be victim of Jacks savagery. In salvation history this is the time for the return of Christ when evil overcomes good. With the arrival of naval officer Ralph has been rescued. This demonic phase ends well in the novel. Ven Vuurn has discussed the novel in depth with its Biblical symbolism. He has tried to capture all the details which is given by Golding about the environment and the characters of the novel very well. From social and religious point of view it is a matchless effort. But the most crucial and fundamental aspect of the human being which is the human psychology has been neglected by Ven Vuurn. The will to power which most of the time results in form of disintegration and repression is overlooked by him. I will attempt to highlight this human instinct as the cause of violence and revolutionary change in the behaviour of the characters of this novel. Xiofang Li and Weihua Wu have discussed the characters of this novel in their research paper : On Symbolic Significance of Characters in Lord of the Flies. According to them all characters are

the representatives of the daily life characters of our society. Ralph shows democracy and civilization, Piggy is the embodiment of intellect and logic, Jack represents the savagery and tyranny, Simon is the symbol of spirituality and saintliness and the littluns stands for the common people. If we take the story with the special reference of the World War II, then Ralph is Chamberlain, Jack is Hitler and Roger is Gestapo. Chamberlain was the British prime minister before this war and he had a soft corner for Hitler and Germany and therefore, he took the policy of appeasement towards Hitlers hostility. This policy

further caused the greatest tragedy of the history of the world in the form of world war II. Ralph neglects the aggressive behaviour of Jack when he denied to follow his democratic rules. Moreover, he joins Jacks celebration of his first hunt of a pig and during this celebration Simon has been killed by these frantic boys. Jack is the symbol of savagery and violence. This man of power enters the scene like a sergeant. This strong-willed boy since the beginning of the novel claims to hunt for meat. Actually , he needs blood and authority. Roger is one of the member of his choir group and he shows the inexorable aspect of human nature. He kills Piggy at the end of the novel. Piggy who shows the rationality and scientific mind of Goldings time. He was the first who realized the absence of their loneliness and the absence of adults. He has the confidence that common sense can master any problem. He could not see beneath the surface. The brilliant

boy who has gifted the inward eye is Simon. The most pious and virtuous who always engages his mind to think about the ways through which he can relieve the other boys from their fear of the beast. This character shows Goldings desire for such a personality whose innate goodness would save the world and he also informs us about the illness of the souls of people. Although, Xiaofang Li and Weihua Wu have explained the major characters of this novel in detail and tried to draw parallels between them and other figures of the society. They highlighted the prominent features of these characters but they have failed to discover the causes of the changes in the personalities of these characters. What was there which make these boys, who were the members of the most civilized nation of the world, barbarian and savage. I will further study the characters of this novel in depth and will try to explore the sources which have brought the variation in the characters of these innocent boys. Bjorn Bruns in his research paper: The Symbolism of Power in William Goldings Lord of the Flies has discovered the power relations in the novel through the symbols which are used in this novel. According to him the use of symbols is crucial to this novel, thus Golding shows us that an item is more powerful than it first seems. Golding reflects his own experience of the world war II in which the atomic bomb was used on Japan, the postwar revelations of the

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Holocaust, and particularly the battle between fascism and democracy which were seen in the world war II and the battle between democracy and tyranny during the cold war in his time. In this novel democracy and tyranny is presented by two major characters Ralph and Jack respectively. The aim of his essay is to mention the different kinds of symbols that are used in the novel to show how they are related to social power relation. The most prominent symbol is the conch shell. The loud sound of conch is the call for order and democracy and the person who holds has the power to speak and others are bound to hear him. Conch is the sign of authority and in the beginning it was in the possession of Ralph. When centre of authority has shifted from Ralph to Jack then the conch has no longer remains powerful and as a result it has been smashed into a large number of pieces. With this, the weak bond of civilization that held the boys within the limits of humanity has broken. Another symbol in the novel are the shelters which Ralph with the help of other boys builds for the safety of children from wind and weather. In fact, it is a way to maintain civilization and giving them a sense of protection on this island. This is necessary for building a democratic state because in democracy everyone has a right to live free and without fear. But at the end the burning scene of these shelters shows the end of democracy and approaching dictatorship. The fire which is the sign of rescue for the boys has also turned into the important ingredient in the savage ceremony for celebrating the

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hunters achievements. Piggys specs, once were used for vision and for making the signal fire , are now used for making fire for fun and for roasting meat by Jack and his group. Specs are now in the possession of Jack it means the power is transferred from Piggy to Jack. The dance which Jack and his tribe has performed either before or after the hunt and in fear becomes a distraction. While dancing they always shout and scream one important slogan Kill the beast. Cut his throat. Spill his blood (Lord of the Flies: p. 152). Bjorn Burns says, By analyzing only the verbs in this saying it is clear that the shouting leads to violence and destruction. These are words of power and dominance, the words of a dictator. All the symbols are important items that are used by Ralph and Jack either intentionally or unintentionally. He has finished his research work with the description of the symbols of power. But question arises from where these innocent boys have gained this will to power? Whether this will to power is innate or an out come of the changing environment? My research will try to answer these questions. Christina Olofsson in her research paper: Leadership and Group Dynamics in Lord of the Flies and Tomorrow, When the War Began, has studied group dynamics and the different styles of leadership which are used in both novels and explained the success and failure of these styles and leaders. Though William Goldings Lord of

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the Flies is first published in 1954 and John Marsdens Tomorrow, When the War Began in 1993 but the same topic is the main focus in both the novels is to find the way of surviving in absence of the guidance from adults in a world at war. In Goldings novel there was a group of school boys on a deserted island after a plane crashed and in Marsdens novel we saw eight teenagers (four girls and four boys) became resistance fighters who hide themselves in a secluded mountainous area when their country was attacked by a foreign army. The group of boys in Goldings novel is homogeneous middle class white children and there is no racial tension. But in Marsdens novel children belongs to various social classes and gender aspect also plays important role in group dynamics. The researcher has focused her research on the three leaders Ralph and Jack of the Lord of the Flies and Homer of Tomorrow, When the War Began and the different responses of other children towards their leadership styles. Ralph and Homer have used democratic leadership style. The effect of this style on both leaders and followers differs between the novels. Homer trusts his leadership skills and is appreciated by his followers. Ralph is not only democratic leader but also task-oriented leader. He leads the expedition to explore the island and he initiates the building of shelters and convinces the boys to make a signal fire for their rescue. Ralph is disobeyed and challenged by his followers. In fact, he has failed to secure the boys and relieve them from the fear of the beast. Moreover,

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he was not able to fulfill their needs. Therefore, except Piggy he has failed to get the loyalty of other followers. Jack emerges as an authoritative leader. He is a strong-willed boy with strong body. He believes in his charisma and threatens and punishes the boys in order to maintain his domination. He seems successful because his followers carry out his order and admit him as their sole leader. Both Jack and Homer are successful leaders because of the loyalty of their followers but the reason for this faithfulness is different in their cases. In Homers case it is the mutual trust and friendship but in Jacks case it is fear of what he will do to them if they defy him. Christina concludes all three leaders undergo transformations, which also affect the people around them. Homer remains the successful at the end as his leadership which is democratic, task and relationship motivated has saved the children . Ralph as a democratic leader and Jack as a authoritative leader have failed. Jack is more interested in becoming powerful than thinking about the best of his group. This autocratic leader has pushed his group into chaos and has changed the island into hell. According to Christina both the styles of leadership have failed in Lord of the Flies then what should be the appropriate style of leadership for those teenagers on that deserted island in the absence of adults? She did not talk about the most character of the novel that is Simon. In fact only the personality of Simon has the redeemer in himself. The need

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of the day is Simon whose inward eye is wide open and who has the ability to hear the unheard. Such a leader can be the most influential and successful who rules not on the land but on the hearts of his people. I will explain in my research not only the two systems of government ( democratic and authoritative) and the influence of will to power of the leaders of these the systems but also the consequences of this will to power on all other characters. I will also study the charismatic personality of Simon because he is the most favourite character of William Golding and the hope of better future for the world.