Jack ‘Lord of the Flies’ Quotes: Unveiling the Dark Descent

Freud’s Psychological Blueprint in Golding’s World

In 1923, a man named Sigmund Freud wrote a psychological theory that said that the human psyche had more than one aspect. He stated that the psyche was composed of three parts, the id, the ego, and the superego, all structures and not physical or part of our brains. This theory can be displayed in the Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, in the three main characters, Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Jack was the id because he had no reasoning and logical state of mind.

Piggy was the superego because he represented the sane and logical thinking that formed society and stood as a father figure for the rest of the boys in that he had paternal qualities; and Ralph was the ego because he was the rational character which is why he was elected leader.

Jack’s Desires: Unleashing the Id in “Lord of the Flies” Quotes

Jack is a prime example of Freud’s id. According to Freud, the id focused on immediate and primitive pleasures instead of a long-term plan. In terms of Jack, he just wants to spend time hunting so that he can eat instead of maintaining the signal fire. Throughout the book, he tries to get the boys on the island to go against Ralph, who was the original head chef. An example of this is when Jack says, “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat!” Here, Jack was in an argument trying to get into the minds of the boys by saying that there are ghosts on the island, which went against what Piggy was trying to say, that there is no such thing as ghosts, which supports that the id can overpower the superego. This is significant because it shows that Jack was selfish and didn’t care about the fire, regardless of the consequences (the consequences being that they would lose the chance of being rescued). He proves to the other boys that he will not stop trying to carry out his own needs, much like the id plans on taking over the human’s mind so as to accomplish and please its own desires whilst overpowering the superego.

Piggy’s Moral Compass: The Superego’s Struggle for Order

Piggy plays an important role in the story by carrying out instinctual moral good and exhibiting paternal qualities by using his aunt’s words. In the text, it states, “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grownups going to think? Going off-hunting pigs-letting fires out-and now!” In this scene, Piggy is trying to talk to the boys about how what they’ve been doing is nonsense and that they are taking the wrong approach to everything. This is important because Piggy is the logical one in the story, and not listening to him would mean that everyone would succumb to being led by the id, which would lead to chaos because the id’s wishes only benefit the id instead of the id and his people. Piggy was trying to ensure that they were thinking about things in a logical and morally right way without taking into account the reality of a situation. But his wishes were only carried out through the ego, Ralph. His overall purposes were to try and control Jack, which led to his demise, his being killed, and to persuade Ralph into acting in a more moral way.

Ralph’s Balance: Ego’s Leadership Amidst Chaos

Ralph is the ego in the story due to the fact that he has the decision-making ability (long-term), and he works by reason to mediate between the id, Jack, and the realistic world. An example of him being a leader was when he said, “And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking all at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.” “ There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make fire.” In these two quotes, Ralph is showing his leadership skills and is explaining to the boys that there needs to be order and that if they build a fire, their chances of being rescued increase. This is important because Ralph focuses on a long-term stay on the island, leading the boys to build things like the signal fire and shelters while also trying to maintain order like a civilized society. He was the referee between the id’s desires and the superego’s societal needs. The author is constantly putting Ralph in situations where he has to choose between pleasing Jack or doing what Piggy suggests is best.

In conclusion, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies personifies Freud’s idea that the human mind can be seen as the id, ego, and superego. Jack was the id since he acted upon satisfying his immediate desire (the evil), Piggy was the superego because he acted based on moral good and what is right in society(the good), and Ralph was Ego because his role was to be the leader and how he must always balance the id and superego. Golding’s use of these characters with Freud’s theory allows readers to judge, befriend and connect with the characters to another extent.

References:

1. Freud, S. (1923). The Ego and the Id. Hogarth Press.

2. Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the Flies. Faber and Faber.

Did you like this example?

275

14