Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies

• An Allegorical Tale

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ALLEGORY

• Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which
  objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are
  equated with the meanings that lie outside the
  narrative itself. The underlying meaning has
  moral, social, religious, or political
  significance, and characters are often
  personifications of abstract ideas as charity,
  greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with
  two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic
  meaning.

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Four Allegorical Meanings

• Moral Allegory
• Social Allegory
• Religious Allegory
• Psychological Allegory

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Moral Allegory

• Morality refers to the concept of human
• ethics which pertains to matters of right and
  wrong
• ("good and evil) on three levels
• individual conscience
• systems of principles and judgments sometimes
  called moral values shared within a cultural,
  religious, secular or philosophical community
• codes of moral behavior or conduct

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Moral Allegory

• The characters in Lord of the Flies have very
  different ways
• of approaching problems and are guided by
  different moral
• ways of thinking
• Ralph is lead by Common Sense and judges morality
  on
• what makes the most sense for the group.
• Jack is lead by raw Emotion and makes moral
  judgments on
• the whim and will of his every emotion.
• Piggy is lead by Intellect and scientifically
  calculates his
• moral decisions and judgments.
• Simon is lead by the Soul and looks inward for a
  sense of
• moral purpose and direction.
•  

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Social Allegory

• The term social implies relations and
  interactions between peoples, and membership or
  belonging to a group. Social organization is
  also heavily related political rule.

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Social Allegory

• Ralph represents fair and democratic government.
  He tries
• to achieve unity between the boys on the Island
  and tries to
• find balance between the opposing forces of the
  boys.
• Jack represents a dictatorship full of one
  individuals
• tyrannical wants. He has the desire to get power
  and hunt .
• He puts his own needs above the needs of other
  people.
• Piggy represents technology and intellectual
  rule.
• Simon represents socialism or humanism, political
• affiliations aimed at working fairly and honestly
  for all
• people.

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Religious Allegory

• Ralph represents everyday man who is searching
  for
• hope and salvation in a confusing and wicked
  world.
• Jack represents the evil corruption within
  society. He
• does not think beyond himself.
• Piggy represents the pure intellectual who does
  not
• understand spirituality and therefore cannot have
  faith
• In his own salvation.
• Simon represents a deep spirituality and faith in
• humanity.

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Religious Allegory

• Lord of the Flies is also a religious allegory of
  the Garden
• of Eden.
• The island is very much like Eden a seeming
  utopia.
• The beastie represents the snake (the devil) that
  tempts
• Adam and Eve. That temptation original sin
  is evidence
• of the innate evil within humans.
• The boys exist in a state of frequent nakedness
  a state
• that Adam and Eve shared in the Garden of Eden.
• Ralph and Jack are symbolic of Adam and Eves
  sons Cain and Abel.

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Psychological Allegory

• Psychologist Sigmund
• Freud theorized that
• humans are controlled by
• ID emotional, instinctual
• needs and wants
• SUPEREGO moral
• conscience, tells us right
• from wrong
• EGO considers reality and
• balances the needs of the id
• and superego

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Psychological Allegory

• Jack represents the id.  This is the part of the
  unconscious mind that works always to gratify its
  own impulse.   Jack is always working on his
  instinctual immediate wants and needs.
• Piggy represents the superego.  This is the part
  of the mind that seeks to control the impulsive
  behavior of the id. Piggy always reminds Ralph
  and the others of their responsibilities. 
• Ralph represents the ego. He is the conscious
  mind that mediates between the id's demand for
  pleasure and gratification and the social
  pressures brought to bear by the superego. Ralph
  plays a careful balancing game.

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