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Knowledge In Lord Of The Flies Essay

868 Words4 Pages

In a time when science was becoming a large influence on the lives of all people, the value of that knowledge is lost almost too easily. When the boys first crashed on the island, they believe for a short time that they would be rescued quickly, but soon realize that their return home is very unlikely. Once they have accepted this fact, the descent into complete savagery begins. However, in this group of presumably intelligent boys, only one of them attempts to use this knowledge and science throughout the entire novel, all the way up until his eventual death. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses Piggy to show how logical thinking and knowledge are often overpowered by personal bias and instinctive behavior.
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“Then we’ll just have to look after ourselves” (Golding 14). The realization occurs early on in their first meeting, and they seem to be unexpectedly okay with it. By accepting this, they have started their inevitable loss of humanity because there is no possible way a group of childish boys can lead themselves and live in stability for more than a short period of time. With the choice to have the boys be alone on the island, it allows them to fall back to instinctive behavior faster and probably much easier than it would be for an adult to give up a civilized lifestyle. Within this behavior, the three different parts of the human psyche can be seen in the individual characters. By examining Piggy, it can be seen that he represents the superego. This part of the ego functions as a place to reflect on learned social standards, which is exactly what Piggy attempts to do by suggesting rules and norms for the boys. However, it seems that, on some level, the boys enjoy being on their own and living without rules. The lack of consequences on the island grants them the opportunity to act without thinking and rely on the id rather than the ego. Golding is using this newfound freedom to prove that humans are naturally instinctive animals who have been taught to behave in a way that is considered “good” by those who influence them. Piggy is the outlier who maintains a

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