Personality In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

The novel, Lord of the Flies, was written by William Golding in the year 1954. Golding delves into the darkness that every man has in their hearts. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Personality can be found throughout the novel. Although each boy goes through vast mental changes, each varies from the others. The human mind, portrayed by Golding in the novel, shows the vast physiological effects of the boys: Jack, Ralph and Simon all portray different consequences that trauma and drastic life changes has on the mind.
Golding’s novel clearly shows the demise of virtuous characters into more diabolical beings as they lose guidance from their parents and the structure they once had. The boys, in the beginning, have a sense

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the pioneer of psychoanalysis, a system of psychological therapy investigating the interaction of the conscious and unconscious elements in the mind. The “id” is categorized as the part of one’s personality that is obsessed with meeting our natural primal needs. It is believed that Jack represents the “id” of the group. It is present from birth and when the id has a desire for something, that desire must be satisfied at once. This person operates on the pleasure principle. It can be inferred that Ralph represents the ego which is the personality responsible for dealing with reality. This personality attempts to express the desires of the id in a socially acceptable manner. The superego is the last part of the personality to develop. Simon and Piggy can be considered the superegos in the novel. This is where the sense of right and wrong is contained. They also strive to suppress some of the immoral urges of the id (Jack). It seems that almost all of the boys begin to act on the id of their personalities. An example of this is the brutal killing of the sow (Godling 147-150) and the killing of Simon (Golding 168-170). The longer Jack is on the island, the more primitive he becomes. He abandons the fire, his only job, to pursue hunting. When he steals Piggy’s glasses, he has no regard for how his actions are affecting others, “exulting in this

Ralph never seems to succumb to the violent ways of the barbarians. He holds his own and follows his conscience. Unlike the other boys, he is not intimidated by the fear that Jack places on everyone. Jack’s need for dominance is what leads him to lose his innocence. His loss of innocence is followed by the loss of his conscience due to the demise of his ability to reason. Golding proves his beliefs through Jack’s character. Golding establishes that will power is only viable in a civilized society, not a primitive one. As Jack loses his conscience, he begins to morph into a savage. He feels no sympathy and has a need to be in power. “I ought to be chief because I’m chapter chorister and head boy,”(Golding 62). In a sense, Jack could be considered a schizoid. He has delusions and withdraws from social relationships unlike many of the other boys. He is deluded from a society without adults. Simon is the most self aware in the group. He is a great public figure and leader for the boys, but he prefers solitude. There are signs in the novel that Simon may suffer from epilepsy. When visited by the lord of the flies, Simon hears voices telling him about the beast within all of us and then proceeds to faint. Simon is the embodiment of forethought and vision in the novel. This can be inferred as he relays to the boys, the message from the pig’s head on a stick. Simon’s