The Lord Of The Flies Identity Essay

Many people are confident in their stable identity; however, the absence of societal markers can expose the imperfections of a person’s sense of self. Willaim Golding’s novel “The Lord of the Flies” explores the duality of identity through the depiction of young British boys, who navigate a foreign environment without their normative structures. The story follows a group of schoolboys who are marooned on a deserted island without adults. As the boys begin to navigate life in this new environment, they move away from their societal structures and behaviours, gradually losing touch with their sense of self. Willam Golding uses symbolism and characterization to reveal that the absence of societal structure and norms often results in an increasingly

Golding uses the boy's “long black cloaks” to symbolise the way people cling to external cues that reinforce their identity. When Jack and his choir boys arrive on the island, they “[march] approximately in step in two parallel lines and [are dressed] in strangely eccentric… black cloaks which bore a long silver cross on the left breast” (19). Tan employs the symbol of clothing to communicate both Jack and the choir’s reliance on their established structure of clothing. Despite the boy’s “eccentric” appearance in the “blazing heat,” they still insist on wearing their long black cloaks, which signals the way that they cling to any structure that helps them understand the island and their place within it. It is clear that clothing illustrates their reliance on societal structures to guide their behaviour and roles in foreign environments. Hence, Golding uses the shedding of clothes as a symbol that further reveals that once a person is outside of their normative structure, their sense of identity is increasingly susceptible. When Jack takes on the role of the hunter, he explores the island terrain like a “dog… on all fours,” while he only wears “a pair of tattered

Golding begins by using the dialogue from one of the littluns, Percival, to reveal the way established societal structures and norms provide a sense of stability. When Percival is asked to speak his name, he shouts “Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone, telephone, tele–’” (97). Here, the way he recites his full name and address suggests his attempt in seeking to confront through speaking familiar structures that make him feel secure. However, in the context of the events unfolding on the island, his name and address are rendered meaningless, and they are unable to protect or help him. It is clear that Percival clings to abstract words for a stable sense of self, and thus, his behaviour demonstrates the fragility of human identity when societal structure is removed. Secondly, Golding again uses the character Percival to illustrate that when the structures people rely on are no longer of meaning, their identity becomes increasingly vulnerable. When Percival attempts to recite his full name and address again, his attempt was an “inarticulate gibbering". Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony… was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him” (106). Golding’s use of