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Instinct or society?: a Rouseauist analysis of corruption in William Golding's Lord of the flies
[journal article]
Abstract The present study argues that William Golding's Lord of the Flies can be read as a manifest for the natural degeneration of human beings, and that human beings are violent and competent by nature. In doing so, the present article, firstly, draws upon the Hobbesian philosophy of human nature and how ... view more
The present study argues that William Golding's Lord of the Flies can be read as a manifest for the natural degeneration of human beings, and that human beings are violent and competent by nature. In doing so, the present article, firstly, draws upon the Hobbesian philosophy of human nature and how it is in conflict with the related ideas of Rousseau. The article, then, analyzes certain elements of the novel so as to show the Hobbesian ideas behind the novel where there is a society of children and the upcoming relations of power and individual desires. The article afterwards argues that human nature, against what the author declares in the Hot Gates (1965) as the degenerated human nature, is not naturally degenerating, but through society this savagery of human being takes place. Ideas of Rousseau are then used thereupon for backing this very argument. Golding's novel launces attack on Rousseau's ideas that society is the agent of corruption in beings.... view less
Keywords
instinct; Rousseau, J.; literature; society; corruption; novel
Classification
Philosophy, Ethics, Religion
Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature
Document language
English
Publication Year
2015
Page/Pages
p. 155-158
Journal
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (2015) 58
ISSN
2300-2697
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed