Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies
William Golding

In his novel, William Golding raises a crucial question, the focus key of his exposition: Is man good or bad by nature? Rant of such dimensions connects with the debates that remained in this regard in the XVII and XVIII century. Beyond the external structure, there is a sociological, political, historical and philosophical background that transcends themere images that we find in the following chapters of the novel, which we will try to unravel from different perspectives in order to infer to a reasoned and reflective conclusion.
The social view: the anthropology and structuralism of Levi-Strauss demonstrates that man is a social being by nature, and he is in and it is based on a determined number of kinship ties. The myth of Tarzan is verywell drawn here. Is true that bimetallism and the capacity for abstraction are intrinsic characteristics of our specie, but someone hurled in a jungle or a deserted island, without protection and cultural education that provides the group in serous individuals, like, “half-man”. Jack, Piggy, Ralph and the rest of the protagonists, until the moment of the wreck, already lived under an organizationalsystem imposed by the adults. Seeing the critical situation in which they were they decide to resume to those models and not, for example, to anarchism, in which each person would provide food, protection and clotting for him. They are aware, on the other side that the union creates power and if they remain united they could get over the circumstances and achieve their primary goal, to surviveenough time to be rescued. This idea has a connection with the next paragraph: “The original nature of man is good but corrupted by society.”(Jean Jacques Rousseau)
The political view: Golding sketches clearly that man has to organize like a society by nature. But, what structure is more right and balanced to coordinate the efforts and to provide rights and responsibilities for each one of theindividuals? In my opinion three models are raised that could correspond to the successive rungs on a scale that rises gradually until the crystallization of the civilized group. At an early stage would stand the savagery that is dominated by passions, anarchy and individualism. In a second tier we would encounter the authoritarianism embodied in a famous personality that takes the responsibility ofguiding, but also to submit at his will to the group, using different kind of tools, like fear and promises. Finally would be a parliamentary democracy, a system that gives voice and vote, rights and responsibilities to all the integrated members on whose legislative peak raises an elected leader by the majority or unanimity. To create a major impact on the reader, W. Golding exposes a successionof political systems in a race to the dark, downward gradation, from democracy to most instinctive savagery, in which Jack and his followers have forgot, or at least have dismissed, the learned principles in the society from which they come.
Thomas Hobbes: “Man is wolf to man”.
Historical - philosophical view: The debate between rationalists and empiricists was very fashionable during theXVII century, when precisely both Hobbes as Locke exposed conflicting points about the right political model for the human being. In summary, the empiricists believed they learned through the senses could capture from the outside world, while the rationalists were defending exactly the opposite; all knowledge had its origin in our brain or, in the absence as Descartes would say, the Divineinspiration. Today we know that the majority of the human being posses a basic cerebral structure that subsequently will be shaped after received teachings, theory that helps understand why in time and space. This introduction of ideas can help us understand why with over time, civilization very far in space and time have chosen some relations system, social-political, that in their basic are similar....