Lord Of The Flies- Literary Analysis

The Lord of the Flies Literary Analysis

Creation Myth- Cosmogenesis

After investigating many creation myths, I have narrowed it down to two myths which I believe relate closest to the creation myth of Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

The first myth I explored was an Alaskan creation myth. This myth states that in early times there was only darkness and no light at all. Lord of the Flies begins with a similar situation. There is light literally, of course, but otherwise there is no light because no one knows what is going on or where they are or why they are there. The first characters we meet are in the dark about many things. This is how many civilizations start out. As the Alaskan myth goes on it says that one day a girl goes out, swallows a feather and becomes pregnant. She then gives birth to a baby with a ravens bill. She can not find a toy for the baby to play with so she allows it to play with a toy from her fathers house that he strictly prohibits. The toy is then broken and it sheds light on all of Alaska creating light forever. The next day the baby disappeared. This reminds me of how Piggy is the intelligent one who always insists that there should be a fire burning in order for them to be rescued. No one listens to him much just as the lady in the Alaskan myth does not listen to her father. Piggy then gets killed and not long after that, the rest of the boys are rescued because of Piggy’s intelligence about the fire. Piggy was then gone just as the baby shed light on Alaska and then disappeared. I found this myth similar to the story in those ways.

Another creation myth that helped me relate to The Lord of the Flies was the Japanese creation myth of Izangi. This myth says that Izangi and his wife were given the task of creating a world. I really believe that the boys in Lord of the Flies were placed on the island with the task of creating a world together. Whether it would work was the question. Izangi’s wife then died giving birth. Izangi went to the underworld to retrieve her but she refused and they then parted forever. When Izangi came back he washed his left and right eyes creating the sun and moon goddesses.