The Super Ego In Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Ruf Drapht

In modern times television shows sometime play programs where someone goes out to the wilderness and tries to survive using their instincts. These instincts can be classified as theories of psychoanalysis which symbolize the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo. The show focuses on how much people are able to give up for survival, similar to eating food that you would normally not eat or acting in a way you would not in a normal situation . In Lord Of The Flies, Golding uses the Freudian Theory of the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo to make a second level of the story to deepen the meaning of the book as well as backing it up with the science of psychology to illustrate how the children in the island cannot control their emotions and regress from civilization.

It helps to come to terms with reality, with the world as it is. It is basically the voice of reason. While Jack is the Id in Lord of the Flies, Piggy is the Super Ego. The ability to think things through logically is a characteristic of the Super Ego. “…I can’t think. Not like Piggy…Piggy could think. He could go step by step inside that fat head of his, only Piggy was no chief. But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains” (78), Piggy was known to be the intellectual on the island. Simon could also be considered a Super Egoistic character because the Super Ego must also have an aptitude for feelings. For example, Simon “shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it” (74) illustrates Simon’s ability to comprehend emotions and understand the way people feel. He does something about people who are treated poorly and sees the true or good side of things. Simon is the second face of the Super Ego. Additionally, “Nothing moved but a pair of gaudy butterflies danced round each other… the white tips of the flowers rose delicately to meet the open air” (57). Here Simon sees the good of the island physically, as he often visits an enclosed clearing in the jungle. Jack, the Id, obviously doesn’t appreciate this area as it is the place where he later murders the mother

Free association allows the patient to return to earlier or more childlike emotional states or regress into previous states of minds (Psychoanalysis). In Lord Of The Flies, Jack and his tribe regress further into savagery when they murder Simon. While committing the act of Simon’s death, they are yelling the words that spring into their mind which are the exact same when they are killing the sow in front of Simon, “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Bash her in”. They regress from people with morality into savages with only one goal, to rip apart the being in front of them. Freud believed in human behavior and that thoughts are ruled by numerous instincts that fall into two groups—those that further life and those that further death. Scientists know little about the death instincts, but aggression and destructiveness come from them. As the boys realized that they very well could die they became more aggressive like and were willing to override their morals for an increased chance of survival. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…he traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went…Piggy fell forty feet and landed on the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed”