Lord Of The Flies

7 Pages 1866 Words

ctually mature than the others, branding him with a connection to a higher authority: the outside world. It is because the superego is dependent on outside support that Piggy fares the worst out of the three major characters in the isolation of the island.

Piggy is described as being more socially compatible with adults, and carries himself with a sense of rationale and purpose that often serves as Ralph's moral compass in crisis; although Ralph initially uses the conch to call the others, it is Piggy who possesses the knowledge to blow it as a signal despite his inability to do so. Similarly, Piggy's glasses are the only artifact of outside technology on the island, further indication of his correlation to greater moral forces. In an almost gothic vein, these same glasses are the only source of fire on the island, not only necessary for the boys' rescue, but responsible for their ultimate destruction. Thus does fire, and likewise Piggy's glasses, become a source of power. Piggy's ideals are those most in conflict with Jack's overwhelming hunger for power and satiation. It is in between these representations of chaos and order that Ralph falls. Golding's depiction of Ralph as leader is analogous to Freud's placement of the ego at the center of the psyche. Ralph performs as the island's ego as he must offset the raw desires of the id with the environment using the superego as a balancing tool. This definition is consistent with Ralph's actions, patronizin...