LOSS OF IDENTITY IN WILLIAM GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES

Golding’s experience in World War II had a profound influence in the novel Lord of the Flies.In this novel Golding depicts violence,overthrow of morality,killing and fear which is accompanied by the character’s loss of identity.The characters in the novel experience a loss of identity throughout the book that eventually causes devastation and death.The mask of socially organised English lads is replaced by their wild nature.In their character and behaviour a sudden change occurs as they tries to begin a new life free from social limits,restrictions and punishments.The metamorphoses is found in the characters of Ralph,Jack and Piggy.The experience which the boys gather on the island force them to unveil the fact that evil resides beneath the civilized surface.The boys are affected both physically and mentally in the course of their experience and at this point they forfeit their own identities.

After emerging from a wreckage of a plane crash Ralph and Piggy find themselves on a deserted place.Ralph realises that they are on an island and he is delighted to be in a kind of paradise.Ralph finds a beautiful shallow lake and by seeing this he takes off his clothes and dives into it.The very removal of his clothes is symbolic of his desire to drown his former identity and to adopt a new identity fitting with the new environment.The island casts a magical spell over the boys and changes their nature.

Having found themselves under no adult supervision the boys elected Ralph as a leader,a disciplined and ordered English lad.He has the power of conch to assemble the boys.He has an idea how to lead because his father is a navy officer.Ralph appoints Jack as a leader of the choir.His rejection of Jack’s tribe causes him to be hunted down like a pig.As the novel progresses Ralph follows the flow and descends into savagery.At the mountain top when observing a boar he participates in wounding it and then performs the blood dance with the others.At this point Ralph loses his former civilised identity.

Ralph gradually loses grip of his new identity.whereas,he wants to build shelters and lit fire to get help from rescuer,the other boys wants hunting.He is unable to bring order,discipline and finally he is unable to maintain unity among the boys.Jack attempts to usurp Ralph’s power and tries to persuade the boys to turn against Ralph.It is an action which is against the English tradition that they have been raised to respect a leader and to follow his orders and ideas.Being on the island they forget all about that.They are all dominated by the wild nature.Hence,they free themselves from the burdens of their erstwhile identities.

Jack is negligent and destructive.He is full of haughtiness.His decision to lead his tribe to become hunters brings forth the reality of his personality which is mingled with cruelty and darkness.He loves to hunt and kill because it gives him a chance to dominate nature.Pig hunting bears testimony to the fact.As a result,he is out of his civilised identity and espoused a savage identity.

Jack enjoys the sensation of being feared by both those around him and the wild animals.He suggests camouflage to his tribe.He finds it the way to free himself completely from the taboos of British culture and disciplines.Hiding behind a mask jack tries to liberate himself from shame and self consciousness.And he is thrilled by his new identity.

Piggy is an intelligent and rational boy whose excess weight and asthma often make him the butt of the others’ joke.From the start he is an object of raillery.Jack starts by calling him fatty.Ralph,whom Piggy entrusted with his nick name,tell them that his real name is Piggy.They laugh.Piggy stands isolated.Piggy has been living with his nick name for so long that he had become used to it.When Ralph and Jack joke about it,it is like stripping his identity from him.His glasses represents his eyes and his identity.When Jack’s hunter steals Piggy’s glasses,he loses not only his identity but his life as well.

Sam and Eric are twins,who merge into a single identity, “Samneric”,as the story progresses.Samneric “…nodded like one boy.”and they “…shared their identical laughter…”.The loss of identity and individuality is apparent as the two characters act simultaneously and respond to a name that is a blend of their individual names.

Besides the older boys there are several small children.They lack individual identities.So in a collective identity they are called Littluns.Percival is such a littlun who forgets his telephone number and later his name.When Percival starts reciting his address over and over again,he is trying to retain a fragile and slipping identity: “Percival Wemys Madison, The Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone, telephone, tele-”

The arrival of the naval officer represents the only hope to restore their former world of law,order and identities.The officer is shocked by seeing the poor condition of the upstanding British lads.What he sees are merely shadows of the once civilised English boys.