Darkness Visible

William Golding is known as "the fablist" in the west.Following the tradition of western ethics,he adopted the realistic narration method in writing fable mythology, showing his great effort in displaying the theme of darkness of human heart and his great concern towards current living situation of human beings.The Pyramid was one of his most controversial works.The publication of this novel was greeted by both positive and negative comments,which made him stop writing for 12 years until 1979 when he restated writing,and did not publish work until 1979.The Pyramid was so criticized for its simple combination of three novelettes,among which two had already been published before.If we read through the text attentively,we'll find that these three parts combine into a unified whole,although seemingly they are isolated with other.This article consists of four parts.In part one,we analyzed the narrative structure of the novel and the Pyramid structure of the society of Stillbourne.The structure of this novel is designed by imitating Beethoven's Sonata.The first part was the subject,the middle part was the humoresque, and the third part was reiteration of the subject.The structure of the society of Stilbourne was like a pyramid.Its foundation can be seen as a square played by the Stilbourne plaza, the four sides of which are played by the small woods,the imperial crown hotel,the city hall and the Ms Dullish's house respectively.The four flanks of "this pyramid" are the residents,the social classes,love and music.In Stilbourne,the class boundaries are demarcating.The strict hierarchical system made the social atmosphere lifeless.The people living in this compressed air are selfish and indifferent to others' need.The second and the third part of this article emphatically depict the love and life of the residents in Stilbourne.People in Stilbourne trusted no one,and they deceived others by all means. Love has been totally degraded and become a tool of satisfying one's selfishness.The novel covers three love stories in Stilbourne,none of which is a story of true love. Imogen married Claymore who was the boss of a local newspaper for his money and status.Oliver seduced Evie by any possible means with the aim of defeating Robert. Henry took advantage of Mrs dullish's love to obtain his first barrel of money.Therefore, in Stilbourne,people suspected,cheated and took advantage of each other.The relation among people was purely materialistic.In this social atmosphere,the human inevitably went corrupted.In part four,we analyzed the reason behind this ethical thought in the Pyramid.William Golding was influenced by traditional literature and culture during his childhood.The brutal experience in World Warâ…¡made him realize the darkness and inevitable degeneration of human nature.However,Golding didn't lose his hope in human beings,he thought that people can use love to save the wickedness of the human nature.