Shadow Behind The Human Soul

Lord of the Flies is one of the most well-known novels written by William Golding, and also is a masterpiece in world literature. In this paper, I intend to examine Lord of the Flies with the theory of Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist, whose the most distinguished contribution to psychology is the exploration of collective unconscious and archetype theories. Firstly, despite the nuance, Golding's four main characters Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simon correspond roughly to Jung's the hero, demon, old wise man and god archetypes. So all the characters in the novel, protagonist and antagonist, assume an image of apotheosis and leave an inerasable impression on the reader. Furthermore, as for theme, Lord of the Flies questions the nature of man and his society in an inhabited island to warn the world of the evil in humanity free from restraints of civilization. Man is irrational and ready to be subject to his insurmountable animal instincts, which is the shadow prototype in Jung's words. At last, in Lord of the Flies, many concrete archetypes are available, ranging from water, fire, to even rituals. These universal symbols have been and will be recurring in literature everywhere around the world in the future.