Golding's Tragic Sense Of Human Condition

The researches on William Golding in China mainly focus on the single novel of "Lord of the Flies". This thesis explores Golding's writing ideas based mainly on three texts of "Lord of the Flies", "Free Fall", "The Pyramid" with other two "The Inheritors" , "Pincher Martin". These works are combined together by the same idea "thread", that is , Golding's tragic sense of human condition. His tragic sense is mainly shown in these aspects: He always sees the darkness in human nature, then believes evil cannot be got rid of, as consciousness and the guilt go together, the human innocence is a transient myth. Human's fall cannot be avoided, as man always follows his instinct, desires and the society's success standards to grasp at what he can catch. Man is trapped by his instinct, desires and practicality, finds the existence atchaos, far away from the simple and happy, harmonious and poetic world. Even though sometime the protagonists in these novels glanced at his existence condition , they found themselves faced with no choice. So the salvation is difficult . Such is Golding's sense of human condition.The prelude introduces Golding's life, his writings , and the research on him both in China and abroad .Chapter One analyzes Golding's using modern sensible forms to manifest the darkness of human nature, mainly focusing on his artistic features in the three novels. Chapter Two explains Golding's perspective of the reason for the darkness in human nature: Man's consciousness and the guilt go together ,which man cannot conquer, meanwhile, the human innocence is transient .Chapter Three analyzes Goling's tragic sense of human condition: Man's fall is destined, the existence is a chaos. Chapter Four explains the reason why Golding formed such a tragic sense in three aspects: his education, interest, his experience and the literature tradition .Chapter Five explores Golding's considering on the salvation behind his tragic sense. The conclusion sums up the great meaning and some shortages of Golding's novels.