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Lord of the Flies - Id, Ego and Superego

 

            The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, created a theory that states human behaviors mostly occur from unconscious impulses from the brain. This theory leaves the common human being in question. Are we truly in control of our own behaviors? Freud's theory breaks the "unconscious"" mind into three impulses: Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the impulsive, more aggressive behavior. The super-ego is the moral kind that pushes goodness. The ego is the kind that tries to find middle ground between the Id and superego. Author, William Golding, exemplifies these impulses in his award winning book, "The Lord of the Flies." The Id, ego and superego are put to use through the main characters of the story. "The Lord of the Flies" is about a large group of English boys who are victims of a plane crash. Their plane crash lands on a random island and find themselves in a struggle with survival. Without the guidance of adults, it is up to themselves to live and create an inhabitable society. Golding tries to prove Freud's in his book, "The Lord of the Flies," by outing the Id impulse into Jack, the super-ego impulse into Simon, and the ego impulse into Ralph to prove Freud's theory of the human unconscious mind impulses. .
             Jack has been declared the Id due to his nasty, impulsive, and aggressive behavior which is one of the three impulses stated in Freud's theory. Throughout the novel, Jack and Ralph do not get along, but in chapter eight, it reached a boiling point. Jack tried to get the choir to vote himself as chief instead of Ralph. Though all his efforts, the choir still did not vote for him. Jack wants what he wants and that is to be chief. This exemplifies the Id impulse in Jack. Soon after this incident, Jack leaves this group and starts his own tribe. The people who followed him found themselves ruled by a dictator. "Each of them wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of angels.


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