My goal is to provide a literary psychoanalysis of Jack's actions in the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The narrative of the book served as the source of the information for this study. In order to help Jack cope with the harsh reality of being marooned on an island and whatever remorse he may have felt for the deaths he may have caused; I will apply Freudian psychoanalytical ideas such as the Ego, Id, Superego, the "death drive," and primitive "defense mechanisms". I'd also like to clarify whether Jack was acting normally for a scared youngster his age or whether he was exhibiting signs of aberrant conduct. This paper will show that Jack was not only psychologically disturbed but that he had traits associated with Antisocial Personality, a very serious disorder.
Psychoanalytic Literary theory may even make a fictitious psychological diagnostic in an effort to understand the characters' hidden motives. "Among the several literary criticism schools, psychoanalysis has always been one of the most divisive and least well-liked by readers. Despite this, it has been recognized as one of the intriguing and fruitful methods for applying interpretative analysis. The psychological interpretations have developed into one of the methods for determining a literary work's underlying meaning (Hossain, 2017). When we comprehend the characters' motivations, books come to life. When a character resonates with us or we recognize ourselves in them, or when a reader empathizes with a character, it can result in understanding and inspire personal growth.
"The Interpretation of Dreams," a dream handbook by Dr. Sigmund Freud, was released in 1899. It is from this book that Freud derived his views on how we are cut off from our unconscious urges. He asserted that 80% of our conduct is under the direction of the unconscious mind. More than any other form of criticism, Freudian theory has affected psychoanalytic literary theory (Stevens, 2021). What would Freud have to say about Jack's leadership, which resulted in the death of defenseless boys? We must use Freud's three-part theoretical model of personality—the Id, Ego, and Superego—in order to respond to that query.
In a nutshell, the Superego, also known as our conscience, is our internalized sense of good and evil, while the Id, or unconscious mind, is the aware mind. Jack looks to have an egomaniacal personality at first impression. What is the cause? Is the conscious Ego responsible for acts of hate and violence, or does the unconscious Id control those impulses? Freud believed that our most basic, primal activities, including sex drive and violence, were controlled by the Id. Jack listened to the primitive portion of his brain, the Id, because his true emotions were repressed beneath his conscious awareness, and he wasn't in sync with his "real" sentiments. We can see that Jack suppressed his conscience, or Superego, as well. We must assume that Jack had been taught the distinction between good and wrong as the lads had previously been members of society before they were marooned. But since he was in charge of his own actions, Jack violated his sense of right and wrong.
What were Jack's "real" emotions? We can observe what Jack was experiencing but wouldn't confess by observing the other lads. The other lads either acknowledged their fear or at least displayed it. The creature frightened the young children. Ralph was worried about the fire going out and was afraid they wouldn't be rescued. When the mountain caught on fire, Piggy started to worry that they might lose sight of the little lads. Except for Jack, who seemed to have no fear of anything, including murdering, everyone else was terrified.
Psychoanalytical perspectives reveal that Jack was burying powerless sensations of dread and fear and channeling them into wrath. Jack gained attention and followers because he screamed and appeared powerful. Inability to endure emotions of weakness or helplessness may be a sign of a disordered personality, and hiding one's feelings of dread and worry is not an emotionally healthy reaction. One such condition is "Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)." The individual who is affected "always disregards right and wrong and disregards the rights and feelings of others." Antisocial personality disorder patients frequently manipulate, provoke, or treat people brutally or with callous indifference. They don't exhibit any feelings of regret or shame for their actions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Death is one of the key themes of Lord of the Flies. The spear-mounted pig was killed for no good reason. A little child with a birthmark on his face died in a mountain fire, and no one paid any attention to his passing. Simon was then killed by the lads' beach gang. Piggy is the last to pass away after Roger tosses a boulder down the cliff onto him as he attempts to get his spectacles. Ralph keeps telling the lads that they are always in danger of dying since they are marooned on an island. But Jack's bloodlust towers above these dangers. We get a glimpse of Jack's genuine self when he offers to lead the hunters. In Chapter 9, he instructs the lads to shout, "Kill the beast! Chop off its throat! Let its blood flow!" Jack is exhibiting what psychoanalysts refer to as the "death-drive." The death-drive, according to Freud, "manifests in the psyche as a tendency toward self-destruction, or more precisely the elimination of tension, which can also be turned outwards, whereby it becomes aggression" (2023), according to Oxford Reference.
The death-drive as it relates to consumerism was described by Slovenian philosopher and literary critic Slavoj Zizek as "...a kind of zombie-drive used to explain the hollow satisfaction of consumerism, the fact that no matter how much we buy, it never extinguishes the urge to buy more" (Oxford Reference, 2023). Jack, whose thirst for violence only grows throughout the book, can be compared to Zizek's depiction of the death drive. When going after pigs was no longer exciting, Jack turned his attention to Piggy and subsequently Ralph, whom he perceived as his rivals. More lads may have perished if the military hadn't put an end to his murderous rampage. Another characteristic of sociopathy, also known as antisocial personality disorder (APD), is aggressive behavior, including physical, and occasionally sexual hostility, which leads to criminal behavior.
What additional indications exist that Jack's actions were not only a poor response to an extremely stressful circumstance, but rather that he was suffering from a major psychiatric disorder? By the book's conclusion, Jack had figured out how to utilize the boys' dread of the beast to discipline them (sparknotes, 2023). Jack used the lads as pawns to get back at them. A leader has behaved consciously and with premeditation when he persuades followers to engage in violence. Sociopaths frequently harbor resentment and want for vengeance; they do not forgive and forget like other people. According to psychiatrist Dr. Seth Myers, "Sociopaths have no real attachment to anyone and treat others as objects," and "Many sociopaths feel inner rage which they use to justify their negative behavior towards others" (Psychology Today, 2013). Jack was furious with Ralph after losing the popular vote and resolved to gain back the group's support by organizing a mob to carry out his orders. Even for adults, this is hardly typical behavior, much less for youngsters. Typically, all of the APD symptoms are misdiagnosed as conduct disorder in children up to the adolescent years. The two illnesses do not equate to one another, just like APD and psychopathy do not, although they do share a number of symptoms (PsychCentral, 2023).
Children with conduct disorders sometimes exhibit aggressive, defiant, lying, thieving, rule-breaking, drug usage, fire-starting, and even animal cruelty actions. However, more severe acts of aggression or sexual assault, such as rape, may be signs of sociopathic tendencies. Since there were no grownups to maintain order, it is obvious that lawlessness contributed to the island's anarchy. However, it is uncommon for a youngster to cross the threshold from a Conduct Disorder to sociopathy.
Having said that, there have been occasions where kids have exceeded the line, such in the case of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. In his hometown of Bath, Ohio, as a young man, he had a crush on a male jogger. In an effort to get his first murder, one day he concealed himself with a baseball bat close to the jogger's path. However, Dahmer said that the man didn't go running that day, but these impulses continued. Animal cruelty is a factor that is strongly correlated with serial sexual homicide. Schlesinger claims, "That's clear in his case," pointing out that Dahmer impaled a dog's skull on a stick in the forest behind his house when he was a youngster (Janos, 2019).
Applying psychoanalytic theory to Lord of the Flies has allowed us a rare glimpse inside the mind of Jack, one of the book's adversaries. What we discovered was a youngster who was suppressing his anxiety because he didn't want to appear weak. Jack's Id overruled his Superego and turned his impotence into a brashness that gained him supporters.
It's clear that Jack developed a "kill or be killed" attitude in order to exert dominance over the gang. Then he directed his resentment and wrath against those he considered to be his foes. Jack used the death drive to make himself look indestructible rather than give in to his dread of dying, which helped to calm the other kids' worries as well as his own. Given that Jack is a pre-adolescent, I think it is reasonable to suggest that he might be diagnosed with conduct disorder. However, Jack crossed the threshold from a conduct disorder into adult traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder, or sociopathy, when his aggression turned lethal, and was premeditated.
It's doubtful that this scenario could ever occur on a boy's island. The likelihood is that a force would have grown to oppose Jack's actions. According to research on group dynamics, if a group becomes polarized, and polarized attitudes and beliefs cause harm to group members, the polarization is frequently replaced by a "superordinate" collective identity (S. Moscovici, M. Zavalloni, 1966). In times of conflict, "superordinate identity" takes place. When a nation's various citizens are battling a common foe, they will come together as one. This is seen in open athletic events when fans of the same team put aside their disagreements and support one another. Identity-based disputes need shared objectives or a "superordinate" sense of identity to bring people back together, according to one of the psychology literature's most obvious remedies. In other words, we require a strong sense of who we are that can overcome more subtle distinctions. For millennia, monarchs have used customs, rites, and even wars to foster alliances nationally, and across many nations and cultures, demonstrating their intuitive understanding of the need to forge a superordinate identity (Greater Good Magazine, 2019). If the boys had
come back together as a group, Jack’s power would have been marginalized.
Freud referred to Jack's actions as "defense mechanisms," which are formed throughout childhood. Most grownups outgrow these and develop better coping mechanisms for uncomfortable emotions and situations. People with personality problems frequently do not, though. They get "stuck" emotionally in their infantile responses to hardship, fear, and suffering. In Jack's instance, his conduct was explained by a number of immature defensive systems. The most often used defense tactic is "denial," which is the reluctance to acknowledge reality or the truth. Jack steadfastly refused to acknowledge that he shared the other lads' fears. He took on a brave persona and even painted his face in war paint to position himself above them. However, despite crowing, we know that at first, he was terrified, because he could not kill the pig.
Another form of defense is "acting out." When someone can't express their emotions verbally, they lash out at other people. Instead of admitting how helpless he felt when Ralph was elected leader or just deciding to back Ralph, Jack makes a promise to make Ralph regret it by turning the group against him. He is "acting out" his resentment and shame.
We have already discussed a protective mechanism called "repression." We observed that Jack suppressed his emotions, which means that he unintentionally blocked them. Jack would have said he was not scared if you had asked him whether he was afraid because, because he had suppressed his fear, he would not have felt it.
Another of Jack's coping strategies was "displacement". When you feel intense emotion as a result of an event or a person and aim that emotion toward another person, it is "displacement." Jack, for instance, was upset and enraged with Ralph when he lost the vote. He let unleash his sentiments on Ralph's pal Piggy rather than acknowledging them and then letting them go. He turned his resentment of Ralph onto Piggy, which inadvertently resulted in Piggy's demise.
Another form of protection is "rationalization," which involves providing explanations or reasons for inappropriate behavior. When Jack returns to camp without the other hunters, there is a scene. When questioned about their whereabouts, Jack acknowledges that he abandoned them in the woods while pursuing an animal. Following a yelling argument between Jack and Ralph regarding the relative significance of building shelters and obtaining food, Ralph informs him that what he did was wrong. Here, we see that Jack has justified his actions by claiming that since he is a hunter and food is his first priority, leaving the kids alone in the wilderness was acceptable. This reasoning is obviously an attempt to deflect blame.
Adults that are emotionally healthy employ "assertiveness" as a protective strategy as well, although it can be abused. Being self-sufficient or vocal about one's demands and goals is referred to as "assertiveness," and doing so is beneficial. The difference between assertiveness and aggression is that the latter is the insistence on one's own demands and wants without concern for the wellbeing of others. Jack was more aggressive than he was forceful. By training clients to tolerate conflict, which in turn lowers a client's protection systems, psychoanalysis can help clients transform toxic reactions into healthy ones.
If I had to make a prediction about Jack's rehabilitation, I'd say that if he was willing to seek counseling for his issues, he could stay out of trouble and have a normal life. Contrary to Conduct Disorder, which frequently goes away as early adulthood approaches, Antisocial Personality Disorder is a diagnosis that never goes away. Personality disorders are chronic conditions. Although Jack might be able to stay away from a life of crime, he will always have the narcissism that defines APD, prioritizing his own well-being and showing little concern for the harm he does to others. Sociopaths have been characterized as having no soul and being unchangeable. While I am unable to comment on whether they have a soul or not. I agree with Dr. Freud when he indicated that suppressed feelings will never go away. They are buried alive and will emerge later in more hideous forms, according to Freud (1899). Jack's inability to effectively control his negative emotions led to his exceptionally nasty and erratic conduct. I've always believed that every conflict might have been prevented if dictators had received the support they required as youngsters—someone who would listen to them and love them without condition. "Bad seeds" do exist, indeed. However, the majority of the personality disordered adults in our culture used to be abandoned and lonely kids like Jack.
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