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he voice of the old world is stilled。 The primary images are no longer those of fire and light but those of darkness and blood。 The initial link between Ralph and Jack 〃had snapped and fastened elsewhere。〃
The rest of the group; however; shifts its allegiance to Jack because he has given them meat rather than something as useless as fire。 Gradually; they begin to be described as 〃shadows〃 or 〃masks〃 or 〃savages〃 or 〃demoniac figures〃 and; like Jack; 〃hunt naked save for paint and a belt。〃 Ralph now uses Jack's name with the recognition that 〃a taboo was evolving around that word too。〃 Name and thing again bee one; to use the word is to incite the bearer; who is not here a transcendent or supernatural creature but rather a small boy。 But more significant; the taboo; according to Freud; is 〃a very primitive prohibition imposed from without (by an authority) and directed against the strongest desires of man。〃 11 In this new society it replaces the authority of the parents; whom the children symbolically kill when they slay the nursing sow。 Now every kill bees a sexual act; is a metaphor for childhood sexuality; an assertion of freedom from mores they had been taught to revere。
The afternoon wore on; hazy and dreadful with damp heat; the sow staggered her way ahead of them; bleeding and mad; and the hunters followed; wedded to her in lust; excited by the long chase and the dropped blood。 。 。 。 The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her (125)。
Every subsequent ritual fulfills not only a desire for munication and for a security to substitute for that of civilization; but also a need to liberate themselves from both the repressions of the past and those imposed by Ralph。 Indeed; the projection into a beast of those impulses that they cannot accept in themselves is the beginning of a new mythology。 The earlier dreams and nightmares of individual children are now shared in this mutual creation。
11。Sigmund Freud; Totem and Taboo; The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud; trans。 A。 A。 Brill (New York: Modern Library; 1938); p。 834。
When the imaginary demons bee defined by the rotting corpse and floating parachute on the mountain which the boys' terror distorts into a beast; Jack wants to track the creature down。 After the next kill; the head of the pig is placed upon a stake to placate the beast。 Finally one of the children; Simon; after an epileptic fit; creeps out of the forest at twilight while the others are engaged in enthusiastic dancing following a hunt。 Seized by the rapture of re…enactment or perhaps terrorized by fear and night into believing that this little creature is a beast; they circle Simon; pounce on him; bite and tear his body to death。 He bees not a substitute for beast but beast itself; representation bees absolute identification; 〃the mystic repetition of the initial event。〃 12 At the moment of Simon's death; nature speaks as it did at Christ's crucifixion: a cloud bursts; rain and wind fill the parachute on the hill and the corpse of the pilot falls or is dragged among the screaming boys。 Both Simon and the dead man; beast and beast; are washed into the sea and disappear。 After this plete resurgence of savagery in accepted ritual; there is only a short interval before Piggy's remaining lens is stolen; he is intentionally killed as an enemy; and Ralph; the human being; bees hunted like beast or pig。
Simon's mythic and psychological role has earlier been suggested in this essay。 Undersized; subject to epileptic fits; bright…eyed; and introverted; he constantly creeps away from the others to meditate among the intricate vines of the forest。 To him; as to the mystic; superior knowledge is intuitively given which he cannot municate。 When the first report of the beast…pilot reaches camp; Simon; we are told; can picture only 〃a human at once heroic and sick。〃 He predicts that Ralph will 〃 'get back all right;' 〃 only to be scorned as 〃batty〃 by the latter。 In each case he sees the truth; but is overwhelmed with self…consciousness。 During the day preceding his death; he walks away as if in a trance and stumbles upon a pig's head left in the sand in order to appease the demonic presence the children's terror has created。 Shaman…like; he holds a silent and imaginary colloquy with it; a severed head covered with innumerable flies。 It is itself the titled Lord of the Flies; a name applied to the Biblical demon Beelzebub and later used in Goethe's Faust;
12。 Ibid。; p。 834。
Part 1; to describe Mephistopheles。13 From it he learns that it is the Beast; and the Beast cannot be hunted because it dwells within each child。 Simon feels the advent of one of his fits。 His visual as well as his auditory perception bees distorted; the head of the pig seems to expand; an anticipation or intuition of the discovery of the pilot's corpse; whose expanding parachute causes the equally distorted perceptions of normal though frightened children。 Suddenly Golding employs a startling image; 〃Simon was inside the mouth。 He fell down and lost consciousness〃 (133)。 Laterally; this image presents the hallucination of a sensitive child about to lose control of his rational faculties。 Such illusions; or auras; frequently attend the onset of an epileptic seizure。 Mythologically and symbolically; it recalls the quest in which the hero is swallowed by a serpent or dragon or beast whose belly represents the underworld; undergoes a ritual death in order to win the elixer to revitalize his stricken society; and returns with his knowledge to the timed world as a redeemer。 So Christ; after his descent to the grave and to Hell; returns to redeem mankind from his fallen state。 Psychologically; this figure of speech connoting the descent into the darkness of death represents the annihilation of the individual ego; an internal journey necessary for self…understanding; a return from the timelessness of the unconscious。 When Simon wakes from his symbolic death; he suddenly realizes that he must confront the beast on the mountain because 〃what else is there to do?〃 Earlier he had been unable to express himself or give advice。 Now he is relieved of 〃that dreadful feeling of the pressure of personality。〃 When he discovers the corrupted corpse hanging from the rock; he first frees it in passion though it is surrounded by flies; and then staggers unevenly down to report to the others。 He attempts to assume a munal role from which his strangeness and nervous seizures formerly isolated him。 Redeemer and scapegoat; he bees the victim of the group he seeks to enlighten。 In death… before he is pulled into the sea…the flies which have moved to his head from the bloodstained pig and from the deposing body of the man are replaced by the phosphorescent creatures of the deep。 Halo…like; these 〃moonbeam…bodied creatures〃 attend the seer who has been denied into the
13。Ibid。
formlessness and freedom of the ocean。 〃Softly; surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures; itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations; Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea〃 (142)。14
Piggy's death; soon to follow Simon's; is foreshadowed when the former proclaims at council that there is no be