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第57节

wgolding.lordoftheflies-第57节

小说: wgolding.lordoftheflies 字数: 每页4000字

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 5。 Ibid。
 
 …who establish the necessity for our valid ethical and social action; then Jack bees an externalization of the evil instinctual forces of the unconscious; the allegorical has bee the psychological。
 The temptation is to regard the island on which the children are marooned as a kind of Eden; uncorrupted and Eve…less。 But the actions of the children negate any romantic assumptions about childhood innocence。 Even though Golding himself momentarily bees a victim of his Western culture and states at the end that Ralph wept for the 〃end of innocence;〃 events have simply supported Freud's conclusion that no child is innocent。 On a fourth level; Ralph is every man…or every child…and his body bees the battleground where reason and instinct struggle; each to assert itself。 For to regard Ralph and Jack as Good and Evil; as I do in the previous paragraph; is to ignore the role of the child Piggy; who in the child's world of make…believe is the outsider。 Piggy's posite description not only manifests his difference from the other boys; it also reminds the reader of the stereotype image of the old man who has more…than…human wisdom: he is fat; inactive because asthmatic; and generally reveals a disinclination for physical labor。 Because he is extremely near…sighted; he wears thick glasses… a further mark of his difference。 As time passes; the hair of the other boys grows with abandon。 〃He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow。 The rest were shock…headed; but Piggy's hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state; and this imperfect covering would soon go; like the velvet on a young stag's antlers〃 (59)。 In these images of age and authority we have a figure reminiscent of the children's past … the father。 Moreover; like the father he counsels mon sense; he alone leavens with a reasonable gravity the constant exuberance of the others for play or for play at hunting。 When they scamper off at every vague whim; he scornfully ments; 〃 Like a pack of kids。 〃 Ungrammatically but logically he tries to allay the 〃littluns'' fear of a 〃beast〃 〃Life is scientific; that's what it is。 。。。 I know there isn't no beast…not with claws and all that; I mean…but I know there isn't no fear; either'〃 (77)。 He has excessive regard for the forms of order: the conch must be held by a child before that child can speak at councils。 When the others neglect responsibility; fail to build shelters; swim in the pools or play in the sand or hunt; allow the signal fire on the mountain to go out or get out of hand and burn up half the island; he seconds Ralph by admonishing the others vigorously and bees more and more of a spoilsport who robs play of its illusions; like the adult who interrupts the game。 Ralph alone recognizes Piggy's superior intelligence; but wavers between what he knows to be wise and the group acceptance his egocentricity demands。 Finally; Piggy's role…as man's reasoning faculties and as a father…derives some of its plexity from the fact that the fire which the children foster and guard on the mountain in the hope of municating with the adult world is lighted with his glasses。 In classical mythology; after all; fire brought civilization…and; hence; repression…to man。 As the hold of civilization weakens; the new munity bees more and more irrational; and its irrationality is marked by Piggy's progressive blindness。 An accident following an argument between Ralph and Jack causes one of the lenses of Piggy's glasses to break。 When the final breach between the two occurs and Piggy supports Ralph; his remaining lens is stolen in a night raid by Jack。 This is a parody of the traditional fire theft; which was to provide light and warmth for mankind。 After this event Piggy must be led by Ralph; When he is making his final plea for his glasses…reasoned as always…he is struck on the head by a rock and fails。 〃Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back on that square; red rock in the sea。 His head opened and stuff came out and turned red。 Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit; like a pig's after it has been killed〃 (167)。 What Golding emphasizes here is the plete animality to which Piggy is reduced; His mind is destroyed; his body is subject to motor responses alone; he is 〃like a pig after it has been killed。〃
 The history of the child Piggy on the island dramatizes in terms of the individual the history of the entire group。 When they first assemble to investigate their plight; they treat their island isolation as a temporary phenomenon。 They are; after all; still children; wanting only to play games until they are interrupted by the action of parents; until the decisions of their elders take them from make…believe to the actuality of school or food or sleep; until they are rescued; as it were; from 〃play。〃 This microcosm of the great world seems to them to be a fairy land。
 
 A kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by it (22)。
 The coral was scribbled in the sea as though a giant had bent down to reproduce the shape of the island in a flowing; chalk line but tired before he had finished (25)。
 〃This is real exploring;〃 said Jack。 〃I'll bet nobody's been here before〃 (23)。
 Echoes and birds flew; white and pink dust floated; the forest further down shook as with the passage of an enraged monster: and then the island was still (24)。
 
 They pare this reality which as yet they do not accept as reality to their reading experiences: it is Treasure Island or Coral Island or like pictures from their travel books。 This initial reaction reaffirms the pattern of play which Johan Huizinga establishes in Homo Ludens6 In its early stages their play has no cultural or moral function; it is simply a 〃stepping out of real life into a temporary sphere of activity。〃 7 Ironically; the child of Lord of the Flies who thinks he is 〃only pretending〃 or that this is 〃only for fun〃 does not realize that his play is the beginning of the formation of a new society which has regressed to a primitive state; with all its emphasis upon taboo and munal action。 What begins by being like other games in having a distinct 〃locality and duration〃 8 apart from ordinary life is…or bees…reality。 The spatial separation necessary for the make…believe of the game is represented first by the island。 In this new world the playground is further narrowed: not only are their actions limited by the island; but also the gatherings of the children are described as a circle at several points; a circle from which Piggy is excluded:
 
 For the moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside (18)。
 They became a circle or boys round a camp fire and even Ralph and Piggy were half…drawn in (67)。
 
 Piggy approximates the spoilsport who 〃robs the play of its illusion;〃 9 who reminds them of space and time outside the charmed circle; who demands responsibility。
 
 6。Johan Huizinga; Homo Ludens (Boston: Beacon Press; 1955)。 
 7。Ibid。;p。8。
 8。Ibid。;p。9。 
 9。Ibid。;p。7。
 
 The games of the beginning of the novel have a double function: they; first of all; reflect the child's attitude toward play as a temporary cessation from the activities imposed by the adult world; but; like the games played before the formation of civilization; they anticipate the ritual which reveals a developing society。 So the children move from voluntary play to ritual; from 〃only pretending〃 to reality; from representation or dramatization to identification。 The older strictures imposed by parents are soon forgotten…but every now and then a momentary remembrance of past prohibitions causes restraint。 One older child hides in order to throw stones at a younger one。
 
 Yet there was a space around Henry; perhaps six yards in diameter; into which he dare not throw。 Here; invisible yet strong; was the taboo of the old life。 Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law (57)。
 
 Jack hesitates when; searching for meat; he raises his knife to kill his first pig。
 
 The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be。 Then the piglet tore loose from the creepers and scurried into the undergrowth。 。 。 。
 〃Why didn't you…?〃
 They knew very well why he hadn't: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood (27)。
 
 The younger children first; then gradually the older ones; like primitives in the childhood of races; begin to people the darkness of night and forest with spirits and demons which had previously appeared only in their dreams or fairy tales。 Now there are no forting mothers to dispel the terrors of the unknown。 They externalize these fears into the figure of a 〃beast。〃 Once the word 〃beast〃 is mentioned; the menace of the irrational bees overt; name and thing bee one。 Simply to mention the dreaded creature is to incur its wrath。 At one critical council when the first munal feeling begins to disintegrate; Ralph cries; 〃If only they could send us something grown…up 。。。 a sign or something〃 (87)。 And a sign does e from the outside。 That night; unknown to the children; a plane is shot down

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