Which may have *felt* "universal" to Golding and to people who were his target audience but obviously can't be absolutely universal Hence the obvious fact that it's an all male cast from an all boys' school and all their bullshit has masculinity all over it from the beginning
-
-
(If I wanted to go into allegory, a debased form of criticism but compelling, it's really hard not to see Ralph the Student Body President, Jack the Recess Bully and Piggy the Insufferable Nerd as mainstream liberals vs. fascists vs. the left intelligentsia)
Show this thread -
(And the infighting between Ralph and Piggy and the way they constantly undermine each other even though they know they should be on the same side because Jack is so dangerous is why Jack wins A hoary narrative but one that kind of gripped the mind in the post-WWII era)
Show this thread -
It's about some pretty specific things that were on Golding's mind as a British schoolteacher in the 1950s and to over-universalize it in a way that makes it easy to dunk on - What if they were girls? What if they were working class? What if they were Black? - misses the point
Show this thread -
Like the single biggest thing about the Tongan kids that contributed to their irl survival is THEY WERE FRIENDS WHO KNEW AND TRUSTED EACH OTHER BEFOREHAND The tragedy of LotF is none of the survivors manage to actually develop that kind of bond with each other
Show this thread -
The only real social relationship on the island is bullying Ralph and Piggy genuinely *want* to be friends but they, tragically, don't quite make it - Ralph can't get over Piggy being fat and ugly and annoying, Piggy can't stop condescending to Ralph because he's dumb
Show this thread -
I think it's obvious that Golding's view of "human nature" is not so dim that he doesn't think friends who genuinely trust each other can ever exist Just that it's sometimes tragic when you feel like people obviously desperately need a relationship like that but fail
Show this thread -
And that you see that happen - A LOT - in middle class schoolyards And those same ugly dynamics crop up disturbingly often in the halls of state in this supposedly advanced civilization of ours
Show this thread -
(I reveal my bias here but I think a lot about Ralph looking at Piggy and just thinking how funny his fat little face and whiny little voice is when he's trying to be serious and warn him about Jack "Ugh stop calling everyone you disagree with a Nazi you fucking nerd")
Show this thread -
("I don't know if he's right about all this wonk shit but I just wanna shove that guy into a locker you know what I mean")
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.