Is Golding Calvinistic?

By Andrew Bourgeois, Sammi Elkus, Allen

Macaspac, Justin Harlan, and Aidan
Bergsman

Rousseaus Views of Natural

Man and Society
Rousseau was considered to be an early
romantic thinker, meaning he believed that
naturally, humans were good and that evil
came from society. He invented the idea of the
noble savage. (noble meaning good and
savage meaning without European
technology or society)

Essential Elements Of
Calvinism
John Calvin believed the opposite
of Rousseau. He believed that man,
rather than being noble, would be inclined to
sin. Mankind would choose their
own interests over Gods teachings,
and God would decide who would
spend eternal life with him and who
would go to hell.

Does Lord of the Flies agree with

Rousseau or Calvin?
Lord of The Flies does not entirely agree with Rousseau or
Calvin. Not all of the characters are entirely bad or savage
throughout the novel, like Calvin suggested, but at the
same time, not all of the characters are completely good or
noble through the duration of the story, like Rousseau
thought. This leaves Golding and the novel in between the
two ideas, but leaning towards Calvinism because most of
the boys sin and become savage at the end of the story.

What Accounts For Ralph and Piggy

s Failings
- Ralph represents the decent, noble, and
sensible parliamentarian.
- Piggy represents intelligence
and scientific enlightenment.
- Both of these characters are
examples of Rousseaus
noble
savages.

Why Ralph and Piggy failed

Ralph and Piggy failed because they were both
believers in Rousseauvinism. They each
thought that their nobility and good qualities
would be enough to create and sustain a
civilization, but as shown in the end of the
novel, this is not enough.

What Accounts for Jack and Simons

Failings
Jack represents tyranny
and dictatorship, the
more savage side of
humans.
Simon represents the
mystic poet and religion,
showing the more noble
side of humans.

Why Jack and Simon failed

Jack failed because he became morally subhuman. The
chaos of the island and fear of the beast overcame him and
transformed him into a homicidal barbarian who relied on
only savagery to progress his civilization. Simon failed
because he was brutally murdered for not conforming to the
law of the island. He was the only one who saw the beast
for what it truly was, making him superhuman. This
resulted in him being the target of Jacks ritual and his
death at the hands of everyone else.

What is the Romantic Myth Of Human Progress?

Romantic meant that something is impractical or unrealistic
(more of a hope or dream than a reality). The myth of
progress is an idea from Rousseaus
point of view in which the natural
goodness or nobility of humans will
inevitably lead to human progress or
progress in a society.

What Does LOTF Do With This Myth Of Progress

Golding puts this myth of progress to the test. In the book,
this test fails and we find out the boys are far from being
naturally noble, as suggested by Rousseau. However, we
are also given examples of some natural goodness in
other people (For example, people like Ralph, Piggy and
Simon all try to do the right thing). This suggests that
there is a certain inadequacy in our nature that prevents us
from making human progress and to human perfection.

What are the implications for the hope of mankind?

In the book, Golding has Simon (the Christ/God figure in the story) die in the
hands of the boys (the boys symbolize normal man).
Golding also has Simon as the most successful one of the group. His ability to
accept reality and his self appraisal has allowed him to understand the beast
and a chance to save the boys from it. Not only
that, he also helps build shelters and feeds
littluns, which Jack, in particular, doesnt view
as important (even though they are) because he
only tries to see the use of them,
not
their value.

What does this say about the relationship between God

and man?
That even God/Jesus Christ cant save us from the evil within man.

If even God cant save us from evil, what will help?

Golding has Simon as the most successful one out the group. His self appraisal
and ability to accept reality is what made him more successful. Through this,
Golding suggests that if we can be more like Simon, we will be able to
understand more about our nature and natural defects, thus allowing man to
progress and make the evil a smaller part of man because there is still some
sort of goodness in parts of mankind.