LORD OF THE FLIES AND LITERARY THEORY INTRODUCTION

III. LITERARY THEORY▶ Critical Approaches/Perspectives/lenses

enhance our understanding of a literary text by focusing on a particular element or aspect of it.

▶ They inform the way we view and interpret a text▶ These perspectives are essentially lenses critics use to

analyze literature, art, & culture▶ Each approach has its advantages and limitations.▶ Many approaches overlap and complement one

another.

IV. CRITICAL APPROACHES ▶ Formalist Criticism▶ Mythological & Archetypal▶ Historical (Historicist) Criticism (we’ll visit this

later)▶ Biographical Criticism (we’ll visit this later)▶ Sociological Criticism

▶ Marxist Criticism▶ Gender & Feminist Criticism

▶ Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism

FORMALIST CRITICISM:▶ Focus on the FORM or formal elements of a work and how

they create meaning▶ E.g. language, structure, tone, literary devices etc.

▶ How do literary elements create meaning? What are the effects of literary elements and techniques within the text?

▶ Examines a text without external considerations (e.g. time period, social setting, and author’s background). Considers the text as an aesthetic object - a work of art in its own right.

▶ MAJOR PRINCIPLES:▶ Text exists independent of any particular reader and, in a sense, has

a fixed meaning▶ The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and “universal”

▶ E.g. A Tale of Two Cities – a formalist approach might analyze how the symbolism of the wine spill creates meaning within the novel.

MYTHOLOGICAL / ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM:▶ Examines two closely related elements of literature:

▶ myth (stories that explain the origin of the world and the things in it) ▶ and archetypes (images, patterns, and symbols found repeatedly in

myths and literature)▶ Archetypal criticism argues that archetypes determine the form and

function of literary works, that a text's meaning is shaped by cultural and psychological myths.

▶ Assumes that certain images, symbols, and patterns in literature are universal - they span place and time – and by identifying these archetypes a critic can discover important aspects of a work’s meaning and effects.▶ Examples include: may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent,

recognizable character types such as the trickster or the hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as crucifixion (as in King Kong, or Bride of Frankenstein)--all laden with meaning already when employed in a particular work.

▶ Think about universal archetypes present in Lord of the Flies or other literature you’ve read.

HISTORICAL (HISTORICST) APPROACH:▶ Considers the influential historical cultural and social factors that

are revealed through a text▶ What was the time period like?▶ How does historical context influence and/or impact the meaning of a text?▶ Little details in a text matter because they can be a reflection of the time

period… and the time period can reflect little details… ▶ e.g. Why are characters eating a certain type of food? How are courting rituals

depicted? What details can be derived from clothing descriptions?

▶ Believes that a formalist analysis by itself cannot fully explain the context of any work of art and that analysis of art requires a historical setting of some sort to be understood▶ History here is not a mere chronicle of facts and events, but rather a complex

description of human reality and evolution of preconceived notions. ▶ Literary works may or may not tell us about various factual aspects of the world

from which they emerge, but they will tell us about prevailing ways of thinking at the time: ideas of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc.

BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

▶ Biographical Criticism relies on knowledge of an author’s life to examine and understand a work more fully, believing that biography can assist in guiding a reader’s interpretation.▶ E.g. Biographical criticism of Charles Dickens would consider how his

tumultuous upbringing, including his father’s imprisonment and having to work in a factory at the age of 11, influences his depiction of poverty, factory conditions, child labor, etc. in many of his novels.

SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES:▶ Argues that the SOCIAL contexts/environments must be

considered when analyzing a text. ▶ Focus on the values of a society and how those views are

reflected in a text▶ Emphasizes the economic, political, and cultural issues within

literary texts▶ Sociological approaches:

▶ Marxist Criticism▶ Gender Criticism▶ Feminist Criticism

▶ MAJOR PRINCIPLE:▶ Literature is a reflection of its society

SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES CONT:

▶ Marxist Criticism▶ Based on 19th century political theory of

Karl Marx and Frederich Engels▶ Marxist critics believe that every literary

work is a product of its time, including the socioeconomic system in place

▶ Analysis focuses on economic & social conditions/context of a novel▶ Concerned with understanding the role

of power, politics, class conflict, & money in culture as demonstrated through literary texts

“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence that determines their consciousness.”

SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES CONT:Marxist Criticism cont.

▶ Examines literature to see how it reflects:▶ The way in which dominant groups (typically the majority)

exploit the subordinate groups (typically the minority… How do oppressors gain power?

▶ Which social classes are represented and by what characters▶ The cause of class conflicts▶ How characters overcome oppression▶ The way in which people become alienated from one another

through power, money, and politics.▶ What social values are reinforced, what values are subverted

or challenged (and how)

▶ AToTC – OMG, the potential… ▶ Class conflict between nobility & 3rd Estate – how is the

3rd estate oppressed? How do the aristocrats maintain power?

▶ E.g. a sociological approach to this novel might analyze the inevitability of violence resulting from systematic repression of peasants due to diminished resources

▶ Translation: hanger causes revolutions

Proletariat = laborers,

subordinates,

oppressed, etc.

Bourgeoisie = wealthy,

oppressors, dominate

SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES CONT.:

▶ Gender Criticism▶ Explores how gender influences the creation & reception of literary works▶ Expands of definitions of what it means to be masculine, feminine, etc.

▶ Feminist Criticism▶ Concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary text

▶ E.g. a feminist reading of AToTC might analyze the influence of Madame Defarge or Lucy Manette among the male characters

▶ Asserts that most “literature” throughout time has been written by men, for men▶ Studies themes and styles of women’s writing; analyzes the language itself▶ Examines the way that the female consciousness is depicted by both male and female

writers▶ Seeks to understand literary representations of women & the ways in which males

and females write about each other▶ 4 Basic Concepts:

▶ Western civilization is patriarchal▶ The concepts of gender are mainly controlled by patriarchal societies▶ Patriarchal ideas pervade literature▶ Most literature throughout time has been gender biased

Example: Portrayal of Women in The Odyssey

SOME ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS OF FEMINIST CRITICISM

▶ “Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social and psychological oppression of women.” (83) 

▶ Feminist critics incorporate many other literary schools (historical, psychoanalytic, etc) to “increase our understanding of women’s experience, both in the past and present, and promote our appreciation of women’s value in the world” (119). They are extremely wide-ranging in scope, interest, topics, and conclusions. The practice of feminist criticism usually entails examining how the gender roles of a work of literature reflect or subvert “traditional” gender roles.

Source: Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a user-friendly guide. New York: Routledge, 2006.

In the episode that Wilson calls “one of the most horrible and haunting of the whole poem,” Odysseus returns home to find that his palace has been overrun by suitors for his wife’s hand. Though she has resisted them, the women in her palace have not. Odysseus, after slaying the suitors, tells his son, Telemachus, to kill the women. It is an interesting injunction from Odysseus, who himself, during his 10 years of wandering, was serially unfaithful. In Robert Fagles’s much-praised translation of the poem, Telemachus says, before he executes the palace women on his father’s command: “No clean death for the likes of them, by god!/Not from me — they showered abuse on my head, my mother’s too!/You sluts — the suitors’ whores!”But Wilson, in her introduction, reminds us that these palace women — “maidservants” has often been put forward as a “correct” translation of the Greek δμωαι, dmoai, which Wilson calls “an entirely misleading and also not at all literal translation,” the root of the Greek meaning “to overpower, to tame, to subdue” — weren’t free. Rather, they were slaves, and if women, only barely. Young female slaves in a palace would have had little agency to resist the demands of powerful men. Where Fagles wrote “whores” and “the likes of them” — and Lattimore “the creatures” — the original Greek, Wilson explained, is just a feminine definite article meaning “female ones.” To call them “whores” and “creatures” reflects, for Wilson, “a misogynistic agenda”: their translators’ interpretation of how these females would be defined.

An example: A feminist reading of The OdysseyThe first female translation was done in 2017 by Emily Wilson – below is commentary regarding the scene late in the epic where Odysseus orders that all the “disloyal” women be killed.

PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES:▶ Views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality▶ Largely based on the work of Sigmund Freud▶ Studies the latent, hidden, unconscious meanings of a text▶ Focuses on the hidden motivations of literary characters – repressed wishes, fears, etc.▶ Looks at literary characters and texts as a reflection of the writer

▶ 3 Approaches: 1. Investigation of the creative process of the arts – analyzes the relationship between authors

or readers and literary works, emphasizing the unconscious mind, its repressed wishes and fears, and sublimated manifestations in the text.

2. Psychological study of the artist/writer3. Analysis of fictional characters

▶ Ultimately, psychological criticism involves speculating on what lies underneath the text – the unspoken or perhaps unspeakable memories, motives, and fears that covertly shape the work, especially in fictional characterization.▶ Famous example – Freud’s analysis of Oedipus the King tragedy. From this, he derived his famous

“Oedipus Complex” (the theory that posits a young boy has an unconscious rivalry with his father for his mother’s love and a desire to eliminate his father & take his place)

Heinz Dilemma In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from if." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have stolen the drug? Why or why not?

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

CLASS CODE 1st PERIOD: p4wp9ze

Homework: Read “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. Write a paragraph applying ONE of the critical theories to your analysis of the story. THEN respond to at least one comment from one of your peers. This needs to be more in depth than just “I agree.” Build onto their idea. Incorporate another quote. Or, respectfully disagree and explain why.

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

CLASS CODE 2nd PERIOD: vz39pz

Homework: Read “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. Write a paragraph applying ONE of the critical theories to your analysis of the story. THEN respond to at least one comment from one of your peers. This needs to be more in depth than just “I agree.” Build onto their idea. Incorporate another quote. Or, respectfully disagree and explain why.

Introduction to Psychological Theories(to be considered with Psychological Analysis/Approach)

► Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs► Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral

Development► Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs► Abraham Maslow:

American psychologist who studied human behavior and placed a good deal of emphasis on both the highs and lows of humanity. He believed that people are basically trustworthy, self-protecting, and self-governing

► KEY IDEA: Human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsBasic Needs ▶Physiological Needs:

1.Food, Water, Warmth, Rest2.All Biological Needs 3.Strongest Needs (b/c they motivate survival)

▶Safety Needs: Security, Safety1.Security, Safety2.Mostly Psychological

Psychological Needs► Needs for Love, Affection, and Belongingness

2.Intimate Relationships, Friends3.Seeking to Overcome Loneliness and Isolation

► Needs for Esteem2.Prestige, Feeling of Accomplishment,

Self-Esteem, Esteem from Others

Self-fulfillment Needs► Needs for Self-Actualization Few people are able to achieve this because of the qualities it requires

Lower levels must be fulfilled before high level needs can be met… this process is subconscious or semi-conscious

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg: interested in how individuals develop morals – studies involved children

The Stages of Moral Development► Level 1: Preconventional Morality

► Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation► Assumes that rules are fixed by powerful authorities

and must be unquestioningly obeyed► Concern is with what authorities permit and punish► Punishment is tied up in the child’s mind with

wrongness► Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange

► Recognize there is not just one right view handed down by authorities

► Each person is free to pursue his/her individual interests, so everything is relative

► “Right” = what meets one’s own self-interests► Punishment is a risk that one wants to avoid

3 levelsEach level has 2 stages

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

► Level 2: Conventional Morality► Stage 3: Good Interpersonal

Relationships► People should live up to the

expectations of family/community

► People should behave in “good” ways

► Good ways = good motives, intentions, and feelings

► Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order► More concerned with society as a

whole

► Emphasis on obeying laws, respecting authority, and performing one’s duties so that the social order is maintained; desire is to keep society functioning

► Thinking is from a full-fledged, member-of-society perspective

► Level 3: Postconventional Morality► Stage 5: Social Contract and

Individual Rights► Independently considers what

morals and values a society OUGHT to uphold

► Believe that a good society is based on a social contract where people freely work for the benefit of all

► Believe that despite different values, all rational people agree on protection of basic rights and democratic procedures for changing unfair laws and improving society

► Stage 6: Universal Principles► Defines the principles by which we

achieve justice► Looks through the eyes of others to

determine justice

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Sigmund Freud & the human mind

► Sigmund Freud: the “father of psychoanalysis;” argued that the human mind contains three psychic zones, which dictate mental function and motivation.

► Id► Ego► Superego

Id = source of drive for pleasure (instinct)• Fulfills “the pleasure principle”• Totally subconscious• Amoral and lawless– no ethics or values, no

knowledge of good or evil; primitive self• Demands pleasurable gratification at any cost• No impulse for self-preservation

Ego = source of reality (conscious decisions)• The “reality principle”• Governs the id and channels the id’s desires

into realistic & socially acceptable outlets• Our rational, conscious self• Balances Id and Superego – a mediator

between unconscious desires of the ID and the moral demands of the superego

Superego = source of ethics (social conscience)• The “morality principle”• Home of conscience and pride• Makes moral judgements regardless of

self-interest• Represses things from the id that the ego

cannot divert

All three areas of

consciousness work

together to create our

personality & behavior

Understanding Id, Ego, and Superego

ID1. Sally was thirsty. Rather than waiting of the server to refill her glass of water, she reached across the

table and drank from John’s water glass, much to his surprise.

2. Michael saw a $5 bill fall out of Nick’s backpack as he pulled his books out of his locker. As Nick walked away, Michael bent over, picked up the money, and slipped it into his pocket, glancing around to make sure no one was looking.

EGO1. Sally was thirsty. However, she knew that her server would be back soon to refill her water glass, so

she waited until then to get a drink, even though she really just wanted to drink from John’s glass.

2. Even though Michael needed money, he decided not to steal the money from the cash register because he didn’t want to get into trouble.

SUPEREGO1. Sarah knew that she could steal the supplies from work and no one would know about it. However,

she knew that stealing was wrong, so she decided not to take anything even though she would probably never get caught.

2. When Michael saw the $5 bill lying on the floor with no one around it, he turned it into the school office in case anyone came looking for it. He wouldn’t want to lose $5, and hoped that whoever had lost it would ask about it in the office.

Psychological/Psychoanalytic Analysis of Lord of the Flies❑ Maslow:❑ If we’re analyzing LotF using Maslow’s hierarchy, what are the exact

causes of evil/sickness on the island? Consider what needs are or aren’t being met for certain characters. How does this influence their behavior?

❑ Kohlberg:❑ What level of moral development is each character at according to

Kohlberg’s theory?❑ What meaning can be derived from examining each character’s moral

development?❑ Freud:❑ If we’re analyzing a psychological allegory, what does it reveal about

the human psyche through the use of extended metaphor?❑ From a psychoanalytic perspective, what meaning can be derived from

looking at the internal motivations of each of the characters?❑ Using Freud’s work as a basis, what does each character represent?

Who is the id? The ego? The superego?❑ Using these allegorical meanings, what themes emerge? What is

Golding telling us about the working of the human mind and personality?

John Henry Literary Theory Application Practice

► Watch the Disney Short Film, John Henry, and consider how the film could be interpreted using the different approaches we’ve discussed. Refer to your handout for approach-specific questions.

► Formalist► Mythological/Archetypal► Gender/Feminist► Sociological ► Psychoanalytic