Lord Of The Flies Gender Analysis

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The portrayal of women and children is essential to many classic novels, film and poetry. Presenting women and children in a particular light can have a profound effect upon a text, completely altering a reader’s interpretation. Within both literature and film, women tend to be conveyed as either a victim, saviour and more commonly than not, a predator. The first mirrors fragility, vulnerability and innocence. The second reflects the good, usually the character the reader perceives as their safety blanket, conquering evil at the climatic point. Juxtaposed with the final category women tend to fall under, the predator is dangerous and underestimated. This role contributes towards the pain/pleasure paradox that is synonymous to Gothic Literature…show more content…
But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Therefore it can be argued that the boys loss of innocence is not due to their victimization from the adult world or savagery to one another, but is due to an innate human instinct that will be put in practice when put in extreme circumstances. In that sense, these boys are not victims or predators, but are acting in force of primal
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