Superego In Lord Of The Flies Essay

The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding expresses a lot of darkness and traumatic experiences. It tells the story of a group of boys who go through a change of behavior because they are fighting to stay alive and will do whatever it takes. The events that they face bring out their true personality. Sigmund Freud, a psychologist, describes human personalities in three parts; Id, Ego, and superego (Biography). The three main characters in the novel portray these parts very well. Jack, one of the oldest boys, shows the personality of Id. Ralph represents the Ego and Piggy represents Superego. Throughout the story a lot of evidence is given of why these boys portray these parts.
The Id is the unconscious, impulsive, and dark part of our personality. The id responds immediately to our desires, not thinking of the consequences (Structure of
The superego is called the moral part of the mind. It reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence (Structure of Mind: Freud's Id, Ego, & Superego). Superego could be thought of as the opposite of the id. Piggy has more of the superego personality out of all the boys on the island. He is the one who is always trying to enforce rules and keep people civilized. Piggy is one of the only ones who advises Ralph to start building shelters for the littluns and also wants him to get a list of names of everyone on the island to make sure they are all accounted for (Golding). Piggy is always trying to convince the boys to do what is right.
William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, tells us a story about a group of boys who through behavior changes to stay alive. The events that they face bring out their true personality. Golding applies Sigmund Freud’s personality theory which shows us that Jack is the id, Ralph is the ego, and Piggy is the superego. The boys help to show us how each personality acts