Farrington 1 Nicole Farrington Professor Hasanat ENG3014: 1:30-2:45 20 April 2013 The Viciousness of Maleness in the Lord of the

Flies A patriarchal society can be defined as a social system in which the male is the primary authoritative figure. This figure, a pure representation of maleness, has dominated literature for centuries. Maleness pertains to the typical binary aspects of a man such as taking risks, domination over other men, flaunting wealth, and athleticism. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding takes this idea of maleness and splits it into two different rolls: manliness and overall masculinity. Manliness pertains more to personality, intelligence, and leadership, whereas masculinity focuses on the more physical aspects such as appearance, strength, dominance, and testosterone driven decisions. Throughout the novel, Golding displays numerous uses of manliness and masculinity in a patriarchal society through two of the main characters: Ralph and Jack. These characters demonstrate how this novel sticks to more traditional terms of men and yet still manage to oppress women in its underlying assumptions of the other sex. To continue, Lord of the Flies was written just after World War II, when women were just beginning to return home to reassume their roles as wives and mothers. This can directly correlate to the novel due to the fact that it is known that Golding was largely influenced by this very war. This altered his view in humanity and thus, most of this relays into his novel. Goldings lack of inclusion of any female figures not only reflects his experiences in the Navy, but also helps give his novel a more realistic perspective of how the Lord of the Flies is based in a mans world where a female just simply cannot survive. In his patriarchal society, Golding

Farrington 2 adds one last predominant male figurePiggy. This character lacks manliness as well as masculinity, thus making him to be considered the submissive male or even makes him out to be the female figure. In order to fully understand this concept, it is best to first look at the differences between manliness and masculinity. To begin, the reader is first introduced to the character of Ralph, a twelve-year-old boy with fair hair and determination. It is understood immediately that he is not only the main character, but also the leader of the group of boys that he ends up finding. There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance (Golding, 22), this exemplifies that almost immediately Ralph is identified as the character that directly portrays maleness in every sense of the term. Goldings development of Ralph only continues to mature as the reader moves through the book. He is constantly the one making good, moral decisions, giving directions, building things, and keeping his mind focused on the appropriate tasks. To illustrate this fact, we look at Ralphs growth throughout the novel as compared to those of Jacks choir and the rest of the boys. Ralph, for the most part, remains relatively level headed and understanding throughout his development, and at the end, even manages to learn how evil someone can become. For example, Ralph starts out not understanding why the other boys give in so easily to their savagery, You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home (Golding, 70). Here, the reader comes to understand that Ralph is highly intelligent for his age by his actions. He recognizes the severity of keeping the kindling fire from going out, whereas the other boys, Jack and his choir, are more focused on killing a pig. Ralph represents order, civilization, and beneficial leadership, which are a few

Farrington 3 reasons why he is represented as being the main character of manliness, as opposed to masculinity, throughout the Lord of the Flies. In contrast, masculinity focuses on physical aspects of the male gender, as well as those characteristics that are largely testosterone driven such as domination, savage actions, and the flaunting of wealth. Compared to Ralph, Golding has his opposing boy, Jack; fit the masculinity roll much more accordingly to the typical binaries. Jack is introduced immediately as the leader of the choirboys; all who stand dressed in long, black cloaks with a silver cross that rests on the left breast (Golding, 19). This indicates Jacks schooling, that hes been taught at a higher institution and has had morals instilled in him. He quickly tosses these aside when the need for power arises and Jack suddenly becomes filled with bloodlust and the urge for authority. The reader first starts to see a break between the sane and the insane, when Jack really starts to show his dominance and power. Bollocks to the rules! Were strongwe hunt! If theres a beast, well hunt it down! Well close in and beat and beat and beat! (Golding, 91). Here, Jacks change shows his need to dominate over the subordinate species, in this case, a pig. His aggression and savagery shows the power of his testosterone-fueled behavior and together, his overall masculinity. The extent of unadulterated barbarity that Golding goes to with Jack demonstrates how his character over-exemplifies the binaries of masculinity. The schoolboy is rude, ruthless, and cocky. It is said that, Male violence must be theorized and interpreted within specific societies, both to understand it better, as well as in order to effectively organize to change it (Mohanty, 339). In Goldings society, we see that Jack does exactly this. He takes violence into his hands, lets his surroundings change him so much that he interprets it in a way that he must become

Farrington 4 savage to survive. This, in turn, helps Jack to change the way the island works without even being voted as the one with power. Here is where we see the difference between Goldings establishments of manliness versus masculinity. Ralph was automatically made the leader with his standings of power, poise, and dignity. Jack, on the other hand, had to change and dominate before he could come to power. While both of them are of the male gender, and they are both leaders in their own way, neither of them are truly intelligent in how they come to understand the workings of a true social class system. As it goes, this is where Golding brings in the third aspect of maleness into his novel, by simply placing it into the terms of a lack of manliness, otherwise known as femininity. Although the Lord of the Flies does not actually have any females whatsoever, Golding makes various references to them through his character, Piggy. He chooses to stick to the simple female binaries of his time period, which can be explained through Chandra Mohantys words, an assumption of women as an always-already constituted group, one which has been labeled powerless, exploited, etc (338). Unfortunately, Goldings decent into portraying Piggy as the subordinate male doesnt start off as slow as the reader would expect; rather Piggy is automatically made the weakest character from the start. We are introduced to Piggy on the first page, only moments after Ralph, with the description of, short, very fat, safe, and spectacles. These five words form his character, almost instantly, to that of the typical runt, or outcast, of the litter. These features become symbolic throughout future chapters of the novel, where each of those description words will be repeated time and time again. That being said, Piggy is the pivotal differentiating

Farrington 5 character, simply because he has the largest variation of characteristics and steps out of the typical terms of manliness. As females have been for decades, Piggy is powerless in his time on the island. Although he is the most intelligent and rational, the boys dont see that because they automatically equate him as the person to take advantage of. As Mohanty writes, Men exploit, women are exploited (344). This idea quickly becomes a common theme amongst the relationship between Piggy and the rest of the boys. There is a scene that takes place during Lord of the Flies that exemplifies the masculine/feminine relationship, but more specifically with the character Jack, and Jack smacked Piggys head. Piggys glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks Jus you wait Jack mimicked the whine and scramble (Golding, 72). The reader is shown how even when Piggy resists, he is still forced to submit to the more masculine male, and even mocked for it afterwards. The boy is exploited for his knowledge and his tools, in this case, his glasses. In addition to this, on page 38, Golding writes, Like kids! he said scornfully. Acting like a crowd of kids! Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch This gives the reader the idea that Piggy is seen as the mother figure, which they soon come to realize that he is the only character in the novel to ever reference any type of maternal figure. From there, it can be inferred that Piggys weakness and venerability comes from the feminizing guidance of his auntie, unlike someone like Ralph who constantly references his father in the Navy. The Lord of the Flies true pivotal moment on its dealing with the lack of manliness is found when Piggy is indirectly killed by the group of boys. The scene starts out with Piggy simply trying to make the savage group understand their actions, Which is betterto be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is? (180). As shown here, the reader

Farrington 6 sees Piggy finally speak out and make a good point. Which is better; to be moral and civilized like Ralph or to be savage and barbaric like Jack? Only moments later is Piggy killed for speaking out, thus making him the weakest character, even if hes the most intelligent. Here, its easy to see that Golding is hinting at the idea that a female is too feeble to control society, too soft and dumb to tame the male violence that thrives in their testosterone filled bodies. In Goldings patriarchal society that he creates, Piggy becomes the Other, or an object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the dominant male (Bressler, 149). While Piggy may not in any sense be a female, his actions and upbringing tell a different tale. The Lord of the Flies handles the feminism movement in almost a very similar way that nearly every other novel did during the 1950s, it simply ignores it. With the complete and utter lack of any females, the absence of this gender becomes symbolic, in a sense, of how our world is run by masculinity and it will always continue to rule. To take a look back, it isnt hard to see how Golding handles the ideas of maleness and the lack thereof. The Lord of the Flies sticks strictly to the common binaries that we are taught as a child and the very same that were still demonstrated at the time when this book was written. Golding draws a fine line between manliness and masculinity, but makes it clear that the lack there of will result in the submissiveness of either gender. That being said, in his novel, Golding has created the perfect example of a patriarchal society and how it can go wrong.

Farrington 7 Works Cited

Bressler, Charles. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education: Longman, 2011. 143-164. Print.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1954. Print.

Mohanty, Chandra. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses." Feminist Review. Vol. 30. Autumn, 1988. 333-358. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.