The Unconscious and Tripartite Psyche: A Study of William Golding's Lord of the Flies

Abstract

This paper analyses the psychoanalytic features in William Golding's allegorical novel, Lord of the Flies (1954). It re- examines the validity of the Freudian claim that a literary text is a verisimilitude of dream; an expression of a writer’s neuroses; unconsciousness and repression. From the purview of psychoanalytic criticism and a close reference to Golding’s symbolic characters, the authenticity of man’s tripartite psyche is justified.  Hence, this paper posits that psychoanalytic criticism is a vital tool for understanding human behaviour and social anomaly.