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William Golding's Lord of the Flies: a Satirical Analysis of Fantasized William Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Satirical Analysis of Fantasized Dystopia [PP: 163-171] Sayed Mohammad Anoosheh Department of English Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran Muhammad Hussein Oroskhan Department of English Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars, Iran ABSTRACT The eruption of two world wars marked a period of transition in which the intellectual and artistic environment underwent a drastic change. Such a gloomy era provided the inevitable situation for the fiction-writer to switch to new and bold fictional modes. Under such circumstances, the adoption of fantasy became one of the most interesting, satisfying and effective forms for projecting the modern novelist's vision. Fantasy can work as the most suitable board on which the fictional writer can apply his satirical vision and negate the value of our sense experiences. Indeed, Fantasy seems to be the exact mode through which writers of the genre can proceed effectively along their chosen path. As such, William Golding in his monumental work, Lord of the Flies, has tried to show a fantastic representation of Modern man's nature which leads him inevitably to savagery. Golding has created a dystopia by diminishing the adults to children to show that the modern man who denies the spiritual values is doomed to failure. Hence, in this paper tries to apply the technique of diminution, an oft- repeated technique in satirical writing, to prove that the animal side in man is the sole cause of his degradation and degeneration and if this animal side is not kept under control, the society will face injustice, repression, slavery and hatred. Keywords: Satire, Fantasy, Dystopia, William Golding's Lord of the Flies ARTICLE The paper received on Reviewed on Accepted after revisions on INFO 19/08/2017 25/10/2017 28/06/2018 Suggested citation: Anoosheh, S. & Oroskhan, M. (2018). William Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Satirical Analysis of Fantasized Dystopia. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies. 6(2). 163-171. 1. Introduction purposive aspects of literature. Literary and Modern writers have used fantasy, artistic explorations have been directed to some of which is horrifying, gruesomely new ends in the hands of many. Human life, thrilling; some are used for light satire on constantly oscillating like the pendulum of a manners, or for pungent satire on the actual clock between unrealizable hopes and but unwarranted state of affairs; and some abysmal fears, stared the creative writer in manifest merely an indulgence of playful the face. This gloomy situation provided the fancy. Indeed, the use of fantasy has become inescapable environment for the fiction- one of the most interesting, delightful, writer and stimulated new and bold fictional natural, and satisfying and effective forms modes. Awareness of the prevailing for projecting the modern novelist's vision. uncertainty and the future dangers led the No matter how grotesque, thrilling or trivial novelists toward incursions into fantasy, in the picture of fantasy is, its outward ways hardly seen before. contours hide within them a solid pragmatic Writers have often interpreted the purpose. The contours enclose an essentially world differently but all consciously or logical and valid purport which needs to be unconsciously have searched for one fully realized and implemented to make life common view among many possible in the worth living. world and that is the establishment of a The aftermath of the two world wars utopian world through which all the people has coincided with a period of transition in can live happily ever after. The term was which the intellectual and artistic first introduced in 1516 when Thomas More environment has undergone a great change. wrote his seminal work entitled Utopia. And With such changes taking place in man's throughout the history, the concept of the ideas and outlook, there have inevitably utopia has "focused on disembodied been new orientations in the functional and intellectual traditions, interrogating utopia as International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies (www.eltsjournal.org) ISSN:2308-5460 Volume: 06 Issue: 02 April-June, 2018 term, concept, and genre" (Gordin et al., can be passed by the protagonist and finally 2010, p.1). Author's critical eye has been settle in the "promised land of apparently always in search of a utopian vision but has beautiful people" (2005, 20). Among the never been negligent to take the notification critics of dystopia, Parrinder has taken the of its opposite pole. Hence, a discussion of most optimistic view claiming the each utopia while it is directed toward its opposite society should experience a dystopic has been the subject matter of many authors. moment until reaching a utopian moment, In this respect, every utopia comes along nonetheless, other critics never concur with with its dystopia; a totally unbearable such optimistic view and proclaim a totally situation which was commonly seen in pessimistic view. Not many writers have different places around the world in attested to such perspective while studying twentieth century. The two concepts may be the concept of dystopia. Mainly, critics easily distinguished by its opposite features, believe that the principle factor pervading however, less obvious is the way that these over the concept of dystopia is gloomy in all two concepts can be discussed in relation its parts and the natural bent should be with each other- toward realizing the reason leading to the Whereas utopia takes us into a future creation of such atmosphere. In his article and serves to indict the present, dystopia entitled "Living under the Bell Jar: places us directly in a dark and depressing Surveillance and Resistance in Yevgeny reality, conjuring up a terrifying future if we Zamyatin's We", Michael D. Amey has do not recognize and treat its symptoms in the carried Yevgeny Zamyatin's We under his here and now. (p. 2) critical view so as to provide us with a detail While being in an age of World Wars, study of a dystopia through the lenses of the writers endeavored to make a proper Foucauldian and Lacanian theories. diagnosis and prescription for the agonized Amey asserts that the presence of spasms of the disenchanted and troubled regulatory power in the portrayal of world. To many authors, satire seems to be prevalent surveillance existing in The One the exact mode through which they can State of Zamyatin's We echoes the proceed effectively along their chosen path. incorporate network of disciplinary regime The history of satire shows that satire takes explained by Jeremy Bentham's design of various forms and out of them utopia and the Panoptican. Furthermore, he claims that dystopia are the chief ones. Though utopia the presence of continuous surveillance in was the from which had the principles of many dystopic atmospheres compels the progress and attempts towards a better citizen to internalize the governmental world, today we have a host of writers regulatory power so that the subject grows to tending towards a contrary direction. In this be part of the unified principle. He adds to respect, a dystopian fantasy is doubly his discussion that the nonexistence of any important at a time when the swirl of life is privacy in such society which is most upsetting or when tension is at the accompanied by the imposition of actions highest or when despair has paralyzed the directed from the unified power would ability to think and act with clarity and assimilate the individual into the collective confidence. In this regard, William system. Finally, he concludes that the Golding's Lord of the Flies is a dystopian development of an individual in such society fantasy of evil enacted by a group of should be studied by focusing on Jaques children who are fantastically deserted in an Lacan's "mirror-stage" theory as he studies island after a plane crash against the the development of the protagonist in the background of a nuclear war in the future. novel and asserts that "it is within the Through our discussion of Golding's privacy of the individual, and from the masterpiece, we have tried to put emphasis position of alienation that resistance to the on the satirical uses to which fantasy is societal power structures begins" (2005, 38). applied as a very highly imaginative mode. Amey's attempt to study Zamyatin's We 2. Review of Literature within the framework of Foucault and Lacan The concept of dystopia has been was to discover the way through which the recently analyzed from different perspective. individual can release himself from the Patrick Parrinder provides us with a new restricted network of dystopic society. examination of Samuel Butler's Erewhon, In the same respect, Aaron Rosenfeld situating it within the tradition of dystopian in his article "Re-membering the Future: romance while arguing that the concept of Doris Lessing's 'Experiment in dystopia is only a fleeting moment which Autobiography"' has tried to spur a new Cite this article as: Anoosheh, S. & Oroskhan, M. (2018). William Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Satirical Analysis of Fantasized Dystopia. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies. 6(2). 163- 171. Page | 164 William Golding's Lord of the … Sayed Mohammad Anoosheh & Muhammad Hussein Oroskhan reading of the future-history literary imagination has led him to create fantasy. tradition by criticizing its formulation of the Some of the highly imaginative products, relationship existing among the individual, such as religious myths, served the purpose history and the community. He formulates of binding the community into unity by four different modes as follows: means of ultimate concerns about his The Utopian form is a text about the situation and his final destiny. The other perfect civilization, offered in contrast to the products of imagination and fantasy only world as it is; the dystopian form is about aimed at entertainment.
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