Lord of the Flies context info

Golding was horrified by what war revealed about people's capacity to harm their fellow humans. He was appalled by what happened in the Nazi concentration camps, and by the way the Japanese mistreated their prisoners. He was appalled too by the consequences of the British and American mass bombing against civilians - and even by what he himself did as a naval officer. During the war the British justified all the destruction they wrought on the grounds that they had 'right' on their side, but Golding came to question this smug assumption. He gradually learned to see all human nature as savage and unforgiving: he knew that even the 'goodies' can become 'baddies'. In the novel Ralph and Piggy get as involved in the dance that leads to the killing of Simon as Jack and his tribe are. World War 2 ended in 1945. The United Nations was set up after the war to try to ensure that a global conflict never happened again, but in 1954, when Lord of the Flies was published, the threat of a nuclear war was still very real. It was entirely plausible to the novel's original audience that an atom bomb really could destroy civilisation.

World War 2 Key terms Appeasement: in a political context is a diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict. Allies: Countries fighting against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Included Britain, France, USA, USSR (Russia) Axis: Countries who supported Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Included Italy, Japan and Hungary.

Political Leaders

Many theorists believe that the characters in Lord of the Flies are based upon leaders of key countries during World War 2. Looking through the information below, can you try and make links between the politicians and characters? Russia: Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. Born into poverty, Stalin became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man. After Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) died, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals for control of the party. Once in power, he collectivized farming and had potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps. Stalin aligned with the United States and Britain in World War II (1939- 1945) but afterward engaged in an increasingly tense relationship with the West known as the Cold War (1946-1991). France: Albert François Lebrun was the last President of the Third Republic. In 1940, he was forced to accept the German terms of surrender of France and was replaced by Philippe Pétain as head the French state. Following the Fall of France from Nazi control in May 1940, Charles de Gaulle was the leader of the Free French. He took command of the French resistance and headed the French Army of Liberation from its foundation to the war's end. USA

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States, from 1933 until his death in 1945. Roosevelt had come into power during the Great Depression on a promise to heal the country. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, he attempted to aid the Allies (Britain and France) without declaring war himself. He died in office two weeks before the surrender of Germany.

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States from 1945 until 1953. Truman took office after the death of Roosevelt. President Truman ordered the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945

Germany:

Adolf Hitler was leader of Nazi Germany, first as Chancellor from 1933 until 1934. He later became Germany's Führer from 1934 until his suicide in 1945. Hitler came to power during Germany's period of crisis after the Great War. He played on the concerns and fear of the German people in order to gain power and justify his extreme views and actions. During his rule, Germany became a fascist state with a policy of anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust. Hitler pursued an extremely aggressive foreign policy that triggered World War II. He committed suicide on April 30, 1945 along with Eva Braun his long term mistress whom he had married less than 24 hours before they committed suicide.

Joseph Goebbels was Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 until 1945. An avid supporter of the war, Goebbels did everything in his power to prepare the German people for a large-scale military conflict. He was one of Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers. After Hitler's suicide, Goebbels and his wife Magda had their six children poisoned and then also committed suicide. He became Chancellor for one day before his death.

Britain:

Neville Chamberlain, had formerly led a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany to try and avoid the outbreak of war. He was Prime Minister during the first stages of the war, taking office in 1937 and resigning on 10 May 1940 after the failed Norwegian campaign (where French and British troops unsuccessfully attempted to support the Norwegians against a Nazi invasion). He died of cancer on 9 November 1940, half a year after resigning.

Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during most of the war, from 1940 to 1945. An early opponent of Hitler, he opposed the appeasement of Germany that Chamberlain had led. He was First Lord of the Admiralty (head of the Royal Navy) at the outbreak of war, then came into power at the start of the Nazi invasion of France. This was really the time when Britain and British people started to be directly affected by the events taking place in mainland Europe.

During the Battle of Britain, Churchill's speeches boosted the British morale during the darkest moments. He was seen as an influential and inspirational leader.

Q: What links can you make between the above leaders and the characters in Lord of the Flies? Make sure that you explain your views, giving examples from both history and the book.

Post-War leaders

Following World War 2, there was a great feeling of distrust towards many politicians. Let’s find out some more about these politicians to try and figure out why. Russia (USSR) Joseph Stalin - Soviet premier; opposed reindustrialization of Germany outlined in the Marshall Plan; ordered Berlin blockade. Highly involved in the Cold War tension and wanted to expand the communist party. France USA: Harry S Truman - 33rd U.S. president; successfully carried out end of World War II after Franklin D Roosevelt’s death. Was hugely influential in the development of new postwar political and economic world order. This included the formation of NATO and involvement in the redevelopment of Germany after the war. Highly involved in the Cold War tension and strongly resisted the expansion of the communist party. Survived an assassination attempt in 1950 following a failed attempt to stop communism spreading to China. Sent US Troops to fight communism in what became the Korean War. Germany: Germany was split into 4 zones, controlled by Britain, France, USA & USSR until after the Berlin Blockade in 1948-49. It was then formally split into East & West Germany and each of these territories supposedly got their own governments. However, East Germany was still controlled by USSR and treated as a state rather than as a separate country. This set up continued until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany in 1989. Britain: Britain had held a coalition Government for the majority of World War 2 (Winston Churchill (conservative) as the Prime Minister, and Clement Attlee (Labour) as the Deputy Prime Minister. Following the defeat of the Nazis, Churchill and Attlee felt that it would be best to maintain this arrangement until the Japanese had also been defeated. The Labour party however opposed this idea, and therefore Churchill was forced to resign as Prime Minister and thus an immediate General Election was called. Labour won this General Election following a shock landslide victory for the party, and Attlee became Prime Minister. The British People evidently wished to use the end of the war as a time for social reform, which was represented in the 12% swing in the polls from Conservative to Labour. One of Attlee’s most important policies was the formation of the NHS and the development of the welfare system. In 1951 Winston Churchill was re-elected at Prime Minister. This represented a time of uncertainty for the British people with regards to their leadership. He remained in his position as Prime Minister until 1955 when he resigned for health reasons. He continued to serve as an MP until the General Election in 1964 and then died in 1965. Q: What do you think people’s views were of politicians and leadership in the years after the war?

Looking at these politicians, how do you think the political climate may have influenced Golding’s writing and his portrayal of leadership?

Hitler’s Moustache! Many people believe that Hitler purposefully styled his moustache so that he developed an iconic image and was more recognisable and memorable when campaigning to gain power. Despite the multiple conflicting accounts of when Hitler first wore his distinctive moustache, it is doubtful that he adopted it because of Charlie Chaplin. One simple reason that Charlie Chaplin is probably not the inspiration for Hitler's moustache is that self-consciously adopting the moustache of a silent film comedian would have invited people to ridicule Hitler, which would have stopped his rise to power in its tracks. Instead, most of the evidence suggests that Hitler adopted his mustache for more utilitarian reasons either because it was easier to keep hygienic than other German mustache style, because he was forced to cut his old mustache while he was in the military, or because he simply wanted a trademark that would help him stand out as the leader he envisioned himself to be.

Q: How might this theory that Hitler purposefully have ‘planned’ his iconic image link to Jack’s behaviour in the chapter ‘Painted Faces and Long Hair’?

Q: Why might Golding have wanted to set up this similarity between Hitler and Jack? What message might he have wanted to give to people about certain styles of leadership?

The Cold War (1945 - 1963) Key terms

Communism =

1. a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

2. (often initial capital letter) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

Capitalism = an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

Cold War = intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries.

Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union for control over the postwar world emerged before World War II had even ended. U.S. presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin never really trusted one another, even while working together to defeat the Nazis. This mutual mistrust actually began as far back as 1917, when the United States refused to recognize the new Bolshevik government after the Russian Revolution. Stalin also resented the fact that the United States and Great Britain had not shared nuclear weapons research with the Soviet Union during the war and was unhappy with the countries’ initial unwillingness to engage the Germans on a second front in order to take pressure off of the Soviets. Additionally, Stalin was irked by the fact that Truman had offered postwar relief loans to Great Britain but not to the USSR.

Q: How does this information link to the relationship between Ralph and Jack that we see develop in Lord of the Flies?

Important ideological differences separated the two countries as well, especially during the postwar years, when American foreign policy officials took it upon themselves to try and spread democracy (capitalism) across the globe. This conflicted drastically with the Russian revolutionaries’ original desire to overthrow capitalism and try to turn more of the world into a communist state. Having been invaded by Germany twice in the last fifty years, Soviet leaders also wanted to restructure Europe so that a buffer/ barrier existed between the Germans and the Soviet border. Both the United States and the USSR believed that their respective survival was at stake if the other ideology gained more power globally, and each was therefore prepared to take any steps to win. As a result, both countries found themselves succumbing to the classic prisoners’ dilemma: working together would produce the best result, but with everything to lose, neither side could risk trusting the other.

Q: How do the different ideologies of capitalism and communism link to the different ideas that Ralph and Jack had about running the island?

The Cold War had an enormous impact on the United States politically, socially, and economically. In addition to spawning fear-induced Red hunts (hunting out supporters of communism) and McCarthyism (accusing someone of treason against your country without any real evidence) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Cold War also shaped U.S. presidents’ political agendas. Eisenhower, for example, sought to reduce government spending at home in order to halt what he called “creeping socialism” and to save money for what he deemed to be more urgent needs such as defense. Kennedy worked to inspire patriotism and visions of new hope in American youth.

Q: How did the Cold War play on people’s fears? How does this link to the island in Lord of the Flies?

The question as to whether the United States or the USSR was more to blame for starting the Cold War has produced heated debate among twentieth-century historians. For years, most historians placed blame squarely on Soviet shoulders and helped perpetuate the notion that Americans wanted merely to expand freedom and democracy. More recent historians, however, have accused President Truman of inciting the Cold War with his acerbic (bitter and harsh) language and public characterization of the Soviet Union as the greatest threat to the free world. Although conflict between the two powers was arguably inevitable, the escalation into a full “hot” war and the attendant threat of nuclear annihilation was avoided.

Q: Why do you think the Cold War could have influenced Golding in his writing of Lord of the Flies?

Q:How does the idea of a ‘cold’ war link to the conflict between Ralph and Jack?

Q: What other links can you make between the Cold War and the events in the book?