Transcript Unit 17 D.H.Lawrence and William Golding

Unit 17 D.H.Lawrence and
William Golding
Aims of Teaching:
• 1. Themes and style of Lawrence’s novels
• 2. Themes of William Golding’s writings
Major Points:
• 1. Lawrence’s ideas about modern world
and human relationships
• 2. Lawrence’s language
• 3. William Golding’s themes and allegory
I. D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
• 1. Introduction: English novelist, story
writer, critic, poet and painter, one of the
greatest figures in 20th-century English
literature.
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D.H.Lawrence’s Works
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Sons and Lovers (1913)
The Rainbow (1915)
Women in Love (1921),
Aaron's Rod (1922)
Kangaroo (1923)
The Plumed Serpent (1926)
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)), the novel caused
a sensation and was banned in England and the
United States until 1959.
• Etruscan Places (1932)
• volumes of literary criticism, notably Studies in
1. Sons and Lovers
• Lawrence's first major novel was also the first in
the English language to explore ordinary workingclass life from the inside. Using the first edition
text, which Lawrence approved, this edition also
offers a fresh and stimulating introduction particularly in its treatment of Lawrence's
language and imagery.
The Rocking-Horse Winner
• It is a short story by D.H. Lawrence. It was
first published in July 1926 in Harper’s
Bazaar magazine. It subsequently appeared
in the first volume of Lawrence's collected
short stories.
II. William Golding (1911-1993)
• Introduction: The Nobel Prize in Literature
1983
• "for his novels which, with the perspicuity
of realistic narrative art and the diversity
and universality of myth, illuminate the
human condition in the world of today"
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Golding’s Works
Lord of the Flies (novel) 1954
The Inheritors (novel) 1955
Pincher Martin (novel) 1965
The Brass Butterfly (play) 1958
Free Fall (novel) 1959
The Spire (novel) 1964
The Pyramid (novel) 1967
The Scorpion God (three short novels) 1971
Darkness Visible (novel) 1979
Rites of Passage (novel) 1980
The Paper Men (novel) 1984
Close Quarters (novel) 1987
Fire Down Below (novel) 1989
Lord of the Flies (1954),
• 1) A brief introduction to the novel
• 2) Discussion: themes, images, motifs, style
• 3) A summary
Brief Summary
• A modern allegory, in which a group of school
boys are wrecked on a desert island: effects of
civilization break down and they return to their
essential animal nature (essential nature of all
human beings). Two groups fight: one to guard
the fire (dreamers and poets, reason,
civilization); the other to hunt for food (men of
action, irrationality, anarchic nature). Golding
liked to set his stories in strange locations or
undefined time and place, thus emphasizing the
timeless nature and universal significance.
Metaphor Analysis
• Beast: The beast, the Lord of the Flies, is seen as a
real object on the island which frightens the boys.
Actually the beast is something internal; the Lord
of the Flies is in soul and mind of the boys,
leading them to the natural chaos of a society with
no reasoning adults. Only Simon understands what
the real beast is, but is killed when he tries to tell
the boys about the Lord of the Flies.
Conch: The conch shell symbolizes the law and order of the old
adult world which Piggy tries so desperately to protect. The conch
represents all the authority which the boys are so used to obeying.
When Roger destroys the conch, anarchy quickly ensues because
any hope of strong, central leadership has been abandoned. The
island society collapses into chaos.
Facepaint: This is the excuse many of the boys use for living as
hunting savages, instead of civilized English citizens. The paint
symbolizes the smoke-screen the beast uses to infiltrate the boys’
souls.
Fire/Smoke: The smoke of the signal fire symbolizes the last
best hope of the boys being rescued. To Piggy and Ralph, the
fire represents the moral influence of their old life in England.
When the fire goes out, Ralph loses his bearings, unsure of his
next move. The fire is diatonically opposed to hunting, the
activity of anarchy on the island.
Island: Golding purposefully picked an island to be the
landing place of the crashed plane because an island is isolated
from the rest of society. The boys have no contact with the
outside world and must look to themselves to solve the
problems of their own micro-society. In this way, the island,
which symbolizes isolation, serves as a perfect backdrop for
the frailties of human nature which eventually surface.