Shattered Psyche: Freudian Characters in "Lord of the Flies".

Sigmund Freud divided the human psyche into three parts: the ego, the superego and the id; balance between the three was deemed essential for mental health. Over the course of "Lord of the Flies", Ralph, Piggy and Jack increasingly personify the attitudes, ideals and drives of the ego, superego and id, respectively. The interactions between the boys at the beginning of the novel are different from those of the middle and end; the loss of …

…rational thought keep his primal urges in check. But the boys are on a wild island, a setting conducive to primal urges: the sanctum of the id. From the island, Jack gains power and breaks away from the boys. Without the balance of Ralph and Piggy, Jack roams unchallenged. The boys grow savage and unthinking, free to explore the primal desires of the id, and free to lose all of what society defines as humanity.