We Need More Humanity, More Care, More Love

Abstract

The article starts from a statement made by William Golding in his Nobel Prize for literature acceptance speech and sets out to prove that Golding expressed a similar credo in all his novels that were meant to inculcate a moral to the reader—which the paper goes on to identify as fables. By referencing Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, Free Fall, and The Spire, the article examines the methods Golding uses in order to get the reader engaged, with “shock tactics” as a key component and innocence as a leitmotif in Golding's novels. As such, a common thread is easily identifiable in his works, namely the fables' moral: selfishness and egotistical tendencies are the central elements of all forms of dehumanization.