Envisioning a ‘good’ utopia on a dystopian island: culinary and cultural conflicts in Lord of the Flies

Abstract

Thanks to the rising interest in island literary studies, there is a considerable body of research on the relationship between islands and utopia/dystopia, but the motif of food, namely, what characters eat on an island, has seldom been explored. Using Terry Eagleton and Frederic Jameson’s theories on utopia and dystopia as an interpretive lens, and drawing upon the varied contentions regarding food and eating by Levi-Strauss, Paul Atkinson, Carol J. Adams and other theorists, this paper examines the triangular relationship of island, food, and utopia/dystopia in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The paper argues that although this island story is generally categorized as dystopian, it blends both utopian and dystopian discourses and represents a literary endeavour to envision a ‘good’ utopia. This argument is supported by a detailed analysis of how the eating practices of the British schoolboys marooned on a desert island parallel their attempts to construct a desirable microcosm. By vividly depicting the boys’ contrasting culinary patterns of gathering fruit and hunting pigs, Golding subverts the hierarchy built upon the opposition between the raw/vegetable and the cooked/meat and their corresponding implications of ‘the barbarous’ and ‘the civilized.’ His further depictions of the boys’ cannibalism and degeneration into savages showcase his vision of human beings’ universal evil, his doubt about the linear progress of Western society, and his caution about the potential disasters that might befall seemingly progressive civilization due to the fall of mankind.

Interaction between islands and special economic zones: Spatial processes of containment and exclusion

“…For example, connection through, separation by, and interaction with water condition how islanders see themselves and engage with outside influences (Fleury & Hayward, 2021; Lei, 2021; Lin & Su, 2022; Mahajan, 2021; Main et al, 2021). The widespread idea that islands are exceptional encourages islanders and mainlanders to accentuate difference (Messana, 2021; Nadarajah et al, 2022; Nimführ & Meloni, 2021), which enhances the attractiveness of visiting, living on, mythologising and thinking with islands (Chandler & Pugh, 2021; Dang, 2021; Ding et al, 2022; Johnson, 2021; Xiao & Chen, 2022). Similarly, the cross‐cultural pursuit of natural borders makes islands exceptionally likely to be understood as cohesive, self‐contained and indivisible territories (Baldacchino, 2010).…”

The Depiction of Human Nature through Allegory: An Analysis of Golding's Lord of the Flies

“…In addition, Chen (2021) argued that Golding's Lord of the Flies blurred the traditional division of human beings as civilized and uncivilized by exposing both qualities of civilization and savagery co-existing within human beings. Moreover, a study by Xiao and Chen (2022) argued that Golding's Lord of the Flies questioned the traditional understanding of civilized and uncivilized human beings by depicting the contrasting nature of the food of boys, such as cooked and uncooked together on the island. However, Khan et al (2021), exploring Lord of the Flies, claimed that Golding's attempt to reflect human weakness and his aim to generalize such weakness as the universal condition were one-sided as he only included European boys on the island by excluding women and various minorities.…”

Trauma in Golding's Lord of Flies from Lacanian psychoanalysis Lens

“…Aside from Jack's selfish motivations, hunting originates not just from the physical desire for meat but also from a psychological desire. (Xiao & Huafei, 2022). Eating meat from hunting has a metaphorical side on the island.…”