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Ethical Epistemology in the Novels of William Golding

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1969, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, English.
Believing earnestly that man's happiness and survival depen on his knowledge of evil, in his novels to day William Golding dramatically presents the potentialities, development and validity of his characters' understanding -- a theme which can be defined under one non-conventional pairing, ethical epistemology. According to the variations on this theme, it is illuminating to pair the six protagonists into three non-chronological groups. The reader must interpret the pragmatic question of survival in relation to pre-adolescent Ralph's rational, and childlike Neanderthal man Lok's intuitive understanding of "adult" evil in the first two novels Lord of the Flies (1954) and The Inheritors (1955). There is a distinction between the evasive symbols and delusion and the visionary symbols and understanding of the two obsessed men--egocentric and lustful naval officer Christopher and proud, prurient, and pious dean Jocelin--in the thrid and fifth novels Pincher Martin (1956) and The Spire (1964). The questions of self-created sufferings and spiritual extinction are inseparably linked with these characters' ehtical being, intelligence and refusal to analyze themselves. The reader's epistemological role in Free Fall (1959) and The Pyramid (1967) is to get a chronological perspective of the "guilty" and somewhat enlightened narrator protagonists' flashbacks. Sammy and Oliver examine their individual personalities and environment with respect to redemption, guilt and choice. The greatest achievement of these thought-provoking novels is to present every character's distinct personality and understanding and yet to dramatize certain universal trughts about evil and understanding. They enter the field of psychology because of their penetration into the depths of the human mind. Since they place man in the context of his distant ancestors, they become anthrolological; dramatizing inheritance, environment and survival, they are Darwinian. Emphasis on choice makes them somewhat Christian and existentialist at the same time. Exploring man's innocence, guilt, redemption, and spiritual survival, they are religious; in fact ethical epistemology is the religion of Golding's universe.
Frank Baldanza, Jr. (Advisor)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Khera, S. B. (1969). Ethical Epistemology in the Novels of William Golding [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085295535

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Khera, Sunit. Ethical Epistemology in the Novels of William Golding. 1969. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085295535.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Khera, Sunit. "Ethical Epistemology in the Novels of William Golding." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 1969. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085295535

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)