Lord of the Flies

To understand the absurdity of public school, consider that Lord of the Flies, a book that condemns public school education, is widely taught in public school. William Golding’s cunning denouncement of education and perhaps of civilization as we know it exposes the fact that school children are not taught the basic survival skills needed for an independent life as a biological being, are not taught to cooperate and share for mutual profit, and are not taught to face their fears as rational beings.

Yes, yes, yes, they were just kids, the eldest were barely teens, and yet, six years of public school education could have achieved so much more than textbook learning!

And little has changed since William Golding wrote his parable about modern man. In our own time, our Jesus-Simon remains an ineffective and ultimately useless figure; our best public figures, our Ralphs, remain ineffective leaders void of creative impulse and ever-ready to stand on their heads; while our tyrants, our Jacks, continue to appeal to the irrational instincts. Finally, half a century of high-tech horrors later, we still have our share of scientific Piggies, too; I refer to men and women who are so in love with their high-tech or nuclear world that they do not see the Garden of Eden before their eyes.

Speaking of the Garden of Eden, was Golding, perhaps, hinting at a vegetarian future? The insane pig hunt of the blood-thirsty children who killed Jesus-Simon may serve psychological fable, but, given Piggy’s name, and given the island’s “edible forest,” the pig hunt may also serve to condemn a civilization that does not even eat rationally.

Voltaire’s Candide

Pessimists exist because the world has an over-abundance of optimists.

I am optimistic about one day becoming an optimist, but I am also a pessimist about my ability to overcome pessimism. – Confessions of a Plastic Brain

Regarding Candide, we might ask: was it necessary for a philosopher to fill over a hundred pages to fictionally illustrate his simple point that optimism, when it isn’t paired with rational action? Moreover, since he illustrated it with over a hundred pages of imaginary pain and suffering, we are warranted in asking if history is so lacking in suffering that it needs the suffering related in Candide?

To be honest, Candide is not a newspaper; it is not ‘objective’ – not, it tells its story in order to illustrate a conclusion about life that everyone should have drawn long ago.

Then, was Voltaire an optimist about the power of his work?

Candide tortures its readers on another level as well, since its plot that leaves nothing to the imagination, generates no suspense, offers no protagonist to identify with (Candide is a fool, Cunegonde is not much better, and anyway, the narrator is so detached as to make empathy impossible), is completely predictable, and yet, is enjoyable… thought provoking … or is it?

The fact that Candide could be written at all is also a mystery. How does one write or live with a belief that death, pain and suffering exist without any respect for humans and human notions of justice, karma, and the divine will? For such a philosophy one needs a healthy dose of candy, I mean comedy, which Voltaire’s wit generously applied.