Date of Award

6-1970

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Literatures, Languages, and Cultures

First Advisor

Joseph Schwartz

Abstract

To broaden one's understanding of the structure, characters, and ideas in William Golding's novel Free Fall, I feel that one should view it, first, as the protagonist's personal psychotherapy. Samuel Mountjoy is undergoing a psychoanalytic catharsis. He is bringing to the surface of his consciousness a complex that is violently searching and condemning him. By affording this complex expression, he is eliminating it, and he emerges from the experience a fully self-actualized adult. Secondly, on a higher level, it should be viewed as probing questions concerning fate. Are man's actions predetermined or can man control his own universe? If he has the power to choose, what precedes that state, what happens during it, and what are the results? Sammy's final understanding of man becomes, then, more than a personal discovery, it becomes an understanding necessary to universal coexistence.

Comments

An Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment or the R ouirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Download

Share

COinS