William Golding had a motto, "Nothing Twice," a motto that
seems, indeed to fit his life as he rose from obscurity to fame with the publication of
Lord of the Flies in 1954. Then, he was lost in the public's eye
again until the end of the 1970s. From 1979 to 1982 were suddenly profitable to him,
and in 1983, he received the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
Perhaps, then, you could create subheadings
derived from the motto of Golding. With an inquiring mind and the courage to try
different approaches to his craft, Golding's writing was at times popular; other times
it was not. Thus, it would seem that the periods of Golding's life mark different
periods of thought for Golding. Researching these different periods may reveal for you
his mode of thinking at the time. For instance, his father, who had a profound
influence upon him, believed strongly in science and rational thought, but Golding's
switching from Science to English as a major in college indicates his disillusion with
the rationalism of his father. In Lord of the Flies, for instance,
it is the intuitive Simon, not the rational Piggy, who truly recognizes the "beast" as
the innate evil in man.
In addition, Golding's experiences
in the British Navy had a profound influence upon his thinking. He himself described
his experiences as having "one's nose rubbed in the human condition." This experience,
of course, along with his interest in philosophy, is what gave rise to his most famous
novel.
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