Word: adult
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Because he spent most of his adult life in Cambridge, Stanley's new environment also came as something of a shock. Northfield boasts a population of 12,000, a far cry from the megalopolis of Boston. "I like big cities and I loved Boston," he says, adding that the movies, restaruants and art museums in Carleton are "nothing to write home about." Like most transplanted city dwellers, however, Stanley appreciates the advantages of small-town living. "You can go away and leave the door unlocked," he explains. "The air is just staggering." But, he's quick to add, "too much...
...infernal rites of passage. The tensions between youth and adulthood fascinate him and unify his often wandering plots. The most poignant moment of his now classic Lord Of The Flies occurs when the Navy officer appears on the island and confronts a helpless Ralph. He has become an adult only by coming to grips with the darkness in man's heart...
Golding's attention to fires--with their Promethean connotations--is not incidental. Matty's only background is the fire, whose flames have virtually given birth to him. Like Prometheus, Matty must live separate from the rest, with an "unchildlike smile." He weeps adult tears--but much earlier in his lifetime than Ralph...
...author's preoccupation with the tensions between child and adult is most dramatically exposed in the vivid journal that Matty keeps and Golding shares with us. This journal allows the reader to climb inside of Matty's distressed head--and is equally the crowning stylistic accomplishment of Golding's narrative. Matty asks: "Can it be that what I am for is something to do with children?" Quickly we realize that Golding is up to his old tricks again, leading us through a labyrinth of original sin, passing characters stained with the blackness of humanity along...
Matty doesn't understand if he is child or adult, savage or saint, and this conflict epitomizes the struggle in Golding's fabel. Golding fuses the traits of Ralph, Simon, and Jack--the three major characters in Lord Of The Flies--into one persona, further complicating Darkness Visible. Matty's internal voices insist he is "at the centre of an important thing and has been always." Such mystical thought resonates throughout Matty's journal...