Golding and Huxley: The Fables of Demonic Possession - Critical Essay

Twentieth Century Literature, Fall, 2000 by James R. Baker

[A]t a certain epoch, the overwhelming majority of human beings accepted beliefs and adopted courses of action that could not possibly result in anything but universal suffering, general degradation and wholesale destruction. The only plausible explanation is that they were inspired or possessed by an alien consciousness, a consciousness that willed their undoing and willed it more strongly than they were able to will their own happiness and survival.

(128)

This "alien consciousness" signifies the presence of Belial and the defeat of "the Other" (god) in the minds of human beings. It is a form of psychological regression that brings the ape, the beast, into power. In Golding's manuscript metaphor, consciousness is invaded by "strangers from within."

In both fables of possession we see how ritual motion and corybantic chanting bring about the psychological birth of the aliens. Huxley captures this perfectly in the antiphonal chant of the priests on Belial Day hailing that brief period in which mating is spontaneous and allowed:

Semichorus I

This is the time,

Semichorus II

For Belial is in your blood,

Semichorus I

Time for the birth in you

Semichorus II

Of the Others, the Aliens

Semichorus I

Of Itch, of Tetter

Semichorus II

Of tumid worm.

Semichorus I

This is the time,

Semichorus II

For Belial hates you,

Semichorus I

Time for the soul's death

Semichorus II

For the Person to perish

Semichorus I

Sentenced by craving,

Semichorus II

And pleasure is the hangman;

Semichorus I

Time for the Enemy's

Semichorus II

Total triumph,

Semichorus I

For the Baboon to be master,

Semichorus II

That monsters may be begotten.

Semichorus I

Not your will, but His

Semichorus II

That you may all be lost forever. (142-44)

As individuals fall victim to collective hysteria, to possession, so too, the ArchVicar insists, do nations, entire civilizations. In his sketch of modem history (116-33), however, he offers some forceful arguments that go beyond theological platitude. He cites the failure of nations to curb population growth or to arrest environmental degradation (failures that would have resulted in world apocalypse even without "the Thing"), yet these and other negative policies were driven by the politics of "Progress and Nationalism" (125). The overarching myth of the age was "the theory that Utopia lies just ahead and that, since ideal ends justify the most abominable means" (125), ethical restraints collapse; in the scientific-technological society now defunct the "means" were extended beyond any power known to previous ages, the power to destroy the earth.

The growth of Alfred Poole, D.Sc. (known to his students and colleagues as "Stagnant Poole") to full manhood is the dubious subtext of Huxley's grim fantasy. Golding's harsh judgment on Ape and Essence in 1977 may be aimed primarily at this comedy of redemption. Young Alfred's psychological development has been stunted by a devoted and vampiric mother. It is tempting to compare this mother with Piggy's "auntie" and the life of self-indulgence she allowed, the diet of sweets and scientific fantasy. Poole is 38 when he arrives with the expedition in the company of a tweedy virgin, Miss Ethel Hook, "one of those amazingly efficient and intensely English girls" (57) who hopes to marry this incomplete man. His redemption begins when he is temporarily buried alive by the Chiefs crew of grave robbers and then, on the promise that he can help to produce more food, allowed to live; after all, he is an expert botanist. This symbolic resurrection is immediately followed by a liberating first-time drunken episode in the company of Loola--an 18-year old girl who is blessed with an irresistible dimpled smile and burdened with an extra pair of nipples--who soon becomes the lover of this clownish scientist. Love touches his heart and the affective part of the man blossoms. The scenes with Loola provide incongruous low comedy or Hollywood romance (love among the ruins) in a story inspired by dismay for mankind. The love motif conflicts with the disaster scenario so that, in contrast, Golding appears wise to bar girls from boarding the plane that crashes on his coral island.