William Golding, WWII and the Cold War23 April 2013

William Golding’s Early Life

• Born in England in 1911 (Just before WWI began in Europe)

• Mother was a suffragette, father was a schoolmaster

Golding as a Young Adult

• Studied science at Oxford before deciding to study literature

• Joined the Royal Navy when WWII began

Golding in WWII

• Present at the sinking of the Bismarck (Germany’s premiere battleship)

• Involved in the invasion of Normandy (D-Day)

Golding as a Writer

• Wrote poetry before he wrote fiction

• Began writing fiction after returning from WWII

• His first novel, Lord of the Flies, was eventually published in 1954

World War II• A global war, fought on all

major oceans and in Africa, Asia, and Europe

• Almost 60 nations were directly involved.

• Most costly war in terms of property damage and military spending

• 22 million killed, 34 million wounded, and millions more became refugees

How did it start? Zoom in on Germany.

• After WWI, Germany’s democratic government was weak and unstable.

• The peace treaty that ended WWI caused the German economy to fail

• When the Great Depression hit, hard times became even harder.

Life in Germany was unstable, so…

• Many people were willing to trade their democratic freedom for Nazi promises of security and national glory.

When the Nazis came into power…

• Government propaganda blamed Germany’s Jewish population for economic hardship

• Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, terrorized anyone who opposed him and started to expand the German empire.

After WWII ended, the Cold War began.

• As WWII ended, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the U.S. were allies against Germany and Japan. However, cooperation broke down after the war ended and the time came to rebuild Europe.

The U.S. wanted to stop communism, while the USSR wanted to spread communism.

• USSR:• Authoritarian government• Communist economic

system• Limits on civil rights• Cycles of repression and

freedom in social and cultural life.

• U.S.:• Democratic government• Capitalist economic system• Guarantees on civil rights

(for certain groups of people)

• More freedom in social and cultural life

The Cold War was perpetuated through:

• Propaganda• Alliances with other

countries• Scientific competition• Economic competition• Espionage

Life during the Cold War:

• Everyone lived under an uneasy truce

• Constant threat of a nuclear world war

• Fear of WWIII permeated popular culture, including literature.