Essay Questions

Illustrate how William Golding in The Pyramid tackles the theme of troubled love and passion.

In the novel, Oliver, the protagonist, is head over heels in love with a girl Imogen. However, luck is not on his side as Imogen does not give in to his feelings. When Oliver meets Evie, a promiscuous girl in his neighborhood, he soon develops an affection for her and later loses his virginity to her. However, Evie, due to her well known immoral characteristics, cheats on him with Dr. Ewans and Oliver witnesses a kiss between the two. Additionally, Bounce has an affair with Henry, who does not seem to care much about her. When she learns of the same, Bounce is unable to recover from her heartbreak and goes insane, ultimately becoming the laughing stock of the Stillbourne. These characters epitomize troubled love and passion in Golding’s The Pyramid.

Discuss how darkness plays a substantial role in Oliver’s life in William Golding’s The Pyramid.

Darkness in The Pyramid is pivotal. Darkness refers to the aspect of being devoid of light, to be hidden, be secret or obscure. As the novel begins, Oliver meets Evie completely drenched in rainwater. Evie asks him to help Robert, her boyfriend, then. Oliver then helps him retrieve his car from the darkness in the woods; as such, the reality of what had happened then remains hidden—in the dark. Additionally, Oliver also loses his virginity to Evie in the darkness of the forest, where they meet so often in the days to follow in an attempt to make sure that the reality of their relationship remains concealed. Darkness is central to Oliver’s life, as is brought out in the novel.