tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post8859988501498082318..comments2024-03-27T13:13:25.164-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: William Golding by John Careyjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-65071702262555702082010-08-23T10:23:29.001-04:002010-08-23T10:23:29.001-04:00In the unpublished manuscript "Men, Women &am...In the unpublished manuscript "Men, Women & Now", Golding made an observation about his time as a schoolteacher which provides considerable insight into his theories of sexuality. He remembered producing 'Murder in the Cathedral 'at Bishop Wordsworth' in 1959. As in all the school plays, the female parts were taken by boys, and he chose four boys to be the Women of Canterbury. He taught them ' the basic movements of a woman's body', dressed them up, played the piano for them to dance, and told them, 'I want you to enjoy being girls.' The result, he said, was 'the breaking of all dams and barriers.' The boys were 'so happy' – as if they were realizing an ambition they had for years, as indeed, he believed they were. It was if they could not believe their luck . For what an adolescent boy has to bury deep out of sight, and think of as a private shame, was here given 'adult sanction and social aim.' It was treated as 'what it is, that is, something natural. <br /><br /> Every little girl wants to be the fairy on the Christmas tree, and 'tell it not in Gath, but so does every little boy.' In our society children are sexed as a vet sexes kittens by examining their 'rudimentary sexual organs', but other realities are ignored. Golding goes on to regret, in “Men, Women & Now", that he never realized, as a child, how common these feelings were in boys, so was left believing them peculiar to himself.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.com