Summary:
As a boy Golding found that there were three grades of thinking, but later when his hobby was thinking that could not think at all. His headmaster first brought the subject of thinking before him. There were three statuettes in his study. One was an armless lady in bath towels worried about the slipping of the towel. Next to her, was a crouching leopard ready to jump down at the top drawer of filling cabinet labeled A-AH. Beyond the leopard was a naked muscular man. He sat looking down with his chin on his fist and his elbow on his knee. The statutes were the symbols of the whole of life to the headmaster. To him the lady was the Venus (beauty) of Milo. She was love. She just wanted to be beautiful. The leopard was Nature and was being natural. The man was Rodin’s Thinker, an image of pure thought.
Golding was punished for not obeying the teachers. He was taken in the headmaster’s study and was asked to think the thinker. But Golding did not understand him because he was not naked like the thinker and still claimed that he thought. Mr. Houghton also claimed that he used to think but he used to think but he used to drink. Was drinking well for health? When he talked about the advantages of fresh air, he would take the boys outside in the storm and would be sick. He asked his students to live good, sexless, and dutiful life, but when a girl passed by he would turn his neck and watch her, he used to think with his neck. Similarly, Miss. Parsons said that her dearest wish was the welfare of the boys, whereas what she wanted most was the husband.
Through the teachers the writer knew grade-three thinking. It is full of conscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy. It will talk about sexless life but look at the girl with sexy eyes. Grade-three thinkers say one thing but do exactly the opposite thing. Such thinking is feeling, not thought, 90% of the population is grade-three thinkers. All of them say the same thing. They are in complete agreement with one another. They can justify their action by giving false logic. Their saying is full of opposite things. They rush to support one another. But they don’t thank if their contractions are pointed out.
Grade-two thinking is finding out direct opposition between things compared. Such thinkers don’t support others easily. They move back with their eyes and ears open. They destroy, but they don’t have the power to create. They give no substitutes. Grade-two thinking is a danger to religion. Ruth, the writer’s girlfriend, being a Methodist, claimed that King James’ version of the Bible was inspired because millions of Methodist said so. Then the write replied that the Catholics believed that Saint Jerome’s Vulgate was inspired and that hundreds of millions of the Catholics said so. He added that if the number had been important the Buddhists were the largest. From the grade-two thinker’s point of view, the writer rearranged the statuettes in the headmaster’s study. He placed Venus in her bath towel on the filling Cabinet so that the ‘A-ah’ on the top drawer could be the gasp of sexy excitement. Then he placed the thinker on the edge of the cupboard so that he could see the slipping towel. Grade-two thinking makes life full of fun and excitement, but it does not satisfy the thinker. It shows the weakness of the elders and makes the thinker proud, but it does not make him safe. Even at the end of the argument the problem remains the same. The question “what is truth?” is unanswered.
There is still a higher grade of thought. It says “what is truth?” in the beginning and starts to find it out. But the grade-one thinkers are rare. Being ambitious, the write himself wanted to be one. He had met one grade thinker in person. His name was Einstein. The writer had passed ten minutes with him. Although he could not talk to him due to the problems of the language, he tried to show his respect and affection wordlessly. In grade one thinking we find pure reason, good will and amiability. It suggests a connected system for living. It is wholly logical moral system. The writer wanted to destroy a number of unimportant things such as big business, centralized government, armies, and marriages. But both men and women were happy to get marries. Some of them wanted to have armies. So the writer found it useless to lose many things for the sake of hobby. He dropped his hobby and became professional.
If he were to go into the headmaster’s study, he would arrange the statuettes differently. He would clean Venus and put her aside because he loved the beautiful thing. He would put the serious thinker in the shadows and his back he would put the leopard, crouched and ready to spring.
Four levels:
1. Literal comprehension:
The writer’s headmaster introduced thinking for the first time. Through his teachers he learned about grade three thinking. Such thinking is full of unconscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy. It talks about sexual purity but it is attracted by sexual beauty. 90% of the population belongs to grade three thinkers. All of them say the same thing and they are in complete agreement with one another. It is feeling rather than thinking. Grade two thinking is the finding out of the contradiction. It destroys but it does not have the power to create. Unlike in grade three thinking, there are no compensations. There is only criticism. It makes life funny and excited but it does not satisfy the thinker. It finds the elder’s fault but doesn’t make the thinker safe. Even at the end of discussions, no solution is found. The grade one thinking begins with the question ‘what is truth?’ and tries to find out. It is pure reason. It shows good will and amiability. It is coherent system for living. It is a moral system, which is wholly logical. Such thinkers are rare. The writer wanted to become a grade one thinker, but being a failure he dropped thinking as a hobby and became professional.
2. Interpretation:
This essay might be trying to tell us about our weakness and follies. It supports a harsh view of human nature and human rationality. That is, beneath the satirical grip, there is here a bitterly cruel charge of our most cherished possession: our ability to control our feelings and to think rationally and well. The essay can also be seen as a bitter criticism of conventional education.
3. Critical thinking:
I agree with most of the things which the writer has expressed in this essay. Why does the writer hold the most pessimistic attitude towards human life? Are human beings so irrational? Do the nine-tenths of the population not think at all? Is there no difference between thinking and feeling?
4. Assimilation:
I found these three grades of thinking as a measuring rod with which we can measure the degree of people’s intellect. Like the writer, we see majority of the people following what they are told to do by leaders or tradition. We also find some people who criticize the existing system, but they never offer a better solution. Since grade one thinkers are rare, we have not seen them in person.
As a boy Golding found that there were three grades of thinking, but later when his hobby was thinking that could not think at all. His headmaster first brought the subject of thinking before him. There were three statuettes in his study. One was an armless lady in bath towels worried about the slipping of the towel. Next to her, was a crouching leopard ready to jump down at the top drawer of filling cabinet labeled A-AH. Beyond the leopard was a naked muscular man. He sat looking down with his chin on his fist and his elbow on his knee. The statutes were the symbols of the whole of life to the headmaster. To him the lady was the Venus (beauty) of Milo. She was love. She just wanted to be beautiful. The leopard was Nature and was being natural. The man was Rodin’s Thinker, an image of pure thought.
Golding was punished for not obeying the teachers. He was taken in the headmaster’s study and was asked to think the thinker. But Golding did not understand him because he was not naked like the thinker and still claimed that he thought. Mr. Houghton also claimed that he used to think but he used to think but he used to drink. Was drinking well for health? When he talked about the advantages of fresh air, he would take the boys outside in the storm and would be sick. He asked his students to live good, sexless, and dutiful life, but when a girl passed by he would turn his neck and watch her, he used to think with his neck. Similarly, Miss. Parsons said that her dearest wish was the welfare of the boys, whereas what she wanted most was the husband.
Through the teachers the writer knew grade-three thinking. It is full of conscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy. It will talk about sexless life but look at the girl with sexy eyes. Grade-three thinkers say one thing but do exactly the opposite thing. Such thinking is feeling, not thought, 90% of the population is grade-three thinkers. All of them say the same thing. They are in complete agreement with one another. They can justify their action by giving false logic. Their saying is full of opposite things. They rush to support one another. But they don’t thank if their contractions are pointed out.
Grade-two thinking is finding out direct opposition between things compared. Such thinkers don’t support others easily. They move back with their eyes and ears open. They destroy, but they don’t have the power to create. They give no substitutes. Grade-two thinking is a danger to religion. Ruth, the writer’s girlfriend, being a Methodist, claimed that King James’ version of the Bible was inspired because millions of Methodist said so. Then the write replied that the Catholics believed that Saint Jerome’s Vulgate was inspired and that hundreds of millions of the Catholics said so. He added that if the number had been important the Buddhists were the largest. From the grade-two thinker’s point of view, the writer rearranged the statuettes in the headmaster’s study. He placed Venus in her bath towel on the filling Cabinet so that the ‘A-ah’ on the top drawer could be the gasp of sexy excitement. Then he placed the thinker on the edge of the cupboard so that he could see the slipping towel. Grade-two thinking makes life full of fun and excitement, but it does not satisfy the thinker. It shows the weakness of the elders and makes the thinker proud, but it does not make him safe. Even at the end of the argument the problem remains the same. The question “what is truth?” is unanswered.
There is still a higher grade of thought. It says “what is truth?” in the beginning and starts to find it out. But the grade-one thinkers are rare. Being ambitious, the write himself wanted to be one. He had met one grade thinker in person. His name was Einstein. The writer had passed ten minutes with him. Although he could not talk to him due to the problems of the language, he tried to show his respect and affection wordlessly. In grade one thinking we find pure reason, good will and amiability. It suggests a connected system for living. It is wholly logical moral system. The writer wanted to destroy a number of unimportant things such as big business, centralized government, armies, and marriages. But both men and women were happy to get marries. Some of them wanted to have armies. So the writer found it useless to lose many things for the sake of hobby. He dropped his hobby and became professional.
If he were to go into the headmaster’s study, he would arrange the statuettes differently. He would clean Venus and put her aside because he loved the beautiful thing. He would put the serious thinker in the shadows and his back he would put the leopard, crouched and ready to spring.
Four levels:
1. Literal comprehension:
The writer’s headmaster introduced thinking for the first time. Through his teachers he learned about grade three thinking. Such thinking is full of unconscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy. It talks about sexual purity but it is attracted by sexual beauty. 90% of the population belongs to grade three thinkers. All of them say the same thing and they are in complete agreement with one another. It is feeling rather than thinking. Grade two thinking is the finding out of the contradiction. It destroys but it does not have the power to create. Unlike in grade three thinking, there are no compensations. There is only criticism. It makes life funny and excited but it does not satisfy the thinker. It finds the elder’s fault but doesn’t make the thinker safe. Even at the end of discussions, no solution is found. The grade one thinking begins with the question ‘what is truth?’ and tries to find out. It is pure reason. It shows good will and amiability. It is coherent system for living. It is a moral system, which is wholly logical. Such thinkers are rare. The writer wanted to become a grade one thinker, but being a failure he dropped thinking as a hobby and became professional.
2. Interpretation:
This essay might be trying to tell us about our weakness and follies. It supports a harsh view of human nature and human rationality. That is, beneath the satirical grip, there is here a bitterly cruel charge of our most cherished possession: our ability to control our feelings and to think rationally and well. The essay can also be seen as a bitter criticism of conventional education.
3. Critical thinking:
I agree with most of the things which the writer has expressed in this essay. Why does the writer hold the most pessimistic attitude towards human life? Are human beings so irrational? Do the nine-tenths of the population not think at all? Is there no difference between thinking and feeling?
4. Assimilation:
I found these three grades of thinking as a measuring rod with which we can measure the degree of people’s intellect. Like the writer, we see majority of the people following what they are told to do by leaders or tradition. We also find some people who criticize the existing system, but they never offer a better solution. Since grade one thinkers are rare, we have not seen them in person.
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