Duality of Human Nature

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Rites of Passage by William Golding has a few themes persistent throughout the book, one of which is the duality of human nature and of the human condition: good and evil; the primal and the divine; retribution and atonement; and literal geographical antipodes and metaphorical ones about man's duality.

Rites of Passage and Transcendence

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As the title suggests, the overall theme of the story is a progression towards transcending man's primitive stages. In the literal sense, the rites of passage on the ship marks the moment one becomes a full gentleman, or what the narrator believes is a holistic Christian gentleman possessing virtues.

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