Free Fall (Golding novel)

Last updated

Free Fall
FreeFall.jpg
First edition cover
Author William Golding
Cover artist Anthony Gross
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Faber & Faber
Publication date
1959
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)

Free Fall is the fourth novel of English novelist William Golding, first published in 1959. [1] Written in the first person, it is a self-examination by an English painter, Samuel Mountjoy, held in a German POW camp during World War II.

Contents

Plot

Samuel ('Sammy') Mountjoy, a talented painter but a directionless and unhappy man, is a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. Recently some inmates escaped from his camp. A Gestapo officer, Dr. Halde, interviews Sammy in an attempt to find out about the escape organisation; when Sammy denies knowing anything, Halde has him locked in a small store-room, awaiting possible torture. Under the pressure of the darkness, isolation and horrified anticipation he gradually breaks down; in a series of long flashbacks, he wonders what brought him to his current state, and in particular, how he lost his freedom.

As a very young child he was happy, despite living in a slum and never knowing his father. He was adopted by the local priest and attended day school and grammar school, where he was torn between two diametrically opposed parent-figures – the kindly science master Nick Shales and the sadistic Rowena Pringle, who taught religious studies. He also fell desperately in love with a girl in his class, Beatrice Ifor. Whilst a student at art college he managed to become Beatrice's fiancé, and eventually her lover, but when she was unable to return his violent passion he grew bored with her and married another woman. After some years he found that Beatrice had gone incurably insane.

The novel alternates these flashbacks with Sammy's increasing terror and despair. Then, just as he loses all self-control and cries for help, he is abruptly released by the camp commandant, who apologises, outraged that an officer should have been humiliated like this.

Characters

When did I lose my freedom? For once, I was free... Free-will cannot be debated but only experienced, like a colour or the taste of potatoes. I remember one such experience. I was very small and I was sitting on the stone surround of the pool and fountain in the centre of the park... The gravelled paths of the park radiated from me: and all at once I was overcome by a new knowledge. I could take whichever I would of these paths...

I do not believe that rational choice stood any chance of exercise. I believe that my child's mind was made up for me as a choice between good and wicked fairies. Miss Pringle vitiated her teaching. She failed to convince, not by what she said, but by what she was. Nick persuaded me to his natural scientific universe by what he was, not by what he said. I hung for an instant between two pictures of the universe; then the ripple passed over the burning bush and I ran towards my friend...

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Hendrik Weidner</span> Dutch World War II hero

Johan Hendrik Weidner was a highly decorated Dutch hero of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Elser</span> Attempted assassin of Adolf Hitler (1903–1945)

Johann Georg Elser was a German worker who planned and carried out an elaborate assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi leaders on 8 November 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. Elser constructed and placed a bomb near the platform from which Hitler was to deliver a speech. It did not kill Hitler, who left earlier than expected, but it did kill 8 people and injured 62 others. Elser was held as a prisoner for more than five years until he was executed at Dachau concentration camp less than a month before the surrender of Nazi Germany.

<i>Kate Vaiden</i> 1986 novel by Reynolds Price

Kate Vaiden (1986) is the 6th novel by American author Reynolds Price. The novel focuses on the life of a white woman from the American South who, after a teenage pregnancy, abandons her son shortly after giving birth to him and who does not get in touch with him for four decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingrid Jonker</span> South African poet

Ingrid Jonker was a South African poet and one of the founders of modern Afrikaans literature. Her poems have been widely translated into other languages.

The following is a list of Hogwarts staff in the Harry Potter books written by J. K. Rowling.

<i>An Early Frost</i> 1985 American TV series or program

An Early Frost is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was the first major film with major motion picture stars, Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal with the topic of AIDS. It was viewed by 34 million households in its initial airing, the highest rated show of the night, even beating Monday Night Football. It received 14 Emmy nominations, winning 3 including Best Original Teleplay, a Peabody Award, as well as multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Sylvia Sidney who won for Best Supporting Actress. It was a major breakthrough into mass culture, as it was the first time an American audience of that size saw a film about a gay man who had AIDS, which up until then was considered a gay disease.

<i>Gloriana</i> 1953 opera by Benjamin Britten

Gloriana, Op. 53, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Lytton Strachey's 1928 Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History. The first performance was presented at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1953 during the celebrations of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Gloriana was the name given by the 16th-century poet Edmund Spenser to his character representing Queen Elizabeth I in his poem The Faerie Queene. It became the popular name given to Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Prince</span> West Indian writer and enslaved woman (c. 1788–after 1833)

Mary Prince was the first black woman to publish an autobiography of her experience as a slave, born in the colony of Bermuda to an enslaved family of African descent. After being sold a number of times and being moved around the Caribbean, she was brought to England as a servant in 1828, and later left her enslaver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Duncan</span> Soap opera character

Wayne Duncan is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jonathon Sammy-Lee. He made his first screen appearance as Wayne during the episode broadcast on 4 February 1993. Wayne becomes a chemistry teacher at Erinsborough High with an unorthodox approach. He is arrogant, intelligent and articulate – all traits that make him confident in arguments. A country man and strong believer in violence when protecting property – Wayne's attitude and gun possession polarized the way other characters viewed him. He has a destructive romance with Gaby Willis. The pair enjoy sparring throughout their relationship but eventually realise they need to separate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Rogers</span> Fictional character in Brookside

Samantha 'Sammy' Rogers is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, played by Rachael Lindsay. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 7 December 1987. Sammy was introduced as part of the Rogers family consisting of parents Frank and Chrissy Rogers and their three children Sammy, Katie Rogers and Geoff Rogers. Lindsay secured the role in 1987 after she learned that Brookside was auditioning for a new family. Lindsay knew someone already working on the show and they introduced her to his agent who helped secure the role. Sammy is originally characterised as a rebellious and headstrong teenager and animal rights enthusiast. Sammy is Brookside's wild child character who never accepts responsibility for her actions. Producers created a long-running relationship story with Owen Daniels. They begin a romance while at school and writers developed them into a married couple with a child.

<i>White Gold Wielder</i> 1983 novel by Stephen R. Donaldson

White Gold Wielder is a fantasy novel by American writer Stephen R. Donaldson, the final book of the second trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal relationships of Elvis Presley</span>

Elvis Presley had many close relationships throughout his career. The strongest of all his personal relationships, by far, was that he had with his mother Gladys, as described below.

<i>Wideacre</i> Book by Philippa Gregory

Wideacre is a 1987 historical novel by Philippa Gregory. This novel is Gregory's debut, and the first in the Wideacre trilogy that includes The Favoured Child (1989) and Meridon (1990). Set in the second half of the 18th century, it follows Beatrice Lacey's destructive lifelong attempts to gain control of the Wideacre estate.

<i>Ang Tanging Ina Nyong Lahat</i> 2008 Filipino comedy film

Ang Tanging Ina N'yong Lahat is a 2008 Filipino comedy film directed by Wenn V. Deramas and starring Ai-Ai delas Alas and Eugene Domingo. It is the sequel to a 2003 comedy film Ang Tanging Ina. It was released on December 25, 2008, as Star Cinema's official entry to the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival. The film also follows a 77-episode sitcom continuation, Ang Tanging Ina: The TV Series that ran from August 2003 to January 2005, with several plot developments that occurred in the series, such as the death of Ina's fourth husband Eddie and Ina giving birth to twins, being carried over to the rest of the films.

<i>Mississippi Damned</i> 2009 film by Tina Mabry

Mississippi Damned is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Tina Mabry and starring Tessa Thompson, D. B. Woodside, Malcolm Goodwin, Malcolm David Kelley and Michael Hyatt. The film was based on Mabry's life growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi. It was filmed in and around Ahoskie, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muthoni Kirima</span> Kenyan guerrilla fighter (1931–2023)

Field-Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima was a top-ranking female fighter in Mau Mau's 1950s rebellion against British colonialism. Few Mau Mau women became active fighters, and Muthoni was the only woman to have attained the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuiil</span> Fictional character in the Star Wars franchise

Kuiil is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who first appeared in the first season of the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. An alien of the Ugnaught species, Kuiil is a former indentured servant of the Galactic Empire living in solitude when he encounters the show's title character and assists him in seeking and protecting a young alien known as "The Child".

References

  1. "William Golding, 25/10/1959, Monitor - BBC One". BBC. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. Johnson, B. R. “Golding’s First Argument: Theme and Structure in Free Fall’ in Critical Essays on William Golding. ed. James R. Baker. Boston, Massachusetts: G. K. Hall & Co, 1988