Good and evil can be defined in many different ways. I think that to be truly good means that you have the ability to keep out your inner savage. To be truly evil, is when you give in to the savage side inside of you. In this essay I will write about certain characters that posses these abilities. In the book "Lord of the Flies" there is a constant theme of Good vs Evil. The following will argue how Jack, Ralph and Roger represent this theme. Jack is an evil character. Jack stands for the instinct of savagery, violence and constant crave for power. An example of this is when Jack puts the war paint on. Golding says, "He was safe from shame or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint and could look at each of them …show more content…
During that, everyone lost control in a way that if Bill didn't get away, he might have been killed. This is a good example because the author even writes, "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." by the end of that scene, Ralph realized what had happened and tried to act calm and cool, but still felt upset with himself. Those were example of Ralph being either good or bad, but I'm going to give an example of him being booth good and bad. "Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society." This is saying that Ralph knew that it was wrong, but still wanted to fit in and be a part of the group. This also happens in our everyday lives. It might be if someone is being bullied by a friend and you don't like it, you would still join your friend in a psychological effort to fit in. Another example of Ralph being good is at the very end of the book, when they see the soldier. The quote is, that Ralph "wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." This is the only time that Ralph allowed himself to let his guard
The start of Ralph’s troubles came when he was supposed to renew his visa to stay in America, but he let it expire, and was unable to register for classes. After Ralph’s sister Theresa and his future wife, Helen came to America, Ralph finally started getting himself back on track in terms of his dream. He would go back to school and eventually graduate: but the dream did not end there. This is the main conflict in the story for Ralph, an inner battle with himself to do the right thing, in hopes of living a better, more prestigious life in America. “I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me” (p88), this is from a time in Ralph’s life when he ...
Jack was the problem that’s the real answer to all of this if it wasn't for Jack’s behavior and action just maybe there would be no
-Ralph thinks about his childhood, showing that he is still innocent and wants to go home, showing contrast between him and the hunters, who are more focused on killing pigs.
Fiercely he hit out at the filthy thing in front of him that bobbed like a toy and came back, still grinning into his face, so that he lashed and cried. out in loathing." pg206 Ralph realizes the evil is part of him and just as with other boys. However, he is the only person who acknowledges the importance of being responsible, and he takes. over as a true leader, even though he is not necessarily good at it. & nbsp; & nbsp; 3Sam and Eric represent the crowd in modern society, just like every ordinary human being.
Ralph’s power at the beginning is secure but as the group succumbs to their savage instincts, Ralph’s influence declines as Jack’s rises. This is due mainly to the cruelty and violence that goes on in the story. This cruelty reveals that Ralph’s commitment to civilization and being rescued is so strong that he will not allow himself to change his morals and become cruel like the others. The cruelty in this novel also shows that Ralph is a very intelligent character. His intelligence can be proven because there was a point in the novel when he hunts a boar for the first time and he experiences the thrill of bloodlust. He also attends one of Jack’s feast where he is swept away by the frenzy and participates in the killing of Simon. This is a very tragic moment for Ralph because this is when he realizes the evil that lives within himself and every human being. It is the cruel acts that happen in this novel that reveals Ralph’s character of being intelligent and being able to think deeply about human experiences. He even weeps when getting saved because of his knowledge about the human capacity for
At the beginning, clearly Ralph feels that Jack is an ally, a companion; not a rival for leadership, "Ralph found himself alone on a limb with Jack and they grinned at each other ... that strange invisible light of friendship". The chosen leader of the group, Ralph tried to lead the stranded boys into some kind of order. The authority of Jack and the sensibility of Piggy easily sway him. When Ralph first meets Piggy, he sees him as a lower person who should be ridiculed. He starts off by asking for his name and he is told that people used to make fun of
group of adolescent boys. The boys are forced to learn how to live on the land
first things that Ralph, the central character of the novel, does upon his arrival on the
At many points throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding writes for the characters to become gradually more and more evil. This attribute even reaches the symbols of goodness and order, such as Ralph. Once, when Ralph and Piggy go to the feast on Jack's beach, they begin to meld with the others and their evil ways. "Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society" (Golding 138). This really only proves their common longing for a place with others, not any depth of evilness.
In conclusion, Ralph and Simon were the two characters that were different from the rest. They were different in a good way. This just goes to show you that there is always good in whatever you do and wherever you are, you just need to express
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
Ralph's actions as a character in the novel assist in reinforcing Golding's point that the prevalent force within man is evil. While Ralph struggles, albeit unsuccessfully, to maintain a civilized society on the island, he repeatedly tries to resist the temptation of evil inside him. As the island descends into chaos under Jack's tyrannical regime, the rest of the boys on the island let their hair become longer, at the same time becoming increasingly vicious. Ralph tries to ignore the temptation of having long hair, trying to push it back to maintain the good he has inside him. Ralph wants to “have a pair of scissors” to cut his hair, but the hair is coaxing him to let evil dominate (109). ...
He blows the conch and summons the deserted children together” (Li & Wu 1). While all the boys are interested mainly in playing and setting out to satisfy their own needs, Ralph is focused on building shelter and keeping a fire going to facilitate their rescue. As one can see, Ralph is “the representative of civilization and democracy, lives by rules, acts peacefully, and follows moral commands and values the good of the group, who dramatically reveals the condition of civilization and democracy in Golding’s time” (Li & Wu
It seems as though there is so much more evil than good in the world today. We hear of war and fighting 24/7 but we rarely hear about the good things that happen. Everyone is born with both good and bad within them. We, as humans, must choose which one we want to be. In The Lord of the Flies, Ralph is good while Jack is evil. Ralph represents the good side of us while Jack represents the evil side. Although sometimes it is easier to be evil, it pays off to be good. The novel is a perfect example of how all people are born with both sides. At the beginning, the boys choose the good side, with morals and civilization. But as the story moves on, the boys find it more exciting to be on the bad side. It shows that all the boys are torn between good and bad and there is a very thin line that separates both. We realize that people are born inherently good and bad because in life there are always right and wrong choices, children are born good but are easily influenced to do bad, and it is always harder to do what is right than what is wrong.
Not only do the two character's decisions clash so do their personalities. Ralph is caring and considerate, being kinder...