In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ and the play ‘DNA’ there is an ongoing theme of victims and bullies. Some of the characters are victims and some are bullies, created by the authors William Golding and Dennis Kelly. It is important that we clearly see which characters in the novel and play are victims and bullies. In ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘DNA’ we can clearly identify from the start which characters are going to be the main victims and bullies. In ‘Lord of the Flies’ the character Piggy has been portrayed as the main victim, this is due partly to physical appearance. ‘He was shorter that the fair boy and very fat.’ The adjective ‘shorter’ and ‘fat’ gives the reader a clear image of how Piggy will look. However, Piggy’s common sense and scientific, …show more content…
Brian is badly bullied and a very timid character who is crying from the moment we first meet him. He seems an easy target for a bully and most of the group look down on him, sneer at him or find him annoying. Phil in particular threatens him. He threatens him with the same fate as Adam if he does not follow orders. ‘We’ll take you up to the grille now. We’ll get you by the arms. The legs. And we’ll swing you onto the grille.’ Phil uses unambiguous and unemotional language which shows the audience what type of character he is. He is very straight to the point and is telling Brian how it is and is being very blunt towards him. The audiences response to both the characters would see Adam as the victim and feel sorry for him, they may also feel concerned for his safety. The reader may feel hatred towards Phil because of what he has done to …show more content…
Phil is ‘DNA’s’ main bully and seems capable of both mental and physical violence, although he only threatens physical violence and never actually hurts anyone himself. Both him and John Tate end up unable to lead or even be with a group at the end of the play. When Phil is on stage, Kelly uses stage directions to show Phil eating. ‘Phil slowly eating a pack of starburst.’ This shows the audience that he seems disinterested, it emphasis his coolness in the face of the others. However, when he drinks this shows panic because Phil drinks immediately after the complicated instructions which contrast with the open mouthed response of the others. The audience would respond to the panic of Phil’s actions. This shows that Phil is sociopathic and completely separated from society because he is lacking in care and
He shows this through Piggy's appearances, personality, and morals. Piggy’s physical description is an enormous factor in the book. Although his physical appearance doesn't change throughout the book it continues to affect him until the end. In the beginning
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
Characters are used in literature as symbols to represent mankind's different “faces”. Everyone in both fictional and real societies have civil orderly sides, as well as an instinctual hunger for power. Both of these traits together make us human, but imbalance of these traits in some people can alter our being. These traits are necessary for our survival, but too much can create toxic environments. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to tell the reader more about human traits and provides a platform that shows the interactions between people with different balances of traits; Golding then shows the possible outcome of the conflict these traits create. Three main characters that stand out and represent the civility and hunger for power of humans are Piggy, Jack, and Ralph. Each can be seen as a symbol for different behaviors and traits that humans show, as well as the different mixes of civil and instinctual. The characters symbolize the different traits, instinctual power and calming civil nature, and how the different balances can affect a persons actions, behaviors, and interactions with others.
In the beginning of Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, one of the main characters, Piggy suffers from low self-esteem and low self-confidence. This can be seen on page 11 when Piggy says “I don't care what they call me, so long as they don't call me what they used to call me at school...They used to call me Piggy,” (Golding 11). This quote shows his low self-confidence and gives the reader a glance into Piggy’s past. The reader can assume from the quote that Piggy was made fun of for his weight before he came to the island and does not want to be treated like this again. Piggy seems scared that the new boys will tease him. Another example of Piggy’s low value of himself is when he begins to show leader ship qualities and is shot down. “I expect we...
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
On the dystopian island of Lord of the Flies, authored by William Golding, one can observe the boy's’ descent into madness. When a group of young children were abandoned on an island without adult supervision, chaos rampaged. This loss civility is most clearly demonstrated by Jack and his effect on others. The text illustrates how quickly he succumbed to the savagery, the way his thirst for power and his dire situation brought him to barbarity, and how the boys followed suit, losing all their humanity.
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
William Golding, in his fictional novel Lord of the Flies, has created one of the most stunningly elaborate, captivating works of American literature. It is a straightforward story of a few shipwrecked schoolboys that dramatically turns into a multifaceted tale of endless deceit, trickery and all out jealousy. It is in this story that three boys, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack, come to play the pivotal parts of leaders to a group of children who are fighting for the right of survival.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes.
Bullying is a big problem today in many schools. Bullying too often starts because the bully is prejudice. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who are alone on an island because their plane crashed and their parents died. In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, prejudice and discrimination is a big issue with Ralph, Jack, and Piggy.
In the most dire situations, some children are able to put aside their childish behaviours and become a mature adult figure, one who takes the right actions and makes mature decisions. According to the National Institutes of Health, only a certain few children are able to act maturely in situations; the other completely normal children are not able to take it seriously. Even though some people think that a child who acts adult-like is not any different than the other children, being adult-like can be very important and useful in many situations, including ones without any parental supervision. In William Golding’s most memorable novel, Lord of the Flies, the most intelligent character – an overweight boy named Piggy – makes valuable efforts and contributions to help others. When Piggy finds himself stranded on an island with many other boys, he steps up to be the most mature and sensible one. Considering it is among the last abilities to mature in the brain, Piggy has remarkable reasoning and problem-solving skills for a twelve-year-old boy. Despite the fact that Piggy is unpopular with many of the big kids on the island, he always attempts to get his adult-like knowledge and opinion across. Piggy’s love for
Koopmans, Andy. "The Characters." Understanding Lord of the Flies. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2003. 63-64. Print.
The character Piggy in William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies serves as the intellectual balance to the emotional leaders of a group of shipwrecked British boys. Ironically, their new society values physical qualities over intellectual attributes whereas it is the rational actions that will lead to their survival. Piggy's actions and the reactions from his fellow survivors foreshadow his eventual death. Lord of the Flies is overflowing with creative symbolism, surrounding every event and character; Piggy is no exception. From being the representation of scholars to the comparison with Prometheus, Golding ensures Piggy's short life is well remembered.
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.