A broken child
“Now, there was no parent to let fall a heavy hand” (Golding 60). Freed from a society that struck him down for his actions Roger, with the lack of understanding that comes with childhood, wrecked havoc upon the island he was trapped on in the events of Lord of the flies. In William Golding’s novel, a group of children of various ages are trapped on an island with no adults. The boys attempt to form a society on the island, but their attempts fail spectacularly. A rift forms in the tribe with nearly all of the boys becoming upset with the current leader,Ralph, and leaving to form a new tribe. This new tribe is completely savage, and one amongst them, Roger, ended up taking a life. Roger, however, cannot be held accountable. Roger
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This method consisted of striking Roger for any transgression as indicated by the above quote. This kind of abuse in the formative years “can lead to aggressive or even criminal behavior” (Beller). Abusing a child can have detrimental effects on their mental health, and this happened to Roger to a great degree. Roger most likely already had an explosive personality, and stacking bodily harm from parents on top of that can lead to a child in need of serious psychological help that never arrived. Roger was also never actually taught the majority of the values that society deems necessary most likely because his parents were far too busy striking him for not knowing values they never bothered to teach him. Roger cannot be held accountable as his mental well being was demolished by his parents well before he was thrust into extreme circumstances that often left him hungry, and frustrated. These factors lead to Roger to simply be a damaged soul with a woeful lack of comprehension of the world around …show more content…
There are a slew of factors on the island which can lead to this level of violence “Chaos is one, fear is another” (Golding). The island was extremely chaotic, and fearful with no supervision from anyone with a fully developed frontal lobe. The only semblance of order was promptly crushed early on, leading to a revolt and nearly every child descending into violence, even ones that did not have as painful a childhood such as the leader elected among them, Ralph. Fear ran rampant on the island as none of the children really understood much about the island. A belief spread on the island that there was an unkillable beast hunting down the boys, plotting their destruction. With someone like Roger who was physically strong and most likely found solace in that, a being he had no power to stop must have been downright terrifying. When people are afraid, especially children with their lack of judgment, they lash out in bursts of violence. This is exactly what happened to Roger, he succumbed to fear like the rest of us would have, and acted as any of us would have at his age in his
Roger’s character is sadistic and disrespectful which may lead to other people's pain and cause the group to separate, not allowing the island to function properly.
Roger has shaped his identity throughout the book by doing actions to form his new cruel, violent identity. Roger has done things such as throw and release rocks at two boys, and then viciously hunting a pig and killing him.
The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exhilarating novel that is full of courage, bravery, and manhood. It is a book that constantly displays the clash between two platoons of savage juveniles mostly between Jack and Ralph who are the main characters of the book. The Kids become stranded on an island with no adults for miles. The youngsters bring their past knowledge from the civilized world to the Island and create a set of rules along with assigned jobs like building shelters or gathering more wood for the fire. As time went on and days past some of the kids including Jack started to veer off the rules path and begin doing there own thing. The transformation of Jack from temperately rebellious to exceptionally
Roger struggled with anger issues and with expressing his feelings, yet he managed. Roger was well known for his physicality with other kids at school once he returned from the island. Similarly to what we saw on the island, Roger showed no sympathy. An example of this is observed when Golding writes: "round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law." (p.60). This quote represents how Roger feels no remorse for his actions, and does not have much respect for the law. Surprisingly, however, these traits work out in Rogers favor as he saves his cousin's life 20 years after he saved Jack’s on the island. Golding writes: “Ralph stood to face them, his spear ready. By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (p.180). Roger let that rock go to save a threatened Jack. Roger did this in a sense of self-defense, not anger. Roger did the same for his cousin who was being attacked one night by gang members on a walk back from dinner. Roger saw his cousin was cornered and acted quickly to save his cousin by whacking the gang members with a pipe, Killing them both. Roger’s cousin was untouched. Although Roger has lethal tendencies from time to time, he uses
It is in these games were the boys get carried away and Ralph feels a
It’s one of the most famous stories to ever exist, the story of how two people changed what defines us as humans. It’s the story of Adam, Eve, a serpent, and the unbecoming of mankind, the Fall of Man. This iconic account has been the premise for many works over the centuries. Today, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered one of the most influential novels of our time, not only for its adventurous story of stranded boys on a lost island, but also because of its allegorical tale of the true fault in man’s soul. William Golding leans heavily upon the Biblical account of the Fall of Man to highlight man’s depravity in his novel, Lord of the Flies.
Ralph can not believe that these boys would be so violent and be so immature in a time of survival. The church’s views towards children and teenagers is similar to Ralph’s in this quote “At the age of 7, a child is considered by the Roman Catholic Church to have reached the ''age of reason'' and is entitled to receive communion. Some evangelical churches hold that a child of 7 can make an independent spiritual choice. (Sachs 1).” If you can make such large decisions at the age of seven for the church, you are more than capable to know right from wrong. The boys knew what they were doing was wrong but Jack kept them going. In this quote, Doctor Cole is as confused as Ralph is about Jack “No one, he said, is born bad. Yet, despite a lifetime of studying and listening to children, he was utterly confounded by the implications of the Chicago case. (Sachs 2)”. Jack was born and raised a mean and violent individual. These characteristics show in both Roger and Jack. Jack was able to influence and flare up Roger’s inner evil through the isolation of the
The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
“I think that’s the real loss of innocence: the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your potential” (Steve Toltz). In the previous quote, Steve Toltz discusses the transition from innocence to corruption. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies illustrates the loss of innocence through various characters: Jack, who struggles with pride and a thirst for power; Roger, who revels in the pain of others and uses fear to control the boys; Simon, who represents the demise of purity when humans are at their most savage; Ralph, who illustrates the struggle people endure when attempting to be civilized near the savage; and Piggy, who suffers because he has the only technology necessary to survive. Golding enforces the theory that true innocence will often pay the price to sustain true evil by arranging the characters' personalities and actions in a way that correlates to the effects of Darwin's evolution theory, "survival of the fittest" (). Jack is a good example of this as he exerts power over the weak and uses his skills in hunting to survive. The thirst to prove his masculinity overrides his innate purity, effectively corrupting him. Jack’s loss of innocence begins a domino effect that begins to influence the others.
On the island, the kids with more power, like Roger, were being rude because they knew they could get away with it since there were no consequences. On Page 67 the narrator says, “Henry and Johnny were throwing sand at Percival, who was crying quietly again; and all three were in complete ignorance of the excitement.” The book also explained how there were no adults on the island. Imagine a group of kids in a room when an adult is not there. They are more prone to do things they knew they could not get away with if the adult was there. That is how these kids feel, so they are getting more comfortable doing bad things knowing there is no consequence afterward. That is not the only thing they did, there were multiple other scenes when they would torment each other and get a feeling of pride afterward. On page 60, Roger came out of the forest going for a swim. The narrator says, “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones.” Roger knew he could not do that to someone such as Ralph because, if he did, he knew he could not have gotten away with that because Ralph would have done something about it. Roger wanted to chose someone that was more vulnerable like the
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows man’s inhumanity to man. This novel shows readers good vs. evil through children. It uses their way of coping with being stranded on an island to show us how corrupt humans really are.
Through Roger's gradual descent into savagery, Golding highlights the fragility of human morality and the ease with which it can be corrupted in the absence of societal constraints, thereby reinforcing the novel's theme of the loss of humanity and civility. As a “quiet terror” (182) falls over the island, Roger’s “dark face” (pdf) “weild[s] a nameless authority” (183), in the relentless pursuit of Ralph as he holds a “sharpened stick at both ends” (190) that serves as the definitive manifestation of his descent into savagery and its consequences. As Ralph becomes the last vestige of social order on the island, Roger “carrie[s] death in his hands” (196) and sees him as a target to be
However, while some boys, like Ralph, actively strive to establish order and rules for survival, others, like Roger, exhibit a notable reluctance to engage with the group. Golding skillfully identifies Roger's hesitation, hinting at a deeper detachment from the collective, which foreshadows the theme of inherent darkness within him. As Henry, a little seeking relief from the chaos among the older boys, "wanders off along the beach," (61) Roger shadows him and starts hurling stones, deliberately “[throwing] to miss” (62). Through this calculated act, Roger displays methodical cruelty aimed at instilling fear and asserting dominance without causing direct physical harm. Roger's choice to throw a miss at Henry is a chilling portrayal of his innate cruelty, the complexity of societal norms, and the dark aspects of human nature.
Jack and Roger as the story ends, loose morals that turn them inhumane. Jack shows throughout the book that he has strong leadership skills. So strong that he can convince the other boys on the island to join his tribe on account of positive reasoning. When the idea of the “beast” is brought up, Jack addresses the situation simply stating that the beast is real and that he will kill it at whatever cost. Due to his hunting obsession, Jack kills a pig and hosts a dance in celebration for his success. As the night goes on, Simon crawls out of the forest and Jack’s tribe believes that it is indeed, the beast. Jack and Roger begin to stab and strike Simon making him become weaker and weaker until he finally dies. Jack convinces his tribe that they killed the beast and that their fears are all put to rest. Murder is one of the most inhumane acts one can do. Roger kills multiple of the boys throughout the book and lives with no regret. “A huge rock strikes Piggy, sending him through the air where he falls forty feet and lands on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (181). Being stranded on an island with no authority helps provoke Roger’s terrible traits that proves that the book The Lord of the Flies, is one gigantic metaphor that people turn when their humanity is put to the
...boys themselves and the fact that there are no adults on the island are all involved in the downfall of the island as described in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”. The lack of no adult on the island leads to the competition among the children or worry of a monster lurking in the jungle. Without this adult the boy’s or mainly just Jack and Ralph fought, leading to the downfall of the island. Then the fact the boy’s or mainly just Jack and Ralph fought because of the competition sought between two males for leadership. Finally, the young age of the boy’s trapped on the island doesn’t help when it comes to believing in monsters or getting their work done. The children on the island had no leadership, no one to look up to, and no one to tell them what to do. Six and twelve year olds made their own decisions, no one this age should be making their own decisions.