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…
in turn." This means that whenever he has the paint on, his inner "savage" comes out and he feels no remorse for anything that he does. There is another thing that is evil and it happens whenever someone dies. It is the chant that the hunters did when ever they killed a pig or person. The chant is, "Kill the pig, Cut her throat, Bash her in." This is important because, as I said, it gets chanted whenever something evil happens. Another thing that proves that he is evil is that at the beginning, whenever he got blood on himself, he would wipe it off, whereas near the middle of the book, he laughs and smears it on Maurice. The quotation from when he wipes it off is this, "He noticed blood on his hands and grimaced distastefully, looked for something on which to clean them, then wiped them on his shorts and laughed." When he did this, he did not have the paint on, therefor he was not totally savage yet. The quotation from when rubbed it on Maurice is this, "Then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks." This is when he did have the paint on, so he was savage. There is some good in people though. There is one character that is completely good and has no bad bones. However, since he's the only one, I will be talking about a character who is sometimes bad, but usually good. His name is Ralph. An example of this would simply be when he is mean to Piggy and makes fun of him, but a good example would be when he protects Piggy from Jack and the hunters. At the beginning of the book the author even tells us that he "proclaims no devil." The quote is, "Might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil." This sort of fore-shadows the book in a way that would make you think that he is a good person, which he is. However, Ralph does have a bad side. Sometimes Ralph gives into his inner savage. An example of this is, when Jack was explaining how he killed the pig, and everyone crowded around Bill, whom was pretending to be the pig.
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
down. This displays that Ralph is truly good at heart. The one character in the book that is truly evil and has no sense of good is Roger. An example of this is when everyone is hunting Ralph, "He prepares a stick, with points sharpened at each end, on which to mount Ralph’s head." This shows how evil he is. By preparing that stick it shows that he thinks of Ralph as nothing more then a pig. Near the end of the book, when Jack forces the twins to join him, the twins say to Ralph how much of a terror Roger is. This indicates that everyone is scared of how bad he can be. However, the worst thing that he did was kill Piggy. Not even Jack was going to do that. "Numb to the sufferings of others, he releases the rock that knocks Piggy to his death and tortures the twins into submission." This just shows how evil he can be. Without even thinking about it, he killed Piggy and then went on to torturing the twins. To conclude, I have argued that the characters Jack, Ralph and Roger are either good or evil. Jack is definitely evil but not as cruel as Roger. Jack is a character in between good and evil, and Roger is just a truly horrible person. For the theme good vs evil, I have covered the characters that I think represent it really well.
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 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.
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). ...
Ralph, the first character introduced to the audience, is probably the most likable character in the entire story. Although he does not ponder such deeply like Piggy, is not as spiritual like Simon, or as energetic as Jack, there is something in him that attracts the audience. Ralph serves as the protagonist of the story. He is described as being a playful, innocent child in the beginning, but towards the end he matures significantly. In the first chapter where he takes his clothes off and goes swimming like any child would do, he seems to be Adam in the Garden of Eden, a child left to play with the nature.
Ralph, in some ways, parallels a school teacher. He always tries to do what is in the best interest of the community, but sometimes is over powered by the majority and gives in. In over words, he does his best to keep order and peace, but of course can’t all the time because of disagreements, stubbornness and rebellion.
So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." pg, 37 Ralph always has the strong belief that all the children will be saved from the island sooner or later, but at the middle of the story. he begins to doubt it. At the end of the story, after the death of Piggy, Ralph’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, he knocks. over the pig’s skull. " A sick fear and rage swept him away.
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
This is the turning point for Ralph, not only as a person, but as a character in the book. Ralph goes from a somewhat flat character, to a round character, and with this transformation, he completes his dream, a dream which he had with him the whole time. Not only has he come to peace with himself and his accomplishments, he has come to peace with those around him, “Ralph watched the water fight with sadness in his heart, never guessing the scene would one day hearten him, as it did now.” (p296). Some may say that Ralph never achieved his dream. I say that he achieved his dream about half way through the book, he just didn’t realize all he had, and all he could lose until it was almost gone.
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.
Not only do the two character's decisions clash so do their personalities. Ralph is caring and considerate, being kinder...
“The loss of innocence for which Ralph weeps at the novel's close is not, however, a matter of transformation from childish goodness to adolescent depravity, is not a growing into wickedness. It is rather the coming of an awareness of darkness, of the evil in man's heart that was present in the children all along,” (Boyd). At the end of the novel, Ralph cries for a few reasons. He cries because he has lost his friend Piggy. He also cries because he has lost his innocence. He now realizes that there is evil in every man.