There are many different types of people in this world with an abounding variety of personalities, but even as polar opposites many are similar in their own measure. Simon and Roger are like night and day but despite their differences they are each very important to each of the leaders as well as becoming more and more independent throughout the book. On the other side of their personalities is where they become polar opposites. Roger being ruthless, violent, and rebellious while Simon is intelligent, peacemaking, and nonchalant.
In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” he talk about two characters names Simon and Roger. Although they may not be the main characters they are each significant to both the protagonist Ralph, and the antagonist
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Jack. Jack expects Roger to do a lot of his dirty work as well as pitching in ideas.
“High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (Golding, 180) Although Jack may not have audibly told Roger to roll the boulder down castle rock, Roger and Jack have the same mentality when it comes to solving problems. If Roger had not rolled the mass down castle rock striking Piggy the conflict would most likely had become violent anyway, Jack would most likely take things into his own hands and strike Ralph. In Lord of the Flies our main character Ralph has a few followers who help keep him on track and remind him of their goal to get rescued as well as guiding him. Simon is very important to Ralph in a sense of reasoning and advice throughout the book. “We ought to draw a map,’ said Ralph, ‘only we haven’t got any paper.’ ‘We could make scratches on …show more content…
bark,’” (Golding, 27) Here is one of the many opportunities where he helps guide Ralph and give him advice on how to get to where they are going, which hopefully is home. He is more neutral between the two government beliefs on the island but supports and helps Ralph on his journey home. Simon is not only valuable to Ralph as a companion but as a guiding spirit on their journey. In conclusion Roger and Simon may be of help to their chosen chiefs in different ways but they both play a large role to each the protagonist and antagonist. From the moment the boys set foot on the island it was quite clear that Simon was very independent and self-reliant. At the end of chapter three “Huts on a Beach” Simon wanders into the forest and comes upon a secluded opening in the thick brush, this becomes his secret hideout that he goes to when he needs to think or just longs for peace and quiet. “He came at last to a place were more sunshine fell. Since they had not so far to go for the light the creepers had woven a great mat that hung at the side of an open space in the jungle.” (Golding, 56) Throughout the book Simon constantly goes back to this nook of his, showing he prefers to go be alone in his quiet area where it can just be him and his thoughts. Even from the starting point it is quite transparent that Simon prefers to be a lone wolf, but Roger’s character gradually develops throughout the novel. The first time we start to see Roger’s dark side is when he razes the littluns sandcastles as well as hurling stones at Henry. Although he could very easily cause Henry harm every stone goes around him as if Henry has his own little force field keeping him from harm. This protection represents the mark that civilization has left on him. Slowly then almost all at once this sense of civilization disappears in Roger. “Roger edged past the chief, only just avoiding pushing his shoulder. The yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.” (Golding, 182) Here is where Roger went rouge, he took the role of authority into his own hands brushing Jack to the side. Furthermore he has completed his transition into being independent as well as ruthless and unscrupulous. Each have their own way of expressing their individualism but in conclusion the two are very independent minded. On the contrary their personalities could not be more polar, Simon is intelligent, has a special peace in his personality, and looked at as a peacemaker by most of the boys.
Simon is the only member of the choir who does not become a hunter along with the other choir boys and Jack their leader. He is also the only one on the island to put the pieces together and realizes the “beast” lives within themselves. “What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us.” (Golding, 89) The boys have all gathered for an important assembly and in the midst of all the arguing about who gets to speak and who has the conch Simon realizes the beast lives within the boys. This shows how Simon is intelligent and problem solving, he outsmarted all the other boys who fear something in the forest while the thing they should fear most lives in their hearts. Contrarily Roger is ruthless, unforgiving, and savage. For most of the book Roger is under Jack’s ruling but still seems to make room for his own rules here and there. In chapter eleven Jack, Piggy, and Samneric go to regain Piggy’s glasses from Jack and the choir boys, when they begin to argue Roger rolls the boulder down the cliff striking and killing Piggy. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” (Golding, 181) Him doing so is almost solely because he can, because there is no one on the island that can bark orders at him, he can get away with anything he wants
to. Personalities may be opposites but also very similar, Roger and Simon may be like night and day but the closer you look the more similarities you can find.
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, 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.
Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. The twins giggled and Simon lowered his face in shame.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a peculiar story about boys stranded on an island, and the plot and characters relate to many prevailing events and problems. A specific problem that is currently occurring is the mutual hatred and enmity between North Korea and South Korea. This is a current event, but the North and South’s hostility has been ongoing since 1945, when Korea was split into North and South, Communist and Capitalist. When the 38th parallel(Border between North and South Korea) was created, Kim Il-Sung ruled the North, and Syngman Rhee ruled the South. As of now, a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong-un rules the north, and an optimistic president who wants to see change was recently elected in the South, named Moon Jae-in. In Golding’s book, Ralph is a character who aimed to keep everyone alive and to stay together. Jack on the other hand, wanted to have fun and hunt, and although he also wanted to be rescued, he made no effort to help. In this sense, North Korea is a clear representation of the character Jack and his quest for power, and opposingly, South Korea is a representation of Ralph and his strive for order, democracy, and civilization.
While Jack and Ralph represent the distinct polarization between civilization and savagery. Simon is separated from both of these dimensions. Simon represents built-in goodness. The other boys who hold on to their sense of morality only do so because society has conditioned and trained them to act in a certain way. They do not have an innate sense of morality. Unlike the other boys on the island, Simon does not act morally because an external force has compelled him to do so, instead he finds value in performing good actions.
The lack of civilization and human goodness leads the young children to evils and a bad environment that they have never faced. Simon, a “skinny, vivid boy, (pg. 24)” is a member of Jack’s choir but soon leaves his tribe and joins Ralph because he is not able to deal with the cruel leadership. As all the other characters fail to maintain responsibilities and their commitments to the rules of the island, Simon is the only person who dedicates to them as things begin to fall apart. He is a character with a respectful, spiritual personality and has a human goodness with nature as he deals with the littluns and the older boys. For example, he helps the littluns pick fruit to eat, recovers Piggy’s glasses when they fly off his face, gives Piggy his own share of meat when he was refused a piece and gives ...
When the boys first landed on the island, Golding describes Roger in the quote, “There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself . . . He muttered that his name was Roger and was silent again,” (Golding 14) Roger wasn’t really one of the bolder boys and was timid at the beginning, when they had first landed on the island. He says his name quietly and that is all to be heard of shy little Roger. Roger is also the one who suggests having a vote to pick a chief, ending the argument between Ralph and Jack and coming up with a solution that is more sophisticated than other options. When they are trying to light a fire, Roger says “‘You make a bow and spin the arrow,’ . . . He rubbed his hands in mime,” (Golding 32). This indicates that Roger knows about how to survive and that he is slowly coming out of his shell, the transition to savagery has begun.
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.
It could be said that tragedies serve as Humanity’s catalysts of thought. When we line up literary eras with wars, the shifts in eras are always marked by some war- especially in America. The Romantic period was broken by the dawn of the civil war, and took a little magic from the world of writing. Writing shifted to realism, which was the polar opposite of romantic thought. When the First World War broke out, the modernist movement overshadowed realism. Similarly, the Second World War produced postmodernism. Should there be another horrible tragedy, the view will shift similarly. Whatever the implications may be, tragedies seem to change how us humans think and act. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he tells the story of a group of schoolboys
The novel, Lord of the Flies, deals a lot with characterization. The character that stood out the most was Ralph, who was excellently developed by Golding as a leader.
Ralph and Jack are both powerful and meaningful characters in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Ralph is an excellent leader; responsible, and stands for all that is good. Jack is a destructive hunter, selfish, and represents evil. These two main characters can be compared by the actions they take as leaders, their personalities, and what they symbolize in the story.
Symbolism is defined as the representation; treatment or interpretation of things as symbolic. In society and in particular, literature, symbolism is a prominent component that helps to illustrate a deeper meaning then perceived by the reader. Symbolism can be anything, a person, place or thing, used to portray something beyond itself. It is used to represent or foreshadow the conclusion of the story. In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies symbolism of the main characters Ralph, Jack and Simon plays a very important role in helping to show how our society functions and the different types of personalities that exist. An examination of Simon as a symbol of good, Ralph as a symbol of the common man, and Jack as a symbol of evil, clearly illustrates that William Golding uses characters as a symbol of what is really happening in the outside world throughout the novel.
People are privileged to live in an advanced stage of development known as civilization. In a civilization, one’s life is bound by rules that are meant to tame its savage natures. A humans possesses better qualities because the laws that we must follow instill order and stability within society. This observation, made by William Golding, dictates itself as one of the most important themes of Lord of the Flies. The novel demonstrates the great need for civilization ion in life because without it, people revert back to animalistic natures.
Throughout William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, many of the characters go through changes in their personality traits. From beginning to end, Simon goes through the smallest amount of change than anyone in the novel. Despite the fact that Simon did not really fit in with the other boys, he tried his hardest to make a difference in his and the other's lives.
Describe an important character and explain why they are important. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Ralph Describe an important character and explain why they are important. An important character in Lord of the Flies by William Golding is Ralph. Ralph is a strong leader in the book who all the boys respect,