More handpicked essays just for you.
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Self Destruction in Lord of the Flies Whether it is because of your body, surroundings or mentality, self destruction is inevitable for every human being. William Golding shows how civilized humans in spite of their best efforts will ultimately be responsible for their own destruction in Lord of the Flies. This is shown through Jack, Roger, and the concept of fire. Jack is responsible for his own destruction and the destruction of others. To put it simply, Jack is power hungry. He doesn’t like how Ralph is chief, so he decides he’s better and takes over. This is shown when Golding writes ‘ “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.” ‘ (29). Jack says this like it makes him better, and his desire for power is strengthened more when he leaves the main group. Jack also lets his inner beast take over, which eventually causes him to be cruel to Piggy. If he hadn’t let it take over, he would still be respected and not viewed as a savage, which is ultimately what he becomes. Jack also kills, or at the very least, …show more content…
assists in killing, Simon. When Simon dies, the boys witness true destruction for the first time, and it is caused by Jack. They see what they have become. Through that, Jack destroys the innocence that the others had, as well as his own, and turns them into animals. Roger causes major self destruction in various ways on the island.
Roger, like Jack, allows his inner beast to take over his mind instead of being sensible. He is against Ralph because of this, and it just hurts his sense of right and wrong. Roger also kills Piggy by dropping the boulder, which shows how ruthless and cruel he has become, since he is so easily able to kill. He used to care about people, but then he kills Piggy like it’s nothing. Roger also encourages Jack’s descent into madness. He stays by Jack’s side, encouraging him, following his orders, calling him chief. He is with Jack at Castle Rock, even being guard, shown when he yells ‘ “Halt! Who goes there?” ‘ (215). He makes Jack think that what he is doing is right, when the opposite is true. Roger destroys his sanity, sensibility, and other good traits while on the island, and encourages it in
others. The aspect of fire is very destructive of nature and relationships in the land of paradise. The first time they had a fire, it was on the mountain. The boys weren’t careful, and they set the forest on fire, destroying nature. This also affects the possibility of them being rescued. The existence of fire caused conflict often as well, whether it was a desire to cook with it or lettting the rescue fire go out. ‘ “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!”...”They might have seen us. We might have gone home-” ‘ (88). Ralph is incredibly angry with Jack for letting the fire go out when they could have gone home. In addition, near the end, Jack tried, and succeeded, in using fire to get Ralph out of the forest. He ends up setting the entire island on fire. That fire eventually gets them rescued. Despite that, fire was something that burned paths through the dark unknown. It created lines between friends, turning them against each other. Jack, Roger and the presence of fire are all used by William Golding to show how civilized humans in spite of their best efforts, will ultimately be responsible for their own destruction in Lord of the Flies. That is true for all humans. Regardless of where someone is, they can be reckless, and will be responsible for their own destruction at some point in their lives.
I Hope To Survive “I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best” as Benjamin Disraeli says. In the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding, A group of boys get trapped on an island during WWII and they have to figure out a way to survive on their own, inevitably they end up killing two of the audience’s favorite characters, and become savage until they get rescued. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is about a boy who never loses hope and goes on his personal journey to find treasure in the Egyptian Pyramids. In both books, there is a visible recurring theme of survival and hope, though they may be used in different ways. Both of the books explore how the characters survive.
The quote I drawed from the book is from when Piggy and Ralph were yelling at Jack for the specs back and Roger starts to push the rock over. The quote is "High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever" (Golding 180) This shows how Roger, not on accident, but purposely leaned all his weight on the lever to release the rock that eventually fell and killed Piggy. I believe that this is when Roger was in “full demon mode” which I talked about earlier. The fact that a young boy would drop a rock on purpose to kill someone is absolutely inhumane. Therefore this is final example of how Roger changed his identity in the
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.
When order disappears, human nature converts to savagery. William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies to prove evil exists in human. Golding shows direct and indirect characterization of Jack to demonstrate that true savagery exists.
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
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
My Essay is about Ralph and and his Motivation’s and did he contribute to the tragedy in any way. Also about if he prevented any of the deaths and what would I have done differently in his situation. I defend Ralph’s actions as leader, He had tried his best but everyone fell apart. Did Ralph contribute to the tragedies? Ralph had tried his best but he was struggling at handling the problems on the island, He was unaware of the boy’s and what was going on. He had tried to contribute to all of the tragedies but there was too much going on around him it was just hard. What was wrong with Ralph too was that jack ignores everything and try’s to do his own thing the whole time instead of working together with everyone. All Jack wants is his way or his way to him there is no other way. So yes Ralph had try to contribute to the tragedies but Jack and other boys had just did what they wanted to do instead of doing what they should have done. So Ralph had really struggled dealing with everybody. In my opinion Ralph was doing a good job, Yes he kind of gave up for a little b...
Jack had a bit of a war-mongering stripe in him. His need for conflict and competition is evident throughout the book, such as butting heads with Ralph and bullying Piggy. Even worse, he was the “Leader of the choir boys…who followed him everywhere.” (Golding 16). He had a following before he reached the island, whereas Ralph had to build his own faction. As a final advantage, Jack was also one of the older boys on the island, so anyone younger would automatically look to him for advice and help, along with Ralph. However, being that many of the other boys owed their loyalties to Jack due to their collective participation in choir, some of the stragglers might seek to go to the larger “side” that developed in the latter half of the book. Solomon Asch’s explained this in his work on conformity, which states that if a large number of individuals are moving in a direction, more should follow. Luckily for Ralph and Piggy, it was not unanimous, or the likelihood of them gaining followers would be almost nil. Piggy had predispositions that were better earlier on in the story, but soon faded into obscurity. Piggy was representative of the educated man of society; the one society produces so that the individual can be successfully adapted to society. While his keen ideas were useful at the beginning of their endeavors, his physical shortcomings ultimately doomed him.
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
This shows how he is a good person and an excellent leader because, everybody on the island knows, that Jack is the only person who has the confidence and ability to kill animals. ” ‘Listen all of you. Me and my hunters, we’re living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribe come and see us. Perhaps I’ll let you join. Perhaps not.’ “. (140) Without Jack, they will not have food and the children know they need that, but Piggy and Ralph could not provide that for them. Therefore, they had to leave them.
Jack has always been an ill-natued boy even from the start of the book when he told Piggy to "Shut up, Fatty." (p.23). Dispite Jack’s unpleasent personality, his lack of courage and his conscience preventing him from killing the first pig they encountered. "They knew very well why he hadn’t; because of the enormity of the knife decending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood." (p.34)
Lord of the Flies: Final Essay Exam. Are the defects of society traced back to the defects of human nature? The defects of society, and how it relates to the defects of human nature, can be explained with the savagery that drives the defects of society and the same savagery that drives the defects of human nature. In this story, Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the id, ego, and superego within the characters in the book. Golding represents the id with Jack, whereas the id says “I want, and I want it now,” and Jack constantly wants and needs power, and wants his way in every situation.
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.
Jack is unable to see what the boys really need. He decides he should be chief simply because he could sing a chord and was the head boy in the choir. The truth is Jack doesn’t care about anything else other than hunting. In the beginning he seems to be a great leader but his selfish ambitions show him to not be a good leader choice. Jack does not treat the boys with respect and is only focused on killing the pigs and eating them. Ralph doesn’t think he is better than the rest of the boys, this is partially what makes him a better leader than Jack. He understands the other boys, especially Piggy. When Jack hits Piggy’s glasses and breaks them Ralph says it’s, “a dirty trick”. This illustrates Ralph’s compassion as well as Jack’s disregard for others and their property. Jack does not know how to understand people, unlike Ralph. In relation to leadership Jack also does not change throughout the book, in the end he is still the same aggressive and bossy
Jack has shown he is the superior leader to Ralph, and can control the group of kids. Jack uses excellent tactics to take valuable resources that he needs for his tribe. A specific example of this is when Jack said “We’ll raid them and take fire. There must be four of you; Henry and you, Robert and Maurice… we’ll build the fire there.(Golding 136)” This quote shows that Jack needed to do whatever was necessary to provide the satisfaction of his people as chief. Jack needed the fire, and he took responsibility and ordered his members to get it for him. Jack also had shown authority when he was yelling and getting mad because he wanted prisoners. Since it was not happening he had to use force to control it. To demonstrate this idea “‘why aren’t you on watch’ Roger looked at him gravely. ‘The chief snatched one of the few spears that were left and poked sam in the ribs.(Golding 182)”’ This shows the central idea that Jack, at the end, started becoming very aggressive kid. He needed to show his power so his tribe would understand him. Sam and Eric were the ones to take the blame for it. Jack has shown great control, and he was a great leader. This is expressed when “ In the final chapter we have the very unpleasant feeling that we are being hunted by Jack and Roger. How we fear and loathe their extravagant instabble evil(Boyer)” As a result to this, Jack was the lead roll of his