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Lord of the flies characters analysis essay
Lord of the flies characters analysis essay
A critical analysis into the characters of the novel Lord of the Flies
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Sharing is caring. This is what little children are taught, what people think around christmas time, and how many people try and apply to life. But what if they stopped sharing, would they stop caring? Selfishness is a cruel concept but inevitable. The point where people do not care who or how they hurt is a difficult line. Is selfishness simply human instinct or maybe the hidden want people have to act evilly. Selfishness begins when one is presented with an issue and desires an outcome in their own favor, the selfishness is how far they are willing to go to possess the outcome. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding the many boys, specifically Jack merridew and Ralph show that their selfishness gerts in the way of how they behave and treat …show more content…
the other boys. They let their selfishness persuade them to act evilly against one another from simply trying yo make friends to taking their lives. The boys selfish behavior drives them to perform evil, harmful, and deadly acts.Selfishness motivates the boys to commit acts of evil as they desire an outcome in their own favor showing people will try and conquer their wants. The selfishness of acceptance from the other boys drives Ralph to reform evil acts. First, Ralph does not behave friendly towards Piggy when they first meet.Piggy is trying to have a conversation with Ralph after coming across each other in the woods. As Piggy tries to learn more about Ralph,”What’s your name?”, Ralph” The fatboy waited to be asked his name in turn but this proffer of acquaintance was not made”(9). Ralph knows that Piggy is trying to become friends, but from his appearance Ralph thinks that he is not worth being friendly with. Ralph does not want to associate himself with Piggy. Thus is rude and unthoughtful of Ralph to judge Piggy so quickly.For Ralph not to care about Piggy is insensitive and can lead to dehumanizing of Piggy. Next, Ralph shares Piggy’s old nickname after being asked not to. Piggy is hurt that during the first pow wow of the boys, Ralph shared his old nickname with the new boys. As Piggy scolds him for doing so,”About being called Piggy. I said I didn’t care as long as they didn’t call me Piggy, an’ I said not to tell and then you went an’ said straight out-”(25). Ralph purposefully makes Piggy the laughing stock because he is scared of being the source of laughter himself. Ralph is scared and desperate to be accepted by the group, making him betray Piggy’s trust. The insensitivity Ralph shows when he embarrassed Piggy shows how ruthless he will be to conquer what he wants, to be accepted. Lastly, Ralph is telling Piggy to go back to the younger children and physically runs away from Piggy to leave him behind for Jack and Simmon. As Ralph explains to Piggy,”Now go back, Piggy, and take names. That’s your job. So long.” He turned and raced after the other two boys”(25). Ralph wants Jack and Simmon to like him so he left Piggy. This is evil of Ralph to exclude and make PIggy stay with the youngins. The insensitivity to how Piggy might feel about staying back with the little boys drives Ralph to act selfishly and not invite him. Since no one likes PIggy, Ralph is rude to him because he selfishly wants the boys to like him more. The boys selfishness drives them to disregard human life. first, Jack and the other boys snatch the glasses off of Piggy’s face without asking. The boys want to create a fire and want to use Piggy’s glasses to do so, but they snatch them right off his face instead of asking to borrow them. As Jack scrapes for the glasses, ”His specs- use them as burning glasses” Piggy was surrounded before he could back away. ”Here- let me go!” His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off of his face”(40). The boys attacked Piggy without hesitation or guilt. They just wanted the glasses and did not mind scaring Piggy to get them. They are being reckless to Piggy and his specs. The boys want fire and they tried to conquer this outcome, showing selfishness will drive the boys to commit acts of evil. Next, Jack jumps Piggy for his specs. When Jack and his group’s fire goes out hey decide to jump Piggy and steal his glasses to make a new fire. As Jack attacks, “There was a vicious snarling in the mouth of the shelter and th plunge abd thumping of livings things”...”He was chief now in truth, and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses”(168). The boys hurt Piggy out of selfishness for the glasses. They only think of the object not the life of the person possessing them. All the boys want is fire and their selfishness drives them not to care about who gets in the way. This drives them to commit violent acts. Roger kills Piggy when he comes to take his glasses back. Ralph and Piggy decide to go get Piggy’s specs back from Jack’s tribe but they do not want to. As Ralph and Piggy demand for the glasses, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee. Piggy saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt traveled through the air”(181). The boys want the glasses and when Piggy threatens that, they have no problem eliminating him. They do not have regard for Piggy’s life once they have what they want. The selfishness causes the boys to not care how their actions affect the people around them. The selfishness of power drives Jack to commit acts of evil.
First, Jack is embarrassed and rude when Ralph wins the vote for chief. As Ralph counts the votes Jack immediately thinks that he is going to win, but when Ralph wins he tries to change his mind and becomes embarrassed. After the vote is counted, ”the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down as the air rang”(23). Jack is self absorbed and believes he will, with no problem, win the vote of chief, and does not look at Ralph as an equal but as less than himself. This is extremely rude and selfish of Jack. Jack wanted the outcome of being chief, and when he is waiting he is selfish and does not look at ralph with respect. Jack is selfish driving him to not give Ralph equal respect. Next, Jack splits the boys in half to create his own tribe. The tribe is talking to their chief by which the face paint and talk of blushing is identified as Jack Merridew. He is now the chief of his tribe. As they describe the chief, “The chief's blush was hidden by the white and red clay. Into his uncertain silence the tribe spilled their murmur once more. Then the chief held up his hand”(161). Jack knows it is wrong to split tribes and not work together, but his want for the power over the other boys drives him to act selfishly. Jack desires to be the chief of all the boys, and this makes him split from Ralph’s power. This is evil because he knows it will only create issues. Finally, Jack attempts to hunt and kill Ralph. Sam and Eric are talking to Ralph about what Jack is doing to find him. The lengths Jack is willing to go to and the plan on how. As Eric speaks to Ralph, “we’re going to spread out in a line across the island-” “we’re going forward from this end” “-until we find you.” “And the chief- they’re both-” “-terrors-”(189). The want to be the only leader drives Jack to search Ralph down and kill him. Killing a fellow boy is evil. The
selfishness for power makes Jack lose sight of good. Jack wants the outcome of being the only leader and he will do anything to accomplish his selfish desire of an evil outcome. The way Jack wants power so badly drives him to act in evil ways. Selfishness drives the boys to act evilly proving people will complete harmful actions to try and accomplish their desired outcomes. The way Ralph betray Piggy for acceptance, Roger kills Piggy as soon as he has his glasses, and Jack tries to kill Ralph for all the power shows how selfishness drives the boys to complete evil acts. It is easy for people to put their own needs before someone else's, but imagine if everyone was more compassionate. Less people would die in war, banks would take less money from the poor, and people would be more forgiving. Imagine the change that would be made. People need to stop and think about how their actions affect the people around them, and begin to care. Selfishness drives everyone to commit acts or evil from not sharing a piece of gum in class to not giving a sick person medicine because they do not have enough money to pay for it. Think about switching positions with those people. Live like they do. Begin to care to share.
With such rigid and different identities, Jack and Ralph have very different priorities, making it challenging for them to work together. Ralph’s identity is threatened when Jack lets the fire burn out to go hunting, so he lashes out at him, accusing him, “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts-then you go off hunting and let out the fire-”(70, 71). By ignoring what Ralph told him to do, Jack threatens numerous aspects of Ralph’s identity. Ralph identifies with being elected Chief based on his plan to get rescued, so Jack’s insubordination threatens Ralph. Meanwhile,
When Jack loses the election to become chief to Ralph, it becomes apparent that Jack is schismatic and wholeheartedly intends to act against Ralph’s actions and decisions. From small nuances such as churlish remarks to fights, it is obvious that Jack intends to eventually either dethrone Ralph or form his own tribe. In one instance, Ralph assigns Jack a very simplistic task of watching the fire on the mountain, yet Jack decides that his appetence for blood and meat is more important than fulfilling his duty to the fire. Disobeying Ralph’s orders, Jack defects from his post to hunt and does not attempt to have another person tend the fire in his absence. Because of Jack’s actions, Ralph verbally scolds Jack and states to Jack, “You talk. But you can’t even build hut...
Ralph has several positive characteristics but he also has several crucial weaknesses that prevent him from being the perfect leader. In chapter one the boys decide who they want to be leader. The boys decide on Ralph, “”Vote for a chief!”…every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air.” (Golding 18-19). From the very beginning Ralph is seen as the leader. He becomes the one the boys look up to and depend on to make decisions in their best interest. Ralph has natural leadership skills. Landing on the island with no adults to take control, the boys chose to follow the one boy who seems to be doing something productive, Ralph. An example of Ralph being purposeful and productive is when he blows the conch to get the attention of all the boys on the island and bring them together for a meeting. When Jack and his choir find the other boys gathered he asks where the man with the trumpet is, Ralph replies, “There’s no man with a trumpet. We’re having a meeting. Want to join?” (Golding 16). Ralph asks Jack and the choir boys to join the meeting because he wants all the boys to work together so they can be rescued as soon as possible. Other than his leadership and purposeful qualities, Ralph is also hard working. When tasks are given out to the boys, such as building shelters, hunting, gathering food, the hard work of most boys turns into play and exploration leaving Ralph to do most of the work by himself with little help from others. When the other boys gave up on their tasks Ralph continued working, this proves his hard work. Leadership, purposeful, and hard working are all positive qualities that helped Ralph succeed in the novel, but Ralph also had some majo...
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 it comes to Jack’s fear of not being chief, it brings out the worst in him and it has an effect on others. For instance, when the boys are deciding on who should be the chief, Ralph wins by a landslide. “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Golding 19). That is the first physical evidence of Jack being humiliated by Ralph and judging by Jack’s personality, he is not used to failure so it has a big impact on him. This motivates him to destroy Ralph and the rivalry between the two begins. Another point is that Jack uses fear and threats to control the boys. For example, when Robert tells Roger “’He’s going to beat Wilfred.’ ‘What for?’ Robert shook his head doubtfully” (Golding 176) it shows that Jack is violent and is using his...
Jack’s authoritarian power over Ralph’s democratic power makes Jack the most powerful character in the novel. The power also causes Jack to become and greedy and selfish to point where he thinks he thinks he is the best at everything including hunting and leading the boys. He makes himself invincible and confident by using his own tool of power, paint. Once weak by the way he looked, Jack starts to use paint to cover his weak and shameful face that lacked power. This paint hid Jack’s true identity and “liberated [him] from shame and self-consciousness”(64).With all of the confidence through the paint and support of the boys, Jack finds himself invincible and blinded from the reality and civilization they once had. This behavior from Jack influences other boys on the island to become his followers and turn into savages himself. In this transformation to becoming savages, the characters are introduced to a fear which is an illusion that is created by one of the littluns on the island. The illusion is a beast who is able to impact the lives of the boys because the boys become really dependent on the beast. In order to solve the fear that is created in the minds of the young boys, the two powerful characters take two different views
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.
At one point in the story Jack says “Conch! Conch! We don’t need the conch anymore, we know who ought to say things” This quote really tells us that Jack’s pride has overtaken him and the idea of the kids submitting to him and calling him “chief.” has gone to his head. Jack has become very popular by force and by the kids feeling peer pressured to join Jack’s tribe and be hunters, or else they might be killed by the rest of the tribe. Everyone on the tribe is scared to step up to Jack because the people on his tribe are beginning to get used to the violent acts savagery that have been committed on the island so far. The kids start to let the fear of man overtake them and give into the peer pressure of joining Jack’s tribe because there isn’t really another option. By the kids giving into the peer pressure to follow the “popular” leader, Jack, they are ultimately giving Jack more power so he can do whatever he wants with the support of others who agreed to be apart of the tribe. This theme reaches its climax at the end of the story when it is literally Jack’s whole tribe, which basically consists of all the kids on the island, against Ralph. In the end, Ralph was the only one who didn’t give into the peer pressure to join Jack’s tribe, and ultimately he was rewarded for it because he got what he wanted, to be rescued. Now just because he didn’t give into peer pressure doesn’t mean you automatically get rewarded. I feel that giving Ralph his desire was William Golding’s way of rewarding Ralph for not giving into being apart of Jack's
The impulsivity in Jack’s commands, usually fire back on him and he is immediately self conscious about not being taken seriously and acts off of those actions with no remorse. While on the island, Jack, who has had trouble with asserting his dominance in a confident way, lacks stability in himself when he fails to succeed trivial tasks. “He licked his lips and turned his head at an angle, so that his gaze avoided the embarrassment of linking with another’s eye”(Golding 127). Jack, has challenged Ralph’s authority as a leader by assembling a vote to see whom believes who should be leader of the tribe. Neither the Biguns or Littluns reflected approval towards Jack’s tyrannical party, which immediately confounds Jack’s expectations as leader.
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
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...
Accepting responsibility that an individual has, is a key factor that plays an important role in the maturing of a person. This key factor has the potential to make horrors which have been experienced, to be When the boys who are stranded on the island in William Golding’s allegorical novel, Lord of the Flies, are aware of the situation that they are in, they emulate society from back home by electing a leader: Ralph. Civilization can be defined as the state of human social development and organization that is considered most progressed. Civilization is the human knowledge and reason, over the animalistic savage instincts. The key parts of this definition are what Ralph displays: human and progress. Ralph accepts responsibility and does not
How are the characters of Ralph, Jack and Piggy established in the opening chapters of the novel Lord of the Flies At the start of the novel we learn that during a nuclear war, there was an atomic explosion. Many boys were evacuated on an aircraft with a detachable passenger tube. They were flying over tropical seas via Gibraltar and Addis Ababa when the tube was released and crashed-landed in the jungle of an island. The aircraft flew off in flames and overnight the remains of the tube were swept out to sea in a storm.
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.
of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The