Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis

In William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies while the time of a World War, a plane crashed on an uncharted island leaving young boys stranded with no authority. The boys get so caught up in striving for survival that their savage side overtakes them. William Golding proves that men are essentially evil through the inability of the boys to maintain an authority figure that would have prevented the creeping in of savagery because of the loss of societal rules.

Evil, the act inflicting pain on others, and the desire to always want to hurt someone physically or emotionally. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are placed in strenuous circumstances that cause them to perform ruthless acts on each other. In Dr.Zimbardo’s Ted Talk he claims that when an individual is placed under the proper circumstances, he or she is competent of pursuing malevolent behavior towards someone. It is clearly demonstrated in the novel when the boys show dispositional factors (bad apples vs good apples), situational factor (bad barrels), and systemic factors (bad barrel makers).

Take for instance, Roger, a character from the novel, Lord of the Flies who is a sadistic person, finding pleasure in hurting others. Do you really believe that even if he was in a group where he finds himself to be part of a dangerous situation and he is needed to save one of the other boys, say Piggy for example, that he would do it? Of course not. He has proven to us that he enjoys inflicting harm on others, especially someone like Piggy. Golding himself states in Lord of the Flies, “A full effort would send the rock thundering down to neck of land. Roger admired.” (Golding 159). What Golding is saying is that Roger wants to harm Piggy so with that in mind, he finds that the rock is the best thing to achieve what he wants. It follows then that the kind of personality that the person has will either get them to help someone out or get them to harm them as well. Someone like Ralph and Piggy, who have more sympathy towards those that get hurt would be more willing to help out than someone like Roger and Jack. Roger and Jack are more of the kind to not help others out unless it benefits them or gives them pleasure in inflicting pain upon someone else in Roger’s case, but this is where we can see every person is different. It is not just that responsibility has been unconsciously passed on to someone else. Nevertheless, it would have been beneficial in Darley’s and Latane’s case to include both external and internal contributions as to why people decided not to aid another

Lord of the Flies is often claimed to be an allegory of modern society. While this is true, Golding’s intentions in writing this novel are much deeper. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provides an enlightening insight into the true nature of human beings; along with why people refrain from acting upon the evil that resides within them. He presents these ideas through symbolism within the novel and it proves effective in many ways. Through symbolism, Golding can unfold the excellent plot of his novel, while subsequently sharing his ideas on the relationship of mankind and society. Golding uses the beast, the conch shell, and Piggy’s glasses to symbolize the human impulse towards ‘savagery’ and the social constructs put in place to prevent it.

Simons dead body moved out toward the open sea” (Golding 154). In The Lord of the Flies, Golding refers to the boys as Beelzebub, a powerful demon in the bible that was very dangerous and feared almost like a powerful savage. In one of the big plots of the story is when Jack and his hunting crew goes and murders Simon and when you are a child you are raised to not murder anyone in this world; therefore the boys lose their human nature and murder Simon. The real problem the boys experience on the island is that they succumb human nature; therefore their solutions of authority structure by a dictatorship versus the conch and ultimately they fail.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys suddenly become stranded on an island, all alone, forced to form their own social system. Throughout the novel, William Golding reveals his main character 's strengths and weaknesses in their attempts to lead. The character Piggy demonstrates the benefits and limits of intelligence in maintaining civil order.

All our personalities compare to a character from Lord of the Flies, and I found myself to be an ENFP or an idealist; someone most comparable to Simon. An ENFP or an idealist personality displays characteristics of being extroverted, intuitive, feeling and perceiving which. Furthermore, passionately concerned with positive improvement, being kind, warm, sympathetic, distracted and motivated were all trait described in the personality test for the ENFP. Due to our selflessness, how introverted and extroverted we are, and how we can think both logically and emotionally, makes Simon and I most similar.

Piggy, Ralph, Jack, and Roger were all crucial characters throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding. All these characters made questionable decisions that when combined, contributed to Piggy’s necessary demise. Although some character’s decisions had a greater impact than others, they were all responsible in some way. Piggy’s stubborn behavior, Ralph’s lack of leadership, Jack’s power hungry and irresponsible behavior, and Roger’s unstable mental state all contributed towards Piggy’s passing. All this contributed to Piggy’s death and were necessary to the survival of everyone on the island.

At the beginning of the novel, Golding depicts Ralph as the natural leader. However his only claim to leadership is his good looks, and that he, first blew the conch. From the start of the novel Ralph is forced to take responsibility through the symbolic conch, being voted “chief”, and possessing a natural propensity for leadership as he is confident, eloquent and attractive. Additionally, on page 31 Ralph progresses to the realisation that the boys need order. ‘There aren’t any grown-ups. We shall look after ourselves…We’ll have to have ‘hands up’ like at

No human, or animal, or other living being in this world is perfect. Flaws are existent. However, the severity of the flaws can differ, from mild to rather dangerous. Most importantly, flaws develop in a human being due to specific reasons. In Lord of The Flies, the author William Golding’s portrayal of selfishness and pride are significant because they are emotions that prevail when a civilization is absent, showing that humans have a tendency to go towards savagery that is contained by the presence of a civilization.

When left to themselves without laws or consequences for their actions, humans reveal an ugly and chaotic side of themselves. This horrid side of humans is ultimately lead by Sigmund Freud’s concept of the human ID, which describes the evil and twisted side of the human mind. This concept of inevitable anarchy due to a lack of laws is exhibited in William Golding’s novel, Lord of The Flies. Through notable characters such as Jack, Roger, Ralph, and Piggy, Golding elucidates how even once civilized, people can immediately change based on their environment. The lack of a strong government and strict laws leads these boys into an ultimate anarchic war which threatens their survival and their chances of getting rescued from the island. Multiple characters such as Piggy, get killed due to this lack and inability of the boys to follow 18th century philosopher, Cesare Beccaria’s, belief of a strong judicial system to hold people accountable for their actions. The boys responsible for Piggy’s death (Roger and other hunters) are simply let go without any punishments or consequences. Eventually, this barbarous and savage war almost leads to the island being devastated by a fire created by Jack’s tribe to capture Ralph for simply trying to bring back law to the island. Fortunately, the boys are saved by a naval officer who was able to spot the large bonfire. Although the boys try their best to implement Cesare Beccaria’s idea of a strong judicial system to have effective consequences

Ralph is humble and responsible leader that guides the boys to follow the expectations of civilization. For instance, Ralph’s responsible actions are shown when the boys realize the predicament of not having adults on the island. “There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves” (pg.33). This indicates that Ralph is determined to care for the boys. It also suggests that he made an immense decision to step up and lead to enforce the well-being of the group. Likewise, in the beginning of the novel, Ralph’s effective leadership is shown when he states the idea of having rules. “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages” (pg.42). This implies that Ralph’s leadership was very influential towards the group of boys. It also shows how he was a very well respected member of the group. Ultimately, Ralph is portrayed as the protagonist in the novel.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the fair leader, responds to his unique setting in many ways. At first, Ralph is ecstatic to be on the island and to have freedom from society’s rules, adult supervision, and authority. However, he soon finds that an irrational fear of a beast threatens to cause chaos amongst the boys. When all rules are forgotten and savagery reigns without adult authority, he takes it upon himself to enforce the island’s laws in an effort to maintain order and morality. In the end of the novel, Ralph starts to lose the specific character traits that define him as a productive leader as the boys around him turn savage

Three of the main characters in the novel Lords of Flies can demonstrate Freud psychoanalytic theory of personality. Freud’s theory contends your personality is an outcome of the interface between three parts of your mind. This subconscious part of your mind is divided into three types the ID (instinct), ego (reality), and superego (morality).

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, portrays society's struggles between good and evil through a literary work. Golding accomplished this through the characterization of Simon and Jack; Simon is good and Jack is evil. However, as the book progresses we see that humanity isn’t just good or bad. Everyone is more like Ralph, who has never been entirely good nor bad. Throughout the book, Golding displays that every boy on the island is both good and evil at heart. The difference between each boy is how they react that reality.