Lord Of The Flies Death Analysis

It is difficult for Roger to break away from the crowd, so in order to fit in with his society he decides that he must kill Piggy. However since his decisions are based purely on his surroundings rather than his personal values, Roger is not guilty for Piggy’s death. But Roger’s genes or how he is raised do not determine his cruel decisions, his environment does. If Roger was still tied to the views of a civil community, he would never commit murder. The consequences are too great in an organized society for killing someone. Yet in Jack’s tribe there are no consequences, as execution is encouraged. Therefore there is pressure and tension within the group that is forcing Roger to act similarly to everyone else. If he does not act as a savage, he is seen as different which makes him unwanted and unaccepted. Roger is not purposely trying to kill Piggy, but is instead being pushed over the edge into doing something where he has no other

Although not mentioned much at the start of the novel, by the end, Roger becomes Jack’s right-hand man. The following quote best captures Roger’s merciless savagery, Golding writes, “‘High overhead, Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… The rock struck Piggy a gleaning blow from chin to knee… the body of Piggy was gone.”’(Golding 181). Roger, in this scene, murders Piggy in cold blood. Roger clearly knows it is wrong to kill; but, with “abandonment” pushed the rock. Roger, who was first seen throwing stones at Henry, throws the rocks in the area around Henry. This demonstrates that he still has traces of civilization left and that the thought of rules exist. Roger; although, slowly afterwards loses most of his civilization. Once again seen with Jack after they kill the mother pig, Roger, tortures the pig with no remorse. During this sick scene, Roger stabs the pig in whatever place he can find. After all of this, the first thing Roger asks is how are we going to cook it. Finally, when Roger kills Piggy he reaches his final transformation into savagery; therefore, without parental supervision, Roger’s extremely corrupt human nature emerges. Along with Roger’s exhibition of corruptness, Ralph also displays the true human

Thesis Statement: The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays the theme that regardless of each person’s different background and characteristics, every individual has the ability to commit brutal acts. While this book depicts Ralph and Piggy as the most civilized characters, and Jack and his hunters as young English choir boys, their actions reveal that they all have the capability to act violently.

As for Piggy’s death at Roger’s hands, it could be blamed by the diffident Roger’s innately sadistic behaviour that merely inured to a land that

To begin with, Roger progressively transforms from a mysterious boy to a barbarian over the course of civilization to regression. Roger avoids social contact, initially, until refinement unravels among several boys, and he gets unruly--walking into the littluns’ sandcastle purposely--after relieving his signal fire duties. Afterwards, Roger continues bothering the kids, more particularly--Henry--as he “stoop[s], pick[s] up a stone, and thr[ows] it at Henry--threw it miss” (Golding 62). Roger gives in to the lack of civilization on the island by having the idea of harming a mere, young boy. However, civilization embeds a part of him, and it prevents him from hitting Henry literally. For example, he “pick[s] up a stone” (Golding 62) with the intent of using it to hurt a person since over time, the island gradually loses its authority and order. Consequently, these boys influence one another dramatically by their thirst to hunt or simple goal of survival. In this case, Jack, a power hungry tyrant, barbarically impacts Roger and his viewpoints. However, at home, society reminds Roger such actions are not acceptable, so he “threw it to

Jack meets Ralph on the beach after the first hunt, and “[Ralph says,] ‘The best thing we can do is get ourselves rescued.’ Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was. ‘Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first’” (Golding 53). The boys have only been on the island for a few weeks, and have already lost touch with what society would place as priority. When Piggy dies, they have been on the island for months on end. The boys are stretched to the breaking point. They are near the point of insanity. Society acts as a lifeline, a tether that people cling to every day. It instills ideals, acceptable behavior, and keeps the animal that resides inside everyone at bay. Roger’s grasp on the tether slips, and he continues to float further away everyday that he remains on the island. Add the fact that he is young, and the responsibility he may have melts into his old life. Roger is not aware of the consequences of leaning on the lever to drop the rock. He has no reason to even think about the possibilities. Without society, people become anarchic and unable to function with deliberate thought. Roger develops an identical thought process long before Piggy dies. He simply cannot be held responsible with the situation that he is

After being on the island for a long time, the boys start to become uncivilized too. After Roger already becomes a criminal by aiding in the murder of a boy, Simon, he murders Piggy on his own. Roger understood that he was committing murder, so he should be fully responsible for his actions. What Roger did is unacceptable, he murdered someone by choice. Because even though “We are born with evil in us...

The classic book Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is a story of a group of schoolboys being stranded on a tropical island during World War II. The three main boys are Jack, Ralph, and Piggy, but there are other boys with them on the island. As the book progresses, our group of protagonists slowly lose their morality and become wild savages. In the story there are three specific pig hunts the group has that canonize their steps to insanity. On the first hunt, three boys come across a piglet caught in the vines. The boys attempt to kill it, but the piglet escapes. During the second hunt, a larger group of boys run into a wild boar, which also escapes. On the third hunt, the groups hunters find a sow feeding her piglets. The boys slaughter the pig and put its head on a pike. Ultimately, the piglet, boar, and sow hunt slowly show the boy's madness progress. This helps to portray Golding’s theme that there is a darkness in every man’s heart.

It was second-degree murder, because the story never mentions that Roger was planning to kill Piggy, but that it appears to be a random act. Roger begins by throwing pebbles in the twin’s direction, intentionally missing them. As he continues this, his anger grows stronger and it begins to take control of him… Roger was near a lever, and if he were to lean his weight on said lever, a giant rock would roll down. For whatever reason, Roger leaned on this lever causing the rock to come, as well as panic. The rock struck little Piggy causing the conch he was holding to shatter, but also sent him flying through the air. He fell forty feet and landed on a rock in the sea. The water was bloodstained, and it was clear what had happened. Piggy was dead. This occurrence fits the definition of murder, because Roger purposely leaned on the lever, causing Piggy to be killed. Although his intention may not have been to kill Piggy, it still happened because of Roger’s

The self-restricted actions of Roger before savagery fully settles on the island are the result of the imposed order of everyday human life. Roger is playfully throwing stones at Henry, but does not allow any of them to hit his target. To show the importance and connection of Roger’s actions, Golding writes, “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to threw them. Yet there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life” (Golding 62). Roger, throwing rocks at someone to begin with, has a desire to hurt people. The “taboo of old life”, however, is able to completely restrict this desire from doing any harm, being “invisible yet strong” as well as making Roger unable to “dare” to throw a stone close to Henry. This language makes it seem as if Roger, having gone through the civilization of “old life”, is forced to

Tommy, the attorney for Jack, reinforced his justification with thought-provoking questions and authentic responses from several witnesses. For example, as the attorney for Jack was interrogating Roger, Tommy inquired, “Would you say that you were responsible for Piggy’s death?” Roger answered, “Partially.” Even though one might think Roger was copying Jack’s savage qualities, Roger was cruel and impetuous from the beginning. Undeniably, he was the sadist who killed Piggy when he pushed the boulder on top of him. It was Roger’s fault that Piggy died, all the other characters were distractions creating chaos throughout the scene. Roger was being reckless and impulsive not caring what he was doing and caused Piggy’s death. In addition, Jack’s attorney called Ralph to the stand and questioned him: “Were you responsible for the death of Simon?” Ralph replied, “Partially, I watched it happen.” Evidently, Ralph was present at the ritual dancing with the group of boys, who all contributed to the death of Simon. Because Ralph was elected leader he became the source of authority and role model for all the boys. Therefore, when Ralph began to tackle and beat Simon, everyone else mimicked his actions. Ralph and his irrational actions were responsible for the murder of Simon. Moreover, while Piggy tried to escape his share of guilt for Simon's death, Ralph accepted his part in the

According to the Missouri Statutes Section 565.021.1., “A person commits the offense of murder in the second degree if he or she: (1) Knowingly causes the death of another person or, with the purpose of causing serious physical injury to another person, causes the death of another person”. Roger is completely responsible for the death of Piggy. Roger knew exactly what the consequences could have been when he pushed the boulder, so he knew exactly what he was doing. For instance, it would take immense force to push the boulder meaning this wasn’t an accident because he would have to purposefully push it to get it off the cliff. He couldn’t just casually lean on it to get it to move. In addition, if it really was an accident, he would have been

Ralph- Good- The fair-haired, tall, handsome Ralph is an obvious choice to lead the band of children stranded on the island. He has a "directness" in his manner that the narrator calls a sign of "genuine leadership. He seems to be genuinely interested in the welfare of the entire group and can get along with all kinds of people.

Going through a traumatic event can lead people to resist their conscience and do things they would not normally do. Roger comes from a place with laws and society. Being without it after going through numerous brutal events he has forgotten his own morals. It is for this reason he abandons these morals and decided to kill piggy. In another instance Conrad does something extremely unusual that is caused by the death of his brother.

He “led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones,” only to remain, “watching the littluns.” Maurice, however, “still felt the unease of wrongdoing.” Jack’s only fault was yearning for power, which corrupts those who wield it. Roger is corrupted and malevolent without ever thirsting for this power, and is therefore more evil than Jack. Roger keeps to himself, much like Simon, and remains consistently evil throughout the novel. Near the beginning, he “picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss,” held back by “the taboo of the old life.” Later, he did not miss and “with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever,” releasing a huge boulder and killing Piggy. Under the weight of the boulder, “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” The main symbol for the democracy, equality and justice was indirectly destroyed by Roger. To him, “Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat,” thus dehumanizing and objectifying them. When Sam and Eric were cornered by Jack’s group of savages, Roger demonstrates his enjoyment for hurting others by “[advancing] upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.” It was not for the sake of supremacy or control, but for unbridled sadistic pleasure. When Ralph finds Sam and Eric, they say that Roger is “a terror”. He also points out that Jack is a terror, but the twins respond with “only