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Lord of the flies characters analysis essay
Literary analysis lord of the flies
Character analysis in Lord of the Flies
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Erin Ritchie
ENG 2DP
Ms. Russell
November 28, 2016
The Evil Within
The Theme of Loss of Innocence
In
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
As people grow up they will meet diverse groups of individuals, experience a number of different things and encounter a series of variant situations that will all eventually cause them to lose their innocence. Throughout William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the innocence of the boys on the island slowly deteriorates and by the end is lost completely as they are forced to endure many situations where their perception and embodiment of evil is tested. Piggy, Ralph and Jack’s loss of innocence affects them differently because of the varying ways they react to the problems and circumstances they encounter
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Ralph’s loss of innocence is first demonstrates when the boys first realize that they are all alone on a deserted island and then appoint Ralph as their chief, which causes him to take on an adult-like leadership role, “‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things’... ‘I’m chief then.”’ (Golding 19) After Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell, Ralph blows it to summon any other human life on the island to the platform, where they hold their first meeting. Ralph believes in parliamentary procedures and has a maturity about him that makes the other boys want him as their leader. This causes him to take on more responsibility and attempts to do things the way adults would. Also, he can’t stay behind and play like the other children do, instead he must explore the island, “‘I’ve got to have time to think things out. I can’t decide what to do straight off… we’ve got to decide if this is an island… three of us will go …show more content…
During Ralph’s first time pig-hunting, he is able to wound a pig and is exceedingly exhilarated by it, “Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride. ‘I hit him! The spear stuck in-”’ (Golding 124) The boys later lose control of their morality when they recreate the pig hunt with a boy named Robert acting as the pig. Ralph gets caught-up in his destructive mindset after experiencing what it feels like to go hunting, and loses control of himself, “Ralph, carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it… Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” (Golding 125) Nonetheless, he is still very in-tune with his civility and is able to regain himself and remind the other boys that it is just a game. Towards the novel’s climax, Ralph comes to terms with all of the horrors he encountered and crimes that were committed on the island. Right after Piggy’s death, Jack and his tribe decide that Ralph needs to die so they set the forest on fire and chase him through the jungle to kill him. Once Ralph reaches the beach, he sees a naval officer who has come to rescue them after seeing the fire. Ralph is not even fazed by the fact that two of
Ralph’s power at the beginning is secure but as the group succumbs to their savage instincts, Ralph’s influence declines as Jack’s rises. This is due mainly to the cruelty and violence that goes on in the story. This cruelty reveals that Ralph’s commitment to civilization and being rescued is so strong that he will not allow himself to change his morals and become cruel like the others. The cruelty in this novel also shows that Ralph is a very intelligent character. His intelligence can be proven because there was a point in the novel when he hunts a boar for the first time and he experiences the thrill of bloodlust. He also attends one of Jack’s feast where he is swept away by the frenzy and participates in the killing of Simon. This is a very tragic moment for Ralph because this is when he realizes the evil that lives within himself and every human being. It is the cruel acts that happen in this novel that reveals Ralph’s character of being intelligent and being able to think deeply about human experiences. He even weeps when getting saved because of his knowledge about the human capacity for
At the beginning, clearly Ralph feels that Jack is an ally, a companion; not a rival for leadership, "Ralph found himself alone on a limb with Jack and they grinned at each other ... that strange invisible light of friendship". The chosen leader of the group, Ralph tried to lead the stranded boys into some kind of order. The authority of Jack and the sensibility of Piggy easily sway him. When Ralph first meets Piggy, he sees him as a lower person who should be ridiculed. He starts off by asking for his name and he is told that people used to make fun of
“Innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself.” ― Joan Didion, On Self-Respect. In the book, The Lord of the Flies, a group of kids crash on an island and have to fend for themselves. Innocence is in the crashing of the plane because it is when the boys realize that they have to do things alone now. They had to work together to set up a nice society and to keep everything running good. However they lost their innocence with their actions. First it was killing the mama pig and hunting for her. Then moved on to the death of simon and that they killed him. Also chasing Ralph and going savage and then killing Piggy.
They continue walking and Ralph spots a shell. That Piggy explained it’s so expensive and fragile. Piggy came up with the idea of using the shell to attract others attention. He says, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us- (Golding 16).” If it wasn’t for Piggy’s brilliant idea the boy’s would've never had a meeting to meet each other and have a start to a plan where they can possibly be rescued. However Ralph doesn’t keep his word that he wouldn’t say anything. Ralph said “He’s not Fatty, his real name is Piggy (Golding 21).” Then everyone starts to laugh and he makes Piggy feel bad. Ralph’s feelings towards Piggy change in a matter of seconds, just to fit in with the crowd. Although Piggy was treated bad by Ralph, he still voted for him to be chief. Later on, since Ralph was
Ralph is enthusiastic and energetic; he frequently grins, stands on his head, and says 'wizard' when excited. He is also a good leader; he listens to everyone's opinions during island meetings, prioritizes the needs of the tribe (a signal fire, shelter, enforcement of lavatory rocks), and tries to be diplomatic with the other boys (giving the hunters to Jack). Even after Jack has created a violent band of the island's boys and become enemies with Ralph, Ralph still tries to reason with him. He goes to Jack to ask for Piggy's glasses back peacefully and only becomes violent when he is left with no other option. Ralph serves as the chief of the first tribe formed on the island, the only true friend of Piggy, a voice of reason for the island, a source of animosity for power-hungry Jack, and a homesick boy stranded on an island. The quote that best reveals Ralph's character is from chapter
Ralph is described as looking down at his appearance and thinking back to how civil he looked and was before the plane crash. “He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind.” (110) Ralph has become accustomed to his new way of living which shows how his human nature has adapted to its surroundings and the fact that he doesn’t mind shows the downfall of his hope of getting rescued. As the main group of boys is corrupted and separates into two groups, Ralph blows the conch one last time to bring together the last few boys remaining under his leadership to discuss what they should be focused on to get rescued quickly. Ralph states that “the fire’s the most important thing on the island, because, because-” ‘He paused again and the silence became full of doubt and wonder. Piggy whispered urgently.’ “Rescue.” (145) The dialogue between Ralph and Piggy is an iconic scene in the book because it shows the boys’ decline in their humanity and the loss of importance of being rescued. Ralph’s stuttering symbolizes the importance of being rescued getting put on hold. Piggy, the only boy with a sense of clarity of the situation, has to remind Ralph what the most important idea
The loss of one’s innocence or the coming of age is a normal occurrence that happens to
In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, throughout their time on the island, the children go from civilized men to savages in seconds, many loose their innocence as they crashed onto the island. The characters from the novel are taken away from the influence of society. They lose their innocences as they convert into darker ways, to show who is in charge of the island by killing their friends and animals. Ralph and the others go through traumatic situations and try to survive on the island. Many of the chaos was caused by Ralph and Jack feuds on who has the most control over the other boys. In this novel the children have to adapt to their surroundings without any guidance, which led them to lose their innocence.
In the novel, Lord of The Flies, the notion, loss of innocence caries progression, as the boys were obligated to adapt to the grim, unforgiving environment, in which the story intervenes. In society, innocence is associated with ignorance, and it is bounded by the beliefs of people, and what they hold as revered. Loss of innocence can be seen as a singular event or a gradual disposal of events that may unfold in someone’s life, or even a series of events into adulthood seen as the norm for people growing up. Golding portrays loss of innocence through symbolism, and he uses simple concepts like killing in order to signify how once blames children are now involved in what society views as the worst infraction, that is still plausible. In modern
Ralph reflects upon the boys’ actions and recognizes that they all have lost their innocence, which can be interpreted as maturing and being exposed to the savagery within human beings. A loss of innocence is a major theme addressed by Golding in The Lord of the Flies, and is evident throughout much of the novel.
Ralph displays this necessary mature human wisdom as a leader by pushing towards the betterment of the boys' society since the moment they were stranded on the island. “Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”(p. ?????) says Ralph. He knows if a group of young children are to outlast an unknown situation where “between life and death” is a literal statement; stability and order are crucial for survival. Rules and a slight form of government are the first elements he brings to this society. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak.
In Lord of The Flies by William Golding, childhood is portrayed by innocence and a sense of wonder but is also portrayed by times of tribulation and terror.
Numerous times in the book, this was acquainted with the characteristic of savagery. After failing to kill his first pig, and soon experiencing the rush of trying to catch another, the thirst for it began to become exposed. " Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I'd like to catch a pig first-" He snatched up his spear and dashed it into the ground. The opaque, mad look came into his eyes again” (Golding 53). Highlighting the mad look in his from this quote, really draws the attention towards the evolving butal nature inside of him. Almost paying no mind to this at the time, Ralph and the other boys let is roll of their shoulders. “‘You wouldn't care to help with the shelters, I suppose?’ ‘We want meat - ’ ‘And we don't get it.’ Now the antagonism was audible. ‘But I shall! Next time! I've got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out.’” (51) Each time he goes out, the frustration of his neglect rises from others especially Ralph, and his inhumanity
At some point in all of our lives, we experience a moment where we must engage in an activity that challenges us as adolescents into becoming the older and wiser men and women that raised us. All young people experience a moment where they lose their sense of innocence, Ralph in Lord of the Flies experiences the loss of his innocence as he comes to face his inner and outer demons.
“I think that’s the real loss of innocence: the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your potential” (Steve Toltz). In the previous quote, Steve Toltz discusses the transition from innocence to corruption. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies illustrates the loss of innocence through various characters: Jack, who struggles with pride and a thirst for power; Roger, who revels in the pain of others and uses fear to control the boys; Simon, who represents the demise of purity when humans are at their most savage; Ralph, who illustrates the struggle people endure when attempting to be civilized near the savage; and Piggy, who suffers because he has the only technology necessary to survive. Golding enforces the theory that true innocence will often pay the price to sustain true evil by arranging the characters' personalities and actions in a way that correlates to the effects of Darwin's evolution theory, "survival of the fittest" (). Jack is a good example of this as he exerts power over the weak and uses his skills in hunting to survive. The thirst to prove his masculinity overrides his innate purity, effectively corrupting him. Jack’s loss of innocence begins a domino effect that begins to influence the others.