English author William Gerald Golding wrote Lord of the flies as his first novel in 1954. Golding would later become famous as a novelist, playwright, and poet, yet before Lord of the flies publishers had rejected his works many times. Fortunately for Golding and future readers, his new editor Charles Monteith helped him to make some changes to the text and publish the book in September 1954 as Lord of the Flies (“William Golding” par.7). This book became hugely successful, and in 1983 Golding was awarded for it a Nobel Prize in Literature ("William Golding - Prize Presentation" par.1).
The main characters of this novel are Ralph, Jack, Simon, and Piggy. Ralph, who represents civilizing instinct, is elected as the leader of the group of the boys and tries to promote harmony among themselves. Even though he seeks to lead the group and defeats Jack in the election, he doesn’t try to dominate people. Rather, he focuses on the group’s common interest of being rescued. For example, he gives responsibility to the hunters to keep a signal fire while he tries to make a shelter. Unlike Ralph, Jack would like to dominate people. This is especially evident once he becomes the leader of the hunters on the island. He tends to show the other boys how strong and brave he is while expressing his dominance over them. By the end of the novel, Jack usurps Ralph to become the general leader, in which position he shows how barbaric and cruel he can be.
Whereas Ralph and Jack struggle against each other, Simon represents a kind of innocent and spiritual human. Simon had been a member of Jack’s choir, but unlike the other choir members he chooses not to hunt animals. Rather, he would like to help Ralph to make the shelter. Furthermore, Simon is brave ...
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...I’m like Ralph
But cannot do anything
I’m just babbling
Piggy is the only one who says what boys have to do instead of just playing. However, he is disappointed that they don’t listen to him, and even many boys become frenzied and harass him harshly.
Even at the end of the book, readers don’t know what Piggy’s real name is. If I were Piggy, I would be really angry and think how life might be I had good health and good eyesight. Jack despises Piggy because of his asthma and appearance. If he were thin like Ralph, I think the other boys would respect Piggy and even like to elect him as their leader.
Piggy tries to lecture the boys, yet because they don’t respect him they mostly just ignore him. Also, Piggy might be disappointed with himself that he cannot participate in physical activities such as building the shelter. Therefore, he must be lethargic and lonely.
..., the biggest being his relationship with Ralph. He is Ralph’s right hand man and supports him throughout the entire novel. Piggy is always there for Ralph even when he does not agree with Ralph’s decisions. Piggy also proves his loyalty through his relationship with the ‘littluns’. Piggy becomes a father like figure to the younger boys and is always looking out for them when no one else does. Many of the boys on the island do not see the good traits Piggy has because they are so focused on his physical flaws. Piggy is not the most athletic out of the boys and is described as shorter than Ralph, fat, wears glasses and has asthma. His physical abilities keep him from doing tasks that require anything physical such as swimming, running, climbing, carrying heavy items and building the shelters. Many boys see Piggy as a setback; they do not see how valuable truly he is.
children to provide for them. Piggy's instinct is to stay back and out of the way
Simon was the first and only one to realise the real beast on the Island. He could be compared to someone like a priest or a good samaraton – someone who tries his best to convince everyone of what’s right.
After Ralph carelessly reveal the nickname “Piggy” to the others it triggered all the boys, "even the tiniest," to laugh which sets up Piggy to be the brunt of jokes and bullying. As the story develops, Piggy demonstrates time after time that he is able to contribute to the group mentally. For an example, Piggy suggested that they should construct the signal fire on the beach instead of the top of the mountain after Jack formed his own tribe. Piggy’s wisdom and intelligence begins to become obvious to Ralph but to the rest of the group, Piggy is still thought as weak and useless; it seems that the only time anyone speaks to piggy it involves an insult of some sort.
The author of this book, William Gerald Golding was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911. He graduated Oxford University. Also he had experience in teaching in school he could have been easy to set the character with young kids in the story. He had written many books before Lord of the Flies and he awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. William has an experience of being a Navy in World Wall Ⅱ, he could describe well in the story. In 1993 he ended up his life.
There are may other things that Piggy did to attempt to bring order to the island just like a grown-up. When Jack was busy hunting pigs and dancing about in the blood that engulfed him, Piggy just wanted people to listen to him. He yearned for someone to listen to his ideas without asking questions: when he suggested moving the fire to the beach, he just wanted a ship passing by to see them. Piggy mimicked adults, he did not run about in a savage nature, he was good.
Piggy is the Parental figure in the novel. He is the voice of reason and responsibility that we all associate with our parents and what we consider “good”. As seen throughout the novel, Piggy is constantly worrying about the wellbeing of others. Piggy tells Ralph,”’We got to find the others. We got to do something” (8). Notice he says that they got to find them, implying that he indeed wants to make sure that everyone is ok. Just like any parent would do, he cares more about everyone else before himself. In the same instance, Piggy asks,”’How many of us are there?’”(8). Again he takes another precaution as to figure out how many kids there may be, so he can try his best at rescuing them all. Once Ralph calls all the children to an assembly, Piggy starts to go around and figure out everyone 's name as to keep better track of who they have and if anyone is missing. In a later assembly, Piggy helps keep the rule of whoever has the conch is the only one allowed to speak by making a simple gesture to the conch (26). He was consistent til his death; Piggy says,”’Ralph - remember what we came for. The fire. My specs’”(160). Even when his life was in jeopardy, he still kept his priorities straight while trying to reason with the boys. Jack, on the other hand, is only concerned with having fun. Just like a child, he throws responsibility to the wind. When the boys gather after the plane crash, Jack says that his choir boys will take care of the upkeep of the fire. However, he doesn 't keep his promise. He goes out to go on a hunt with his choir boys who abandon their duty. Eventually, the fire goes out, and they missed an opportunity for rescue. As the book progresses, Jack starts to take more control over the boys by hunting and using fear to control them. He uses,“a constant and deliberate erosion of personal dignity, physical and verbal cruelty as a weapon to humiliate, and sadistic
Simon is a symbol of peace who sees only good in the world. The name Simon itself means, listener, and depicts Simon's character well as he always listens instead of giving an alternative opinion. Although at times his opinion differs from the others, he never complains. Simon's great sacrifice for the boys, dying for their sin, is a trait of a martyr. Simon's death results in a change of his affect on the boys and on the reader. Because he is killed by the other boys, he begins to represent the evil that has dominated over the good on the island.
The character piggy is a short and overweight boy. He would avoid confrontation any way he could. He is like that ten-year-old when his brother hits him and he cries to mom or dad. Although, he tries very hard to keep peace, he doesn’t have any social skills. His glasses are a very important part of the book because it helps start fires to survive. Out of all the boys on the island, he is the most intelligent. He also quotes his aunt a lot in the book, so he provides a female voice.
Piggy is also very intimidated by boys like Jack and Roger. For example, when Jack tells Piggy to shut up “Piggy [wilts]”and this shows that his confidence always seems to go down whenever boys like Jack are
Ralph is the novel’s protagonist and tries to maintain the sense of civility and order as the boys run wild. Ralph represents the good in mankind by treating and caring for all equally, which is completely opposite of Jack’s savage nature. Jack is the antagonist in the novel and provokes the most internal evil of all the boys. Jack is seen at first as a great and innocent leader but he becomes t...
Piggy is mentally resilient; he has the ability to think things through with the clear mind even during times of crisis. He is the true voice of reason. “‘I got the conch! Just you listen! The first thing we ought to have made was the shelters down there by the beach…But the first time Ralph says ‘fire’ you goes howling and screaming up this mountain. Like a pack of kids!’” (Golding 45). Piggy has the capability to let his voice of reason run unbridled because he tends to think before he leaps. Because of this, he is able to vocalize his morals proudly and never stray from his own beliefs.
In designing the appearance and personality of Piggy, Golding wanted to make certain that he was easily distinguishable from the other characters, and would be easy to remember and recognize. This essential background and make up of piggy goes beyond just making him a peculiar character. Golding purposefully does this to add a new, grand dimension to the book. On the very first page of the story, Piggy is described: “He was far shorter than the fair boy, and very fat...and then looked up through his thick spectacles” (Golding 7). Throughout the next couple of pages, Piggy is then referred to as “the fat boy”. Right off the bat, Golding deemed it important enough for Piggy to be described in his full glory, or apparent lack of. Giving the reader this basic yet powerful first impression of Piggy captivates the reader and sets the stage for Piggy to become the most central character in the book. No other child in the book is given a more negative, raw description of their appearance, and this gives Piggy a great deal of uniqueness. This unique trait will follow him throughout the story, and enhances Golding’s characterization of his composition. Any conflict that Piggy would find himself involved in would often see him be teased for his stereotypically large, nerdy physique. The constant mentioning of his flaws shows how much the author wants to emphasize Piggy’s
Right away in the novel, when the main character Ralph and Piggy have all the boys congregate for the first time, Piggy is thought little of. He had glasses, was fat, had a weird accent, and had asthma. Piggy is looked down upon by even little boys just because he lacks physical attractiveness. On top of this, the boys call him by his old school name, Piggy, which seems like some innocent joking at first, but once pigs on the island start being killed, it brings Piggy down to the level of pigs. When he is crushed
Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief. He carries this position until Jack and his fellow hunters break away from the group. Ralph makes it his job to set out the rules to organize a society. Ralph always thinks of what is best for everyone and how they will all benefit from his decisions. Rules and standards are set when Ralph is the chief. He orders the group to build the basic necessities of civilization, shelters, and most importantly to keep the fire going, in hope that they will be rescued and return to humanity. "But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (Golding 75). Jack, on the other hand, takes on the idea of every man for himself. He does not care about making homes, only about hunting. When Jack is the leader, evil takes over and all good is destroyed. Under Jack's power both Simon and Piggy are killed.