The Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Essay Example

Ralph is a young English boy with blonde hair and an athletic build. He has a rather charming, appealing and captivating personality and since the other boys look up to him, they elected him as their leader. He in return tries his best to live up to their expectation and lays down rules in order to organize a civilized society. Ralph is a sensible, responsible, wise and peaceful young boy who doesn’t like to fight unless heavily provoked. He has amazing leadership qualities and he is open to the other boys’ ideas that could aid in their rescue. He listens to them, takes care of them, and tries to erase their fears of the beast. Jack is a red headed, thin young boy with piercing blue eyes. He is a very competitive, short tempered and proud young man. He loves to boast authority and craves for power. He is fiercely competitive and loves to rule. He is quite vicious, heartless and has a wild and blood thirsty nature. He was made head of the hunting team and soon became obsessed with the power that came with hunting down and killing animals. Simon is a skinny boy with a peaceful nature. He is helpful and kind towards the other boys and doesn’t waste all his time playing and fooling around like them but makes himself available to help in any way that he can. He loves nature and is brave. In his act to relieve others of the fear of the monster, which didn’t really exist, he was brutally killed by the other boys when he had only been trying to help. Piggy is a fat, chubby boy with thick glasses that give him a nerdy look. He is very thoughtful and full of good ideas which show his intelligence. He is cautious sensible and wise. He is soft hearted and often takes care of the little boys. He is kind hearted and when foolishly he came to play a part in Simon`s killing, he was very repentant. The initial difficulties that the boys` faced were that there were no adults around to help or organize them. There was no law and order as to how things ought to be done. They didn’t have any shelter or food and besides this they didn’t know anything about the island. Although they found out soon enough that it was deserted, still they were unaware of any dangers on the island. Also they needed to learn to overcome their differences and work together as a team in order to survive long enough to be rescued. The first conflict arose when the leader was to be chosen for the group and Ralph was voted to lead; only this didn’t really please Jack. Hence Ralph showed his sensibility and wisdom when he selected Jack to be the leader of the hunters so that Jack could feel the power of leadership and would be cooperative. The younger boys weren’t very helpful and nobody but Simon would help in building the shelters which was an ultimate necessity for their survival. They needed to organize themselves into a small civilized society where everyone was assigned their duties and responsibilities; Ralph tried his best to do so but didn’t achieve this purpose to the fullest as he didn’t have the complete support of his group. Besides shelter, food was also a major issue and the hunters were unable to fulfil their hunting duties in the beginning but afterwards they gained success and killed a few pigs. After mastering their hunting skill they began to enjoy the killings and became brutal in it. It seemed they were hunting more for the fun of it rather than for food and even their little hunting games seemed realistic to them. The sense of responsibility amongst the group seemed nonexistent and they didn’t dutifully carry out the tasks assigned to them, like Jack and his group took on the responsibility to keep the signal fire going and initially in their effort to relight the fire they set a bunch of trees on fire and later on weren’t careful in keeping the signal fire burning. They are all young English boys yet in the beginning they all seem very different from each other but towards the end they seem somewhat similar as they all dance and chant around the fire. Also they were all responsible for Simon`s death. Ralph seems like the Hero of the novel and he is a winner; a winner in the sense that he doesn’t believe in giving up. Unlike Jack he doesn’t have brutal savage killer instincts although he was a part of Simons killing, he is remorseful and sorry for his behaviour. His nature is caring and brave unlike that of some of the others. Ralph liked if the other looked up to him and respected him for his authority, unlike Jack, who believed in ruling with an iron fist. He respects others and likes to be respected in return. He never mocked Peggy; rather he listened to him and welcomed his intelligent ideas. Peggy is not brave and cannot stand up for himself, although he is the most intelligent one in the group. He tries to convey his ideas through Ralph. Jack`s harsh behaviour seems un appropriate for a boy his age. He just wants to be Chief and he doesn’t care how he earns that title. He has a fiery temper which he has little control over. A young boy his age is not expected to be so violent and heartless. Simon is the only one who appreciates the beauty of nature. He has found the perfect spot where he likes to go and spend time alone. Also he is very kind hearted, helpful and caring towards the young ones. He helps them get fruit and eases their worries about the beast. He even loses his life in his act of kindness when he comes down the mountain with the parachute to show the others that there is no beast but the boys kill him in their negligence. The author has crafted Jack and Ralph in such a way that he is able to reveal his ideas through them, making them quite close to real life characters. Also the incidents that he has chosen to relate on the island are such that he is able to portray a realistic picture with their aid. Golding has paid close attention to the way the groups work and carries out their activities, and by doing so he has successfully revealed the way good is overshadowed and in turn dominated by evil. (Haldar, Santwana 97) We can relate this book to real life using various incidents narrated in it. In real life the strong and powerful always rule. There are bullies everywhere who inflict their authority over the weaker ones. They do everything in their power to get the authoritative position and then ensure that it’s for them to keep. Piggy can be looked upon as a weak member of the society who is unable to defend himself and Jack can be thought of as someone with influence and power. Jack bullies Piggy and there isn’t much Piggy can do to him in return. Many a time leaders misuse their authority and the followers let them because they believe in them and also because they are scared. When Jack gains complete control of the Island, it leaves Ralph an outcast, and at his mercy. At that time, Jack wrongly uses his authority and declares Ralph as the enemy and the rest of the boys believe him as all rational thoughts slip their minds as they are manipulated by Jacks authority. (SparkNotes Editors) There is a beast in every human being but one needs to learn how to control it. The boys, specifically Jack was unable to control the beast in his subconscious and this resulted in his inhuman animal like behaviour. Also one should never give up hope like Ralph didn’t give up and fought for his survival till the end and was rescued by a naval officer. So if we believe in ourselves then we can overcome every obstacle that life throws our way. Each character in the book possesses its own individual qualities and weaknesses. Ralph has the leading role in the novel. He has natural leadership qualities which he clearly portrays by focusing his concentration on surviving on the island till they are rescued. He tries to get the other boys to work and assigns them responsibilities like hunting and keeping the signal fire glowing. Sometimes he makes foolish decisions like he joined in with the madness of the other boys and was a part of Simon`s killing. Ralph`s quality was that when Jack formed a separate group he didn’t lose his cool and calmly tried to get the other boys to stay with him. Also he fought for his survival till the end when he and the others got rescued. Piggy is an intelligent boy who is not very confident, and the fact that he is bulky, adds to his lack of confidence. His head is full of creative ideas but due to lack of self-belief he is unable to share them or put his plans into action. As Ralph is open to his ideas and views, so Piggy finds it easy to share them with Ralph who eventually puts them into action. He is bullied by the other boys and is unable to defend himself from their teasing and beating. Jack has been portrayed as the villain in the novel. He wants to be the leader of the group and the fact that the boys choose Ralph as their leader greatly displeases him. He turns everyone against Ralph and leads the boys from being civilized young men into being savages. He seems cruel, wicked and animalistic. It’s in Jacks nature to bully those weaker than him. He is violent and beats the boys for the smallest of mistakes. He is unable to control his temper and always welcomes a fight. He makes wrong use of his authority and guides the boys to the wrong path which results in the killing of first Simon, and then Piggy. Simon is the Christ like figure of the novel. He was content in spending time with himself and would wander into the jungle to do so. He was able to see beyond the surface of things. For the most part the other boys were unconcerned towards Simon. He was cooperative; he helped in building the huts and also in taking care of the little ones. He was very brave as he was the only one who faced the beast and tried to bring to the notice of the others that they had been scared for no reason and that a real beast didn’t exist. It is Simon who genuinely understood the nature of the beast that it’s not something hiding in the jungle but something that is hiding in the subconscious of us all. (Bookwolf 1996) Works Cited Haldar, Santwana. “The Atlantic Critical Studies”. William Goldings Lord of the Flies, 2006, Dec 2, 2010 SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Lord of the Flies.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 1 Dec. 2010 < http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section10.rhtml> Bookwolf 1996, Dec 2 2010, Read More