lord of the flies characters Flashcards
how does golding show the changes in ralph
Golding’s bildungsroman (meaning a story about growing up) shows Ralph lose his
innocence - as most of Golding’s third-person narrative focuses on him, he is the
protagonist. At first, he’s immature, pretend ‘machine-gunning’ Piggy and delighted there
aren’t any ‘grown-ups’ so they can have fun. The conch is a fun toy, although Ralph quickly
respects it as the symbol of democracy Piggy recognises it can be. In Chapter 1, Ralph
innocently thinks his father on leave will rescue them. He eventually values thought
and intelligence more than fun and games, and sees Piggy as a better friend than Jack as
a result.
He struggles with his memory and keeping the idea of the signal fire as his priority,
suggesting that everyone is susceptible to the dehumanising effects of losing civilisation.
how does ralph lose his innocence
His conflict with Jack exacerbates Ralph’s difficulties because he comes to understand that
Jack hates him and that Jack behaves this way because he dislikes not being in charge, but
he can’t work out what to do about it and so learns about his own helplessness.
Ralph also experiences violence, participating in the tribal mock-hunt, hurting Robert. He’s
a part of Simon’s murder but is willing to take responsibility and to try and understand
his behaviour.
how good a leader is ralph
He’s voted leader because he has gravitas. He’s able to synthesise ideas and information
taking Piggy’s intelligence, Simon’s kindness and Jack’s dynamism - and apply them when
needed. He’s diplomatic but firm, insisting that the boys listen to him and focus on rescue.
Yet, these skills don’t stop the boys turning on him and it is Jack’s fire that ultimately
attracts the ship that rescues them.
ralph’s character in the book
Ralph is presented as almost angelic at first with ‘fair hair’, ‘a golden body’ and his
*eyes that proclaimed no devil’. As the novel progresses, his physical condition - like
all the boys - deteriorates. His hair grows long and his skin is ‘surfy with brine’. These
adjectives symbolise the deterioration of morality and civilisation on the island, but also
have connotations of religious allegory as they represent the fallen angel, the fall of
mankind. Ralph remains disheartened by his appearance, rather than embracing it like
some of the other boys, suggesting that he always, at heart, remains civilised.
how do readers’ views of jack change through the novel
Jack, the leader of the choir, at first appears arrogant - ‘I ought to be chief … because
I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp’
‘- showing his naivety. For Jack,
their isolation is an adventure. Because Jack fails to kill the pig the first time, he becomes
obsessed with hunting to show his authority.
As Jack becomes more savage, the gap widens between him and Ralph. Jack ignores the
need for rescue, another example of his lack of mature understanding. He’s part of Simon’s
murder but refuses to acknowledge it and celebrates when Piggy dies. He also instructs the
boys to hunt Ralph.
The final time we see Jack, he stands back - just one of the rest of the boys with his red
hair and tattered black cap - and lets Ralph take responsibility for everything that
has happened.
what does jack represent
Jack embodies what happens without the civilising influence of society - we become
savages with dictatorial rule, tribal groups, beliefs in myth (like the Beast) and ritualised
violence. Golding uses Jack as a foil to Ralph, highlighting their leadership differences.
Ironically, it’s Jack’s hunters who set the fire that eventually leads to their rescue when it
burns out of control.
what kind of a leader is jack
Jack is an authoritative leader, ruling through fear and bullying. He divides the group,
telling them they can ‘hunt and feast and have fun’, ignoring the dangers and their need
for rescue. He becomes ‘Chief’, losing his own name and echoing childish games. He masks
his identity with mud as camouflage and orders the other boys to assault one another to
prove his control.
what is explored through jack
Through Jack, Golding explores the problems of leadership. Jack excitedly shouts that
We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English,
and the English are best at everything’. His repetition of ‘English’ indicates that he
values the democratic way. Yet, ironically, he focuses on the need to ‘obey’ the rules
and ‘savages’ are exactly what the boys become. Because Jack is proud to be English
but ultimately ends up leading through bullying and violence rather than democracy,
Golding could be commenting on the way that Britain tries to present itself as
democratic but often resorts to these tactics to get what it wants.
what is piggy like
Piggy’s intelligent and quick-thinking. He recognises the conch and suggests Ralph use it
to call a meeting. Physically, he doesn’t fit in, which leads to bullying. He’s fat, has asthma
and is from a lower social class, as represented in his non-standard grammar. He lacks
confidence at first but gains more confidence with the conch and his friendship with Ralph.
He trusts quickly, telling Ralph his nickname - but is forthright when Ralph betrays that
trust and tells the other boys.
what does piggy represent
Piggy represents intelligence; he knows they should make a list of boys, realises that no
grown-ups know where they are and explains how to use the conch. His glasses are a
symbol of his intelligence and hope - a testament to mankind’s scientific understanding,
they’re used to light the fires but they become a symbol of conflict too, when Jack first
breaks and then steals them. Although he’s intelligent - ‘What intelligence had been
shown was traceable to Piggy’ - he lacks the physical presence, charisma and social class of
most leaders.
He’s closely associated with democracy as he insists on the importance of the conch and
adhering to its rules. This gives him courage to ask Jack for his glasses. Ultimately, Piggy has
(a perhaps naive) faith that people will eventually do the right thing.
how do the boys respond to piggy
Many of the boys bully or belittle Piggy because he is different. Jack resents him for several
reasons. First, his developing friendship with Ralph pushes Jack to one side. Second, Jack
can’t understand the value others place on Piggy, as he can’t see past his physical and
social inequality.
Ralph develops a close friendship with Piggy. Although he initially tries to avoid him,
disliking what he sees, he comes to respect and appreciate Piggy’s brains and manner. He
sometimes privately finds him amusing, but it’s warmly affectionate rather than dismissive.
By the end, it is the ‘true, wise friend called Piggy’ that Ralph weeps for.
piggy’s death
Roger pushes the rock that kills Piggy. Golding’s description of Piggy’s death is blunt
and cold - ‘stuff came out and turned red’ - using colloquial language that symbolises
the destruction of intelligence on the island. He further describes limbs twitching ‘like a
pig’s after it has been killed’, the animalistic simile linking Piggy with his namesake but
also suggesting that he is the victim of a successful hunt.
how is simon presented as slightly different
Simon is in the choir when they arrive. He faints in the heat - a common occurrence, as
Jack’s sarcastic response shows. It shows he’s different, seemingly weaker, but this first
impression changes as the reader gets to know Simon. He’s kind and thoughtful, getting
the littluns fruit when most of the big’uns ignore them, and building shelters.
He dislikes conflict and disappears when others argue, finding solitude and peace in the
forest - he is the only boy who seems unafraid of it.
how is simon connected to the beast
Simon’s shy and doesn’t like speaking in assemblies, making it difficult to explain his ideas
about the Beast. He can only say ‘maybe it’s only us’, but the boys don’t understand that
they are the danger on the island: from themselves and the fear they feel.
In the forest with the pig’s head, Simon hallucinates that it’s the Beast speaking to him:
*You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?’ He loses his innocence, understanding that evil is
part of humanity, but continues to tell the others so they stop being afraid.
how does simon die
Trying to tell the boys the truth, Simon stumbles into their tribal celebration after killing
the pig. In their bloodlust, exacerbated by the thunder-storm and darkness, the boys
mistake him for the Beast and beat him to death.
how is simon associated with religion
Simon can be interpreted as a prophet, or even a Christ-like figure. He tells Ralph that he’ll
get back and Simon is the only boy who realises the truth of the Beast. He dies trying to
tell the others and save them from themselves. When he seeks solitude, there are religious
connotations, making the forest sound and smell church-like: ‘candle-buds’, ‘their scent like
incense’. When Simon dies, he’s dressed in light and taken by the sea, symbolising nature
reclaiming and honouring him.
how is simon empathy significant
Simon’s empathy is significant. He finds the body of the parachutist but instead of
running away, ‘Ihle saw how pitilessly the layers of rubber and canvas held together the
poor body that should be rotting away’. The descriptive ‘pitilessly’ and ‘poor’ emphasise
Simon’s sympathetic, kind response. He isn’t disgusted by the ‘rotting’ like many of the
boys would be but instead steps forward and tries to help, freeing the body so it can
drift out to sea and become one with nature again.
what is roger like
Roger is “furtive’ and secretive. He’s a loner at first and doesn’t seem part of any group at
the beginning, although it is Roger who suggests voting for a chief.
He quickly attaches himself to Jack and the hunters, where he has an opportunity to
express his violent nature. He becomes Jack’s second-in-command and makes a role for
himself as torturer and enforcer.
how does roger create fear and tension
Roger’s violence escalates quickly. In Chapter 4, he throws stones at Henry. He throws to
miss, remembering the rules of society, but his actions are menacing. During the hunt, he is
the most violent boy, thrusting the spear ‘right up her ass’ in a disturbing symbolic raping
of the creature before mounting her head on a stick.
Later, Roger ‘sharpens a stick at both ends’ for Ralph, rather than the sow’s head, and
throws the rock that kills Piggy. He tortures Sam and Eric into joining Jack’s tribe and into
giving up Ralph’s location.
how does roger compare with the other boys
Roger is less ambiguous because he seems interested in violence and savagery from the
beginning. He is arguably the most ‘evil’ of the boys. With the reference to the ‘law’ in
Chapter 4, Golding suggests he’s previously had some trouble at home, but on the island,
he quickly moves away from social constraints.
Contextually, Roger represents people who take pleasure in their persecution of others
when sanctioned by authority, such as Jack as Chief.
what is roger a figure of in the novel
Roger is a figure of terror in the novel. Initially he is described as a ‘slight, furtive boy
whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and
secrecy’. Golding’s semantic field of secrecy suggests that there is something hidden
in Roger, which emerges through the novel. Later, he sees Ralph as a ‘shock of hair’
and Piggy as a ‘bag of fat’, dehumanising them and refusing to acknowledge their
humanity so that he can torture them.
what versions of the beast are there
The Beast has several incarnations, each representing something different about the boys
and their fear.
At first, the Beast is the boys’ nightmares, experienced in the dark, and in ‘Beast from
Water*, they fear it emerges from the sea as they sleep. They might also mistake the forest’s
creepers for a snake-like monster, intensifying their fear.
Then, in ‘Beast from Air’ the dead parachutist arrives and qets tangled in the trees. Each
time there’s a breeze it moves, simulating breathing. This is what frightens Sam and Eric,
driving the boys from the mountain, and that is what Simon sees.
The Beast is also the pig’s head, mounted on a stick and ‘speaking’ to Simon. This connects
the beast with the devil, the Lord of the Flies, as Simon realises the true nature of the
Beast. Simon himself becomes ‘the beast’ when he stumbles into the boys’ ritual and they
kill him.
how does the beast influence the storyline
During the assembly in Chapter 5, fear of the Beast creates conflict as the boys have
different impressions of what it might be, Piggy and Ralph try to rationalise it, while Jack
uses it as an opportunity to hunt. Ralph also experiences difficulties in leadership when it
seems the boys believe in the supernatural because of their fears.
Sam and Eric’s discovery of the parachutist, not stopping to investigate and understand it,
means the boys avoid the mountain and make Ralph feel more hopeless.
After a successful hunt, Jack regresses to pre-Christian rituals and makes the boys leave the
pig’s head as a sacrificial offering to the Beast, but it then embodies the Beast to Simon.
what does the beast mean when it speaks to simon
When Simon hears the pig’s head ‘talking’, he realises the Beast is the boys’ own capacity
for evil. He had begun to understand this before, but had not been able to fully express
his thoughts.
how does the beast appear
The Beast appears in different forms, increasing tension and fear. At first, it’s a ‘beastie’,
the suffix making it seem less consequential, even child-like. This changes with the
monstrous symbol of the parachutist giving the beast physical form, with its ‘ruin of a
face’, suggesting the ugliness and deformity of death. This is further echoed in the pig’s
head ‘grinning’ at Simon, then Ralph, mocking them both.
what are sam and eric like
As identical twins, Sam and Eric act together, and gradually lose their individual identities
as the novel continues. They are cheerful, bright and bubbly boys but they are not leaders.
They follow Jack and Ralph, eventually choosing Ralph’s side when Jack leaves. Later, they
are frightened when Roger kills Piggy and harms them, so they change sides again and re-
join Jack’s hunters to protect themselves. At the end of the novel, they are hunting Ralph.
albeit reluctantly.
how do sam and eric change
The twins do everything together and come to be seen as one person by the other boys.
They speak as one, finishing each other’s sentences, representing their unity. Their name
changes to ‘Samneric’, suggesting it doesn’t matter who’s who. This change represents
the way that many of the boys lose their individual identities while they are on the island,
because they forget or change the social conditioning that has made them the people they
are, and instead become animals and savages.
what do sam and eric represent
Sam and Eric follow the strongest leader - for a while that’s Ralph but it changes to Jack
and Roger, particularly when Roger begins to torture them. Although they tell Ralph
what’s happening with the hunters, they also betray Ralph so the hunters can find him.
Through the twins, Golding explores collaborators in wartime who change allegiance to
save themselves.
who are the littluns
These are the youngest - and as their name suggests - and smallest boys. Unlike the older
boys, who are named as individuals, the littluns are seen mostly as a group. A few littluns
are identified directly - the boy with the birthmark, Percival Wemyss Madison, Henry
and Johnny.
The littluns don’t do much and are left to look after themselves. They play, eat and bathe
then sleep. At night, they have nightmares about ‘beasties’ coming for them.
how do the littluns interact with the older boys
The littluns interact with the older boys mostly at assemblies, where they enjoy the ritual
and similarity to home experiences at school. They giggle, whisper and disrupt, because
they don’t know what’s happening but they are also reliant on the older boys.
The older boys differ; Simon looks after the littluns, getting them fruit. Ralph also takes his
leadership seriously. But the others pay them little attention except to dismiss them
as annoying.
who do the littluns represent
The littluns frequently represent society’s tendency to ignore the most vulnerable. The ‘boy
with the birthmark’ disappears after the fire in Chapter 1; he isn’t named, which suggests
his lack of importance, but he haunts the later chapters. Other boys, such as Percival
Wemyss Madison, also lose their names and they all become the ‘littluns’, a homogeneous
identity of the vulnerable in society who most need protection and don’t get it.
By the end, the littluns are malnourished and near starvation, with distended bellies. There
is also the boy with the birthmark, who is forgotten in Ralph’s tally of ‘two’ bodies, and
there are probably other littluns nobody has noticed go missing. Percival Wemyss Madison,
who chants his address like an ‘incantation’ to keep him safe, forgets everything including
his name by the time the officer arrives.
