We all symbolize something, but what? In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the characters all symbolize something that is important in our society. On the island, they all have duties and roles, but the littluns don’t always fulfill their duties, so Ralph, Jack, and Piggy help keep them in check by representing different aspects of society. While they have to make their own rules, and many refuse to, Ralph symbolizes democracy because Jack symbolizes savagery, Piggy represents intellect and rationalism, and they all symbolize something in the island's "political" system. In the island's hierarchy, Ralph represents democracy. Since Ralph is an excellent leader, and he dictates most of what is decided in Lord of the Flies, he represents …show more content…
“Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood”(Golding 69). Over the course of the book, Jack goes from being a more subdued type of savagery, but by the end of the book, he is completely savage. By the end, Jack is bloodthirsty, and will do whatever it takes to quench his thirst. His need for hunting shows how he craves violence and power-hungry. He is cruel to Piggy and is intimidated by Ralph, because he knows that Ralph has more authority than he does. In the beginning of the book, when they are choosing who is leader and Ralph is chosen, this is the start of Jack's transformation. While Jack represents savagery, Piggy, who Jack is awful to, represents knowledge and …show more content…
Since every character in Lord of the Flies, they all play crucial parts in the island’s political system. Ralph represents democracy, while Jack being the power hungry hunter that he is, represents savagery. Piggy, who is like the glue that holds the island together, represents intellect and rationalism. They all play a part in how they function, and for some, they make it hell for everyone. Every person impacts everyone around them, and when you symbolize something as important as these boys, you have a huge impact on how you live. In Lord of the Flies, the boys symbolize crucial standpoints on our everyday lives, and we all can learn something from their
"I got the conch" Said Piggy indignantly. " You let me speak!" " The conch doesn't count on top of the mountain" Said Jack," So you shut up (pg 42). " This quotation provides a start to Jack’s dictator like attitude. “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood.(pg 69)”
[Ralph] is like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief”[ Golding, 138]. By saying this, Jack is showing the other boys that to survive you need to hunt and be strong, not use your brain. This paints a negative image in the little boys and about Ralph and Piggy, resulting in Jack looking like the best.
At the end of the book, Jack has become a beast at heart who lusts for blood and blood alone. Jack and Ralph get into an argument for the right to use Piggy's glasses to cook the meat that they hunt. Jack starts to get violent and they start fighting each other for the glasses. In an act of trying to stop the fight, piggy grabs the conch shell to get the attention of everyone and tell them to stop fighting. Soon after the hunters notice Piggy, they push a boulder off a mountain to kill piggy.
Jack does not like Piggy for some reason, maybe it is the way Piggy looks and acts. But Piggy cannot help that he stutters, has asthma, and wears glasses. Jack is one of those kids that has really high standards for other people, so if the other boys do not meet his expectations then Jack will put them down like he is doing to Piggy. Jack keeps telling Piggy to shut up every time Piggy goes to talk. This might be because Jack feels threatened by Piggy since he is a little bit smarter and is right about making shelters, and getting a list of all the boy's names.
The Lord Of The Flies is a book where leadership, and taking a stand is important. Piggy a boy who is overweight, and is just an outcast that doesn’t fit in the situation he is in. Piggy in the Lord Of The Flies gets picked on constantly, and nobody will help except for Ralph, the leader of the group of boys on the Island that the book is set on, Ralph is the only one to that sticks up for Piggy and, he helps Piggy with difficulties that Piggy has. Jack the boy that bullies Piggy is a stuck up want to be everything. Piggy has the brains of the group of boys, he tries to use his intelligence to benefit the
Ralph is helping the rest of the group by thinking what would be best for each individual, where Jack just prioritizes himself. That later leads towards the death of Piggy and Simon. This point is key because there is clearly a difference between who is acting more maturely and has more rational ideas. After
Through the characters of Ralph, Piggy, Simon, and Roger Lord of the Flies shows how peoples urges for control and power can turn into chaos. At the beginning of the book, Ralph is chosen as the chief by the boys on the island. As chief, Ralph tries to create laws and rules to establish a society similar to their British environment. For example he says “We’ll have to have hands up like at school.” (Golding 33).
The longer they are on the island the more absent they become from reality. All of the boys on the island symbolize something; Piggy and Simon's jack represents rationalism, spiritual human goodness, and violence respectively. In Lord of the Flies, Golding chooses Piggy to represent logic, rationalism, and knowledge. Piggy is more sensible than the others, he can control his emotions and analyze situations maturely. “That little ‘un that had a mark on his face -- where is he now?
Near the end of their time on the island, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are the only ones left with Ralph, and Jack, who appears as “a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear” (Golding 168). Jack starts to get violent, and what was fun when they first got to the island become attempts to kill. At this point, Jack has fully taken over, and the only thing left for him to do is kill Ralph. Lord of the Flies exemplifies how when one person has all of the power, there is always somebody else that wants it more than that person. Ralph is not against Jack, nor does he want to fight with him for the chief position, but ambition and violence overtakes Jack, and he turns into a dangerous savage.
At the beginning of the book, Jack begins to turn savage. An example is shown when Piggy is arguing that since he is holding the conch, he should be talking and no one else should. Jack shouts to Piggy, “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain so you shut up” (Golding, 42). Jack rebels and disobeys the conch.
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel in which multiple characters signify important ideas or themes. Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy represents the intellectual aspects of civilization. He is by far the most intelligent character in the story. Additionally, Piggy represented rule and order on the island.
Lastly, Jack is known as the rebel of the story who disagrees with the leaders, and is pure evil from middle to end. Although Jack is evil, his bad character trait ensures his survival and alliance with the boys. The first example of when Jack’s evilness is shown in the story is when Jack hunts the pig and puts its head on a stick, the line says “ Jack held the head up and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick” ( Golding, 150). This shows Jack’s evilness because instead of fearing the beast he is offering him the head of the pig that he just brutally murdered.
According to the author, Jack is realizing that the only way he can have power is by hunting for others, but the more he hunts the most violent he becomes, but since he does not think fondly of piggy he does not give him meat, but when Simon gives him meat, throws meat at him and yells, "Eat! Damn you!" (pg 67). This short quote reinforces my answer because it shows how jack has become more aggressive, violent, and power-crazy. The examination of this quote reveals jacks blood-lust for power, and I'm not just talking about jack, in the book Jack represents savagery in society, violent acts when no one is looking, he represents that anyone can feel bloodthirsty for power, so furthermore Jack is exposed by that quote showing that he becomes more savage and his true nature rolls in, but he is also aware of it, he wears a clay mask towards the end of the book to cover up his insecurity and how he feels about his actions so he can have the power to not realize his actions and do things without thinking realistically.
Although the plot elements of Lord of the Flies could be interpreted in a literal sense, Golding uses protagonists to characterize and portray different aspects of society. As the plot goes, a group of boys are stranded on an uninhabited island, and soon form a makeshift community, with Ralph being the leader and Piggy as his unofficial advisor. Eventually, tensions rise between Ralph and Jack, a savage, power-hungry boy who enjoys hunting and killing for food. Ralph is revealed by Golding to represent the “shell” of order and civilization on the deserted island, as Ralph holds official power thanks to the conch shell, and is recognized by others as the executive leader of the group.
Lord of the Flies uses many ordinary objects and characters to symbolize greater and more complicated ideas, one of these being democracy vs. totalitarianism. Ralph represents democracy because of his focus on group decision making. Ralph’s counterpart, Jack, represents totalitarianism with his abuse of power and dislike for all things symbolizing democracy. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the characters Ralph and Jack are symbolic of the fight between democracy and totalitarianism due to their different styles of leadership, which ends in total destruction of the island. Throughout the novel, Ralph represents rational and orderly civilization, while working with Piggy to form a democratic-like society on the island.