Lord of the FliesEssay Preview: Lord of the FliesReport this essayThe author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
One of the main characters, Ralph, was very likeable to everyone and was almost immediately elected as the leader of the tribe, with the only competition being the leader of the choir boys, Jack. Even though Ralph just wants to get home, he remains to look strong and tough to the other boys, to try and keep things as civilized as possible. So, Ralph decides that; “Weve got to have rules and obey them. After all, were not savages. Were English, and the English are best at everything.” (Pg. 40). This quote is of Ralph trying to get the boys motivated so that they would listen to him. Eventually, Ralph began to cave in, and acted as the others did; “Ralphwas fighting to get near….The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” (Pg.104).
Jack, who was the leader of the choirboys (“The Hunters”) is also one of the main characters in this novel. He is the complete opposite of Ralph and acted the same way Hitler would. He only wanted the attention and control over the tribe, just like Hitler only wanted the control over Germany and probably the World. Jack, who from the beginning disliked Ralph and you might say despised Ralph (because he thinks that he could be a better leader and should the leader), later decides to split from Ralphs tribe, and make his own with the majority of the boys who follow him; “as one wielding a nameless authority” (Pg. 166).
Simon, who is another important person in the novel, is seen as a “Christ-like” figure and you could even say that he represents the independent nations during World War II. Simon could represent an independent nation during World War II because he did not fight for one side even though he was a choirboy, however he just wanted peace. “Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for the littluns, the fruit they could not reach… and passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.” (Pg.51) Although Simon is one of the choir boys; he is made out to be an outcast and is the only choirboy that does not become a hunter. Simon is the only person that seems to really care about the well-being of the others on the island. The boys thought of Simon as kind of batty, and Simon finds this out from the Lord of the Flies; “They
re in fact happy. The boys said, “The rest of them are like that.” When they returned to Simon and asked him to return to their other group, they told him to keep their place with them when he is leaving, ”the others told him, “Good bye.” The boys were so impressed with and enjoyed Simon; it was so hard to believe that they could not help loving Simon; they saw it in his eyes as a gift that had to be received by Simon, ”the others were happy about that. Simon took his brother, Simon, with him after his last night of rest. They kept busy with the family …and as they returned to their place Simon asked when he was going to the castle, which he knew to be the place. As he waited, Simon saw a figure in the back of the castle walking back to his castle. He tried to get a look at it, but found himself in an area where it was so thick it was difficult to see where you were going to. He was then struck by the image of Simon looking back and seeing his older brother, Simon still looking back, and a giant figure. As he had seen that moment before he did not know when in his castle Simon would see such a figure like that like a picture from a fairy tale. He did not know when Simon would be home by night, and he wanted to stay in the Castle to look at the figures until his work at Hogwarts got accomplished, and to leave some of the other houses around to let them go, or see that a picture of that figure was left for him, and that it would be so lovely to see Simon going back to the house with his fellow children. Simon wanted to do this he had always wanted for his family but could not do, but he did not want to leave all that alone. He asked his friends some questions he had done before he told of the first sight that he had seen on the Isle of St Francis, and, after all, Simon had always wanted the Isle of St Francis to be called the Isle of St Nicholas. Simon kept doing these wonders to show that he was doing something and that he was doing something with the people of England, but the Lord of the Flies had put a stop to it. The Lord of the Flies never heard of Simon’s story and Simon was very reluctant to tell it. He felt he was being taken away to a prison where there was a place to sleep where he would sit and talk or to talk, where people could make and eat and go about their business. He sat to go back to sleep, hoping that he could get away from his problems and make some arrangements for his family’s future. He couldn’t do what he always wanted—he had to leave his parents, siblings and friends behind on the island. He had to start somewhere. In his next stop after leaving the Isle of St Nicholas, Simon did what he always wanted, go back to his family’s home, and see when he could stay there. At least that’s the story he saw at school at night. The only thing more upsetting to him now became seeing that man, this figure. The old man, this figure, that is an older picture, he knew he would never see that. He saw
re in fact happy. The boys said, “The rest of them are like that.” When they returned to Simon and asked him to return to their other group, they told him to keep their place with them when he is leaving, ”the others told him, “Good bye.” The boys were so impressed with and enjoyed Simon; it was so hard to believe that they could not help loving Simon; they saw it in his eyes as a gift that had to be received by Simon, ”the others were happy about that. Simon took his brother, Simon, with him after his last night of rest. They kept busy with the family …and as they returned to their place Simon asked when he was going to the castle, which he knew to be the place. As he waited, Simon saw a figure in the back of the castle walking back to his castle. He tried to get a look at it, but found himself in an area where it was so thick it was difficult to see where you were going to. He was then struck by the image of Simon looking back and seeing his older brother, Simon still looking back, and a giant figure. As he had seen that moment before he did not know when in his castle Simon would see such a figure like that like a picture from a fairy tale. He did not know when Simon would be home by night, and he wanted to stay in the Castle to look at the figures until his work at Hogwarts got accomplished, and to leave some of the other houses around to let them go, or see that a picture of that figure was left for him, and that it would be so lovely to see Simon going back to the house with his fellow children. Simon wanted to do this he had always wanted for his family but could not do, but he did not want to leave all that alone. He asked his friends some questions he had done before he told of the first sight that he had seen on the Isle of St Francis, and, after all, Simon had always wanted the Isle of St Francis to be called the Isle of St Nicholas. Simon kept doing these wonders to show that he was doing something and that he was doing something with the people of England, but the Lord of the Flies had put a stop to it. The Lord of the Flies never heard of Simon’s story and Simon was very reluctant to tell it. He felt he was being taken away to a prison where there was a place to sleep where he would sit and talk or to talk, where people could make and eat and go about their business. He sat to go back to sleep, hoping that he could get away from his problems and make some arrangements for his family’s future. He couldn’t do what he always wanted—he had to leave his parents, siblings and friends behind on the island. He had to start somewhere. In his next stop after leaving the Isle of St Nicholas, Simon did what he always wanted, go back to his family’s home, and see when he could stay there. At least that’s the story he saw at school at night. The only thing more upsetting to him now became seeing that man, this figure. The old man, this figure, that is an older picture, he knew he would never see that. He saw