Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0126/01260.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob01260}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Works of William Golding
Character Analyses}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Golding, William}
$Affiliation{Department Of English, Bard College}
$Subject{boys
answer
evil
society
ralph
represents
human
novel
island
jack}
$Date{}
$Log{}
Title:       Works of William Golding
Book:        Lord of the Flies
Author:      Golding, William
Critic:      Dewsnap, Terence
Affiliation: Department Of English, Bard College

Character Analyses

     Ralph: An attractive boy and a natural leader, the sort of intelligent,
well-adjusted, athletic boy who easily might become the idol of his
schoolmates. We meet him in the first chapter as he leads the way out of the
jungle while Piggy lumbers after him. That he is fair-haired suggests that he
is a child of fortune, one who is blessed by nature with grace, strength, and
luck. There is recklessness to his manner. He seems happy at the prospect of
living on a deserted island, away from the influence of adults. The setting
fosters dreams of heroic adventure in which he is the protagonist. He will
overcome all of the difficulties present in his surroundings, lead a
joyously exciting jungle life, then optimistically await a glamorous rescue
by his naval-officer father. Unfortunately, his dreams are frustrated when
nature and his fellow youths refuse to cooperate with his romantic vision.
And, as his dream becomes more difficult of attainment, he loses confidence
and calmness and begins to indulge himself in escape fantasies and dreams of
the past. Gradually, he forfeits the respect of the other boys. A contrasting
characteristic to his tendency to dream is his common sense. He is quick to
assess the situation of the boys in realistic terms. He sees what must be
done for their survival and rescue and sets about arranging parliamentary
meetings, building a signal fire, and constructing huts. He appraises the
advice of Piggy according to its practicality. He fights against the
superstition and terror of the boys as being detrimental to the organized
progress of their society. Ralph is by no means a perfect character. He is
often mean to those weaker than himself, particularly the faithful Piggy.
Occasionally he performs rash and foolish actions. He even joins in the murder
of Simon. He shares in the universal guilt of man. But he does show a
clearsightedness that none of the others possess in the same way. It is his
common-sense view that prevails at the end of the novel when he graduates from
his experience on the island with a more mature knowledge of himself and the
world around him. He recognizes the universal presence of evil as a condition
of life. He is capable of appreciating the tragedy of the loss of innocence
that is the common heritage of man.

     More than any other character, Ralph represents the outlook of the
author-and the outlook that he expects his reader to share. He is not as
intellectual as Piggy and he is not as religious as Simon, but he dreams the
dreams of freedom and adventure that enliven the progress of western society.
He is the most complete, most human, and most heroic of the characters in the
novel, and the one with whom readers most readily identify.

     Jack Merridew: "He was tall, thin, and bony, and his hair was red beneat
the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without
silliness." A cruel and ugly bully, he early develops a taste for violence. He
is a leader of the choir at first, and then of the hunters. His leadership
resides in his ability to threaten and frighten those under him. He is always
ready for a fight. His victory over Piggy represents the triumph of violence
over intellect, as he smashes one of the lenses of the fat boy's glasses. The
knife that he carries is a symbol of the death and destruction that accompany
his every act. He does have some attractive qualities-bravery and
resourcefulness. But these are easily obscured by his wrath, envy, pride,
hatred, and lust for blood. He is constantly attempting to weaken Ralph's hold
on the boys. He suggests opposite measures, he shouts abusively, he threatens,
he is constantly demanding to be made chief. In all, he is a complete stranger
to polite behavior. In his constant rivalry with Ralph, and in his constant
preoccupation with killing, whether it be pigs or fellow human beings, he is a
diabolical force, plunging the boys into a chaos of brute activities. His
egotistical outbursts and his temper tantrums suggest that he is immature in
his social development. But as hunter and killer he is extremely precocious.
The readiness with which he throws himself into the existence of a savage, as
he pauses to sniff the air for scent, or falls to his knees to inspect the pig
droppings, or runs naked and painted through the forest, suggests the
flimsiness of the restraints and patterns of civilization in a personality in
which the destructive passions flow strongly.

     If the novel is read as religious allegory, Jack emerges as an envoy of
the Devil, enticing the other boys to sin. If the novel is read as a
representation of Freudian principles, Jack represents the primitive urges of
the id. In the symbolic representation of the processes of life and death,
Jack suggests, both in the black cloaks which he and his followers wear and in
his association with darkness, the power of death. In his first appearance,
coming out of the "darkness of the forest" to face Ralph, whom he cannot see
because his back is to the sun, Jack represents the Satanic and deathly force
coming to confront the divine and life giving man of light. The blood that he
wallows in is a further representation of deathliness. When, after his first
kill, "Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and smudged blood over his
forehead as he pushed down the plastered hair," he unconsciously imitates the
ritual of the tribal initiation of the hunter, whose face is covered with the
blood of his first kill. Finally, if the novel is read as the story of human
civilization, Jack represents the influences of unreason and confusion and
violence as they operate counter to the progress of human virtues and social
institutions.

     Piggy: This intellectual is an outsider. He manages for a time to have
some influence on the group through Ralph, who recognizes his brilliance and
puts into effect several of his suggestions. But, generally, the boys are
quick to ridicule him for his fatness, asthma, and lack of physical skill. An
orphan brought up under the care of an aunt, he has developed into a sissy. He
cannot do anything for himself, whether it be to gather fruit, blow the conch
shell, or build huts. He always tries to hide when the other boys are involved
in manual labor. At home, presumably, his favorite pastime would be sitting in
a chair, reading. His frequent appeals to the adult world, and his attempt to
model his behavior on that of teachers and other grown-ups evokes the contempt
of the boys. Further, he makes the mistake of pressing too hard for
acceptance. In his first appearance in Chapter 1, he attempts so diligently to
win the favor or Ralph that he only alienates Ralph at the same time that he
gives him personal information about himself that Ralph can then use to hurt
him. His life on the island is a series of unhappy embarrassments, including
being taunted by the boys, being beaten, and having his glasses broken and
stolen. Finally, at the instigation of Jack, he is killed by Roger.

     He represents an attitude of mind that is conservative and civilized. His
eyeglasses, which are constantly steamed, and that he absolutely needs to see
anything, separate him from the world of activity and adventure in which he
cannot participate as freely as the other boys, and confine him to the realm
of his own mind. Possibly because he is the bookish member of the group, he
tends to be more scientific than the rest, and also more skeptical. His
knowledge of science is shown in his plan to build sundials. His skepticism
keeps him from participating in the superstitions of the other boys. He knows
that the world of adults and books would not abide the legend of the
"beastie."

     Piggy is necessarily more civilized than anyone else because, with his
meagre physical equipment, only in the most civilized of societies could he
survive. Ironically, with his build, his nickname "Piggy," and his squealing,
he resembles the sacrificial pig. When he dies, his "arms and legs twitched a
bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." His superior intellect is of
little use to him in the later stages of the novel. In the increasingly more
degenerate society of the boys, the intellectual is lowered to the status of
the beast. Then he is sacrificed and symbolically eaten.

     Simon: An artistically and religiously sensitive boy who looks, without
blinking, into the evil realities that plague the island. In spite of his
delicate frame and frequent fainting spells, he is willing to work and is
brave in the face of physical danger. At the same time, he seems to be
something of a mystic, stealing off into the depths of the jungle for moments
of solitude and meditation. Perhaps it is his belief in spiritual reality that
diminishes his fear of death and his attachment to the things of the world. He
works at building the huts, and is happy to gather fruit for the littluns
without any selfish motives. He enters the dark forest without any fear of
strange "beasts." He does not share the fears of the other boys because he
feels that the spirit world does not hold any terrors.

     He is right in saying that the only "beasts" are the ones that people
create. He is perhaps wrong in underestimating this evil, even though it is a
subjective one. He discovers, in his conversation with the Lord of the Flies,
that even he himself contains a destructive evil. And he discovers at the cost
of his life the full power of the evil that throbs in the hearts of the boys.
After solving the mystery of the "beast" by discovering the dead parachutist
on the mountain, he is rewarded by being beaten and stabbed to death by the
horde of maniacal boys.

     It is in terms of the religious meaning of the story that Simon is most
important. He represents the idea that, even in the most unattached and
spiritual personality, an evil presence makes itself known. On the social
level, he represents a creative force that is cut off from the rest of society
because of the predominance of violent impulses in that society.

     On the historical level, Simon represents the gradual alienation of the
creative artist, in this century, as he is forced further and further into a
position of isolation until he climbs so high in his ivory tower that he can
commune only with the spirits.

     Roger: A furtive, quiet boy, who evolves into a torturer and terrorist,
eager to throw rocks, or roll boulders, or prod his fellow man with spears. He
represents a different kind of destructiveness than that of Jack. Where Jack
acts in fury, Roger performs his treacheries with cool detachment. He appears
to know full well the evil of his actions, but not really to care. He actually
enjoys being called upon to play the role of torturer. It is such perversity
that makes him much more evil in the mind of the reader. Whereas Simon joined
Jack and Ralph on their ascent of the mountain because of his spiritual
confidence. Roger willingly joins Jack and Ralph in search of the "beast,"
because he is so conversant with the realm of evil that he fears nothing. His
own diabolism is his security from evil mishap.

     In terms of the historical and social allegory, Roger is the professional
exterminator of human beings that usually is found in the entourage of a
tyrant. On the religious level, Roger represents the complete death of
conscience; he is the epitome of evil. In the Freudian myth he represents,
even more explicitly than does Jack, the force of the id. In connection with
the imagery of life and death, he suggests and absolute lust for death.

     Samneric: Sam and Eric, identical twins, are extremely civilized,
possibly because since birth they have been a small, two-man society. They are
shy and pleasant. It is the twins who spot the corpse of the parachutist on
the top of the mountain and run in panic to report a beast. They are not
especially brave, but they remain faithful to Ralph long after the others. In
their cheery comradeship they represent the best of the English schoolboy
tradition. That Jack and Roger are able, at the end, to make them serve as
hunters and to betray Ralph is an indication of the power of evil on the
island that even they must share in it. They resemble the relatively innocent
and humane members of civilized society who are forced to submit to the powers
of mechanization, and sacrifice their personalities to become part of a
process of destruction.

     Maurice: Although good-natured and smiling, he is easily swayed by the
evil influence of Roger and Jack. He possesses qualities of pleasantness and
affability, and would be a happy member of a civilized community. But on the
island he is forced to bend before the will of the hunters.

     Henry: A leader among the littluns. Golding seems to be pointing out that
even in the smallest and least significant units of society there are the same
combinations of leaders and followers with all of the attendant duties and
rights. It is Henry whom Roger follows in Chapter 4, in order to
throw stones in his direction.

     Percival: A small, sickly, and fearful littlun. He reports that he saw
the beast, and that the beast came out of the sea.

     Johnny: A healthy and naturally belligerent littlun.

     British Officer: The only character from the adult world is proud,
pretentious, and blind to the faults of his society-just as the boys are
blind to theirs. Though he represents the authority that the boys have shown
they needed on the island, he also symbolizes the weakness, destructiveness,
and hypocrisy of the society from which he comes.

Essay Questions And Answers For Review

I. The Ideas Of Golding

     1. What is the theme of Lord of the Flies?

     Answer: Theme, as a critical term, refers both to the truth about human
life, which an author wants to emphasize in a piece of fiction, and to the
idea that controls the climactic action in a story. In Lord of the Flies the
theme is that evil is present as a destructive influence in man, operating
counter to the forces of reason and civilization. This idea is not only
revealed in several scenes where the boys perform destructive acts. It is
present as the reason why things happen the way they do in the central
portion of the novel, where the forces of Jack triumph over the forces of
Ralph. It is present in the brutal destruction of the sow, in the ritual
sacrifice of Simon, and in the wanton murder of Piggy. It is the truth about
human life that one is forced to accept as an explanation of the destruction
of the society of the boys.

     2. According to Golding, what are the limitations of the boys?

     Answer: Not only are the boys frustrated in their attempt to establish
an island society because of their evil natures. They also lack the
traditional restraints of society that can sometimes control evil; for
example, a coherent religious code, or an effective legal code. They are
also too immature to harmonize their various differing members into a
functional whole. They lack the self-control, perserverance, and
cooperativeness necessary to the development of any social organism, whether
it be a basketball team or the United Nations.

     3. What is Golding's opinion of modern society?

     Answer: The parallels between the society of the boys and modern
civilized society, such as the competitiveness, destructiveness, and violence
existing in both, suggest that the problems that plague the boys are those
that are present in more sophisticated communities. There is the same
proneness to evil, the same fear of the unknown, the same use of technology
for inhuman purposes. At the same time, there is the same potential for
civilized advancement, provided that human reason is allowed to flourish in
company with, but not stifled by, a strong moral sense.

     4. What is the author's attitude to history?

     Answer: History is a record of ironic recurrences of human error. The
same errors that were made by primitive man are made by the boys, and are
made by civilized societies, even to the point where human sacrifices are
still being offered to appease the gods of terror and fear. Golding seems
to be pointing out that the blood lust of the primitive hunter is prevalent
in modern man, as witness his warships, bombers, and rockets.

     5. What does Golding say about human destiny?

     Answer: At first glance, the future seems gray. Society is
disintegrating. Anarchy and violence thrive at the expense of reason. At the
end of Lord of the Flies, however, there is some hope for the future in the
new knowledge that Ralph has acquired. He understands the conflict of good
and evil, ideal and real, that exists in man. And, unlike Simon and Piggy,
he is resourceful enough to elude death and to carry this knowledge back to
civilization, there to have some influence of his fellow man. He will be a
wise leader when he is a man. He will be a man of reason, but also a man aware
of the darkness lurking in the most innocent person. And he will have some
positive effect on civilization.

     6. What is the ethical view expressed in Lord of the Flies?

     Answer: Ethics, in this novel, are complex. The good man is not
necessarily one who intends to perform good actions. He is certainly not
one who accepts the mores of a society, because the mores on the island
include murder and torture. Rather, he is the person who works for his fellow
man, who answers the dictates of reason, who accepts a personal responsibility
for the evil in the world, and is able to function as a harmonious human
being. Simon is perhaps the most holy person in the novel, but he does not
function effectively in society. Ralph, the leader who best coordinates his
activities, is the most ethical character.

     7. What is Golding's concept of a hero?

     Answer: Conventional heroic types like the dashing naval captain are
satirized. The hero is the leader who works for the creation and advancement
of society, who recognizes and challenges the evil existing in himself, and
who is capable of enduring in a complex and often savage environment.

     8. What is the significance of the title?

     The title, Lord of the Flies, is a reminder for the reader of who it is
that the boys are submitting to as they become more savage and superstitious.
The expression is a translation of Beelzebub, the name of a devil, which
suggests that the boys are becoming more evil as they establish the Lord of
the Flies on a stick, and begin to worship the mysterious forces of the
jungle. Further, the title suggests that the boys are like flies, mere
instinctive beings swarming to the kill.

     9. What is the meaning of Simon's encounter with the Lord of the Flies?

     Answer: Simon, who represents the highest aspirations of the human
spirit towards beauty and holiness, participates in a symbolic dialogue with
the Lord of the Flies, who represents the lowest part of man, the source of
violence, hatred, fear, murder. The meeting represents the recognition of
these forces in all men, even the saintly. The episode refutes benevolent
and optimistic theories of man and the universe.

     10. What is the meaning of fire?

     Answer: In the novel, fire represents a hope for the future. Fire has
distinguished man from the beasts for as long as he has been building fires
for cooking and warmth. Here, the fire denotes a peculiarly human action, the
use of a signal to win the aid of fellow men. As long as the signal fire is
lit, the boys are confident of their place in the community of civilized
people. Fire is a contrast to the symbol of darkness that represents the
barbarism within the boys.

     11. Explain the meaning of the hunt.

     Answer: The hunt is a formalization of the destructive passions that
exist in the boys. It gives these passions an outlet. This, however, is
dangerous because the more these passions are indulged, the more violent they
become.

     12. What is the significance of the corpse and the parachute on the
mountain?

     Answer: The corpse and parachute are evidence of the subjective nature of
human fear. Distorted by the imaginations of the boys, these harmless objects
become so frightening that the signal fire is allowed to go out. They are an
illustration that man has nothing to fear but himself.

     13. What is the relation of the individual to the state according to
Golding?

     Answer: Each individual should contribute to the total harmonious
operation of society.

     14. What is man's relation to nature?

     Answer: Nature "red in tooth and claw" represents a threat to man,
unless, by the use of reason, he understands and controls its powers.

     15. Comment on the importance of self-discovery in the novel.

     Answer: It is only insofar as a character knows himself that he can do
anything to improve conditions in the novel. All of the attempts to civilize
the island, to erect huts, to organize a parliament, to sustain a signal fire,
fail because of not allowing for the limitations of the boys. It is only at
the end of the novel, when Ralph recognizes the loss of his own innocence,
that knowledge paves the way for progress.

     16. To what extent is man free according to Golding?

     Answer: Freedom is always qualified by forces inside and outside of man.
Society imposes restrictions on the freedom of man and these may be the
helpful rules that Ralph establishes, or they may be the rites of a savage
tribe that Samneric are forced to conform to. But even more strongly, the
dark side of man controls his desires and actions and limits his powers of
choice. It is only as man recognizes the threat to his liberty, without and
within, that he can begin to define his rights as a free being and proceed to
control his destiny. Freedom is dependent upon self-knowledge.

II. The Form Of Lord Of The Flies

     1. Discuss Golding's handling of point of view.

     Answer: In this novel Golding uses the omniscient author point of view,
permitting his to enter any mind. However, he often presents his material with
cool objectivity. He does not let his reader involve himself completely with
his own, or his characters' feelings. His tone in cool and analytical. Even in
the most violent scenes, he will detachedly observe butterflies at the same
time that he presents the central action. He seems to be encouraging his
reader to decide on the issues with calmness and reason, the same qualities
that the author himself exhibits as he narrates the story.

     2. Analyze the use of symbolism in the novel.

     Answer: The author gives to almost every detail in the story a meaning of
its own and a representational meaning in terms of the theme of the
development of evil on the island. The boys themselves are representative of
different ways of life-the intellectual, the adventurer, the bully, the
torturer-so as to give the impression of diversity that is found in an actual
society. The places represent human potentials; for example, the jungle the
darkness of the human spirit, the sea the destructiveness of man, the platform
reason, the mountain hope. Objects like the boulder and Jack,s knife represent
powers of violence inside the boys. The conch shell stands for order and
stability. Incidents, for example the several hunting rituals, symbolize the
increasing powers of evil.

     3. Is Golding in any sense a realistic writer?

     Answer: He seems less interested in the reality of external events than
in spiritual and moral reality. Although he writes concretely, the experiences
are not likely to ever actually occur. He is realistic in the presentation of
the psychology of violence. His projections of the impulses to hunt and
destroy, as they exist in modern man, are based on accurate interpretation.

     4. What is the structure of Lord of the Flies?

     Answer: The general organization of the novel is chronological order,
with a concentration on the successive by the boys to organize their lives on
the island and the successive attempts failures. The novel moves from hope to
frustration to hope to frustration-with each new hope dimmer and each
frustration greater as the society disintegrates into a state of anarchy.

     5. What is the advantage of using boys as characters?

     Answer: The boys, with their outward innocence and inner corruption,
represent, quite readily, the theme of the intrusion of evil in man. Much of
the irony in the novel derives from the discrepancy between pleasant
appearances and horrible realities. Even the relatively civilized boys, Piggy
and Ralph, join in the slaughter of their friend Simon.

     6. What are the methods of characterization?

     Answer: Golding uses the conventional methods of revealing character,
presenting the thoughts, speech, and description of a person, describing
characteristic action, and reporting the observations of others; all of these
are used with great economy. The boys are created with a few deft strokes,
rather than by a multiplicity of details, with the result that all of the
boys, except perhaps Simon and Ralph, are simple characterizations. This
makes them serve better as representative types in the symbolic narrative.
Even with Simon and Ralph, Golding gives greatest emphasis to one
characteristic of Simon-his spiritualism-and two characteristics of Ralph-his
dreaminess and his common sense-to make each of them also symbolize a way of
life.

     7. Do the characters of the boys develop?

     Answer: The personalities of the boys do change. In general, there is the
gradual flowering of evil that warps their characters. In some boys there is a
change for the better. Piggy at the end is more dignified. Simon is filled
with an adult wisdom. Ralph is serious and sombre.

     8. Comment on style and tone.

     Answer: Golding writes with great virtuosity. At times he describes the
details of the jungle so concretely and vividly that the reader is convinced
of the reality of the experience. Other times he lyrically presents the
imaginative experience of the boys, as in Chapter 4 where he depicts the
illusions that beset the boys, or in Chapter 8 where he brings Simon
face-to-face with the Lord of the Flies. His tone ranges from a romantically
enthusiastic response to the beauty of the jungle, to a satiric juxtaposition
of incongruous elements like the childish chatter and vicious expressions of
hatred by the boys.

     9. How does the author sustain interest?

     Answer: It is the physical, emotional, and moral conflicts of boy against
boy, and boy against nature that arouse and sustain interest.

     10. What is the advantage of using an island setting?

     Answer: The island is a completely isolated world, where the possibility
of instituting a new society can be tested. The island, too, will take
whatever geography the author wants to impose. Here, Golding molds the island
to his symbolic purposes, giving it a beach, platform, jungle, mountain, and
rocky extremity, each of which can be used to represent human potentials and
aspirations.