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Fiction

Notes Self Assessment

State the following sentences are True of False:
1. Golding’s emnphasis on the negative consequences of savagery can be read as a clear
endorsement of civilization.
2. The novel “Lord of the flies” is not entirely pessimistic about the human capacity for
good.

3. Lord of the flies introduces the questions of natural environment.
4. Lord of the flies is in part an allegory of the World war II.
5. Simon is the athletic, chrismatic protagonist of Lord of the flies.
6. The Beast is a dead pilot whom Simon discovers in the forest.

27.2 Character List

Ralph

The protagonist of the story, Ralph is one of the oldest boys on the island. He quickly becomes
the group’s leader. Golding describes Ralph as tall for his age and handsome, and he presides
over the other boys with a natural sense of authority. Although he lacks Piggy’s overt intelligence,
Ralph is calm and rational, with sound judgment and a strong moral sensibility. But he is
susceptible to the same instinctive influences that affect the other boys, as demonstrated by his
contribution to Simon’s death. Nevertheless, Ralph remains the most civilized character throughout
the novel. With his strong commitment to justice and equality, Ralph represents the political
tradition of liberal democracy.

Piggy
Although pudgy, awkward, and averse to physical labor because he suffers from asthma,
Piggy—who dislikes his nickname—is the intellectual on the island. Though he is an outsider
among the other boys, Piggy is eventually accepted by them, albeit grudgingly, when they
discover that his glasses can be used to ignite fires. Piggy’s intellectual talent endears him to
Ralph in particular, who comes to admire and respect him for his clear focus on securing their
rescue from the island. Piggy is dedicated to the ideal of civilization and consistently reprimands
the other boys for behaving as savages. His continual clashes with the group culminate when
Roger murders Piggy by dropping a rock on him, an act that signals the triumph of brute
instinct over civilized order. Intellectual, sensitive, and conscientious, Piggy represents culture
within the democratic system embodied by Ralph. Piggy’s nickname symbolically connects
him to the pigs on the island, who quickly become the targets of Jack’s and his hunters’
bloodlust—an association that foreshadows his murder.

Jack Merridew

The leader of a boys’ choir, Jack exemplifies militarism as it borders on authoritarianism. He
is cruel and sadistic, preoccupied with hunting and killing pigs. His sadism intensifies throughout
the novel, and he eventually turns cruelly on the other boys. Jack feigns an interest in the rules
of order established on the island, but only if they allow him to inflict punishment. Jack
represents anarchy. His rejection of Ralph’s imposed order—and the bloody results of this
act—indicate the danger inherent in an anarchic system based only on self-interest.

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