Evil In Lord Of The Flies Essay

After this moment when Roger realizes his inner needs for causing pain to others, he starts to show that whenever he can, he will find a way to “[wield] a nameless authority” upon others, without them ever knowing, (Golding 182). On the island there is a missing sense of authority so it makes a certain amount of sense as to why Roger is only now finding out about these dark urges that he has and how he uses

Golding paints Roger as a boy with little care for the world around him, acting solely according to his perceived ‘right’ actions. Seconds after Roger had been “dropping [stones]” (180) he took it a step further. “...with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (180) which held in place a large boulder. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (181), Roger appears to have taken particular delight in sending the boulder down toward the other boys, as the scene seems to play out from Roger’s perspective, “Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed” (181), given Roger has seen.

At the beginning of the book, Roger displayed power and destructiveness pretty early. He started to show signs of these things, when there was peace and civilization among the rest of the boys. He would spend his days torturing littles by throwing rocks

Early on, the unspoken rules of society keep Roger from causing harm to other boys. He throws stones at Henry but he “(throws them) to miss”pg.62 which shows that he is still impacted by societal rules. However, he is isolated from society for an extended period of time. When conflict erupts within the boys, he “(leans) all his weight on (a) lever” pg.180 that “(strikes) Piggy a glancing blow” pg.180 and ultimately takes his life. Roger being isolated from civilized society for an extended period of time leads him to kill Piggy.

In Lord of the Flies William Golding is able to portray Roger as a dangerous character early on in the book. When Roger and Maurice bother the littluns, the reader can sense Roger's violent mentality.

Roger starts out as a seemingly innocent follower of Jack, but throughout the novel, he becomes a character with a power of his own. A first glance at him foreshadows his fall into darkness, as he throws rocks at little boys to

He “led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones,” only to remain, “watching the littluns.” Maurice, however, “still felt the unease of wrongdoing.” Jack’s only fault was yearning for power, which corrupts those who wield it. Roger is corrupted and malevolent without ever thirsting for this power, and is therefore more evil than Jack. Roger keeps to himself, much like Simon, and remains consistently evil throughout the novel. Near the beginning, he “picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss,” held back by “the taboo of the old life.” Later, he did not miss and “with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever,” releasing a huge boulder and killing Piggy. Under the weight of the boulder, “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” The main symbol for the democracy, equality and justice was indirectly destroyed by Roger. To him, “Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat,” thus dehumanizing and objectifying them. When Sam and Eric were cornered by Jack’s group of savages, Roger demonstrates his enjoyment for hurting others by “[advancing] upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.” It was not for the sake of supremacy or control, but for unbridled sadistic pleasure. When Ralph finds Sam and Eric, they say that Roger is “a terror”. He also points out that Jack is a terror, but the twins respond with “only

Earlier Roger is seen throwing rocks at Henry but he “threw it to miss” and his “arm was conditioned by civilization” which shows that he has not fully forgotten his values (Golding, 64-65). Later on Roger starts to hurl rocks at Piggy due to his frustration. Roger manages to push a boulder and “the rock struck Piggy” which concluded with Piggy’s death (Golding, 200). Although anyone could have pushed the boulder down at Piggy, Roger was the one who seemed savage and cruel enough to do it that way. At first Roger was shadowed by sophistication, and he was significantly influenced by civilization which led him to do the right thing. Afterward, civilization had no power over Roger which made him free to do whatever he likes. Roger has shown that savagery turned into a large part of his nature due to his exposure to

Lord of the Flies portrays the battle of good vs. evil caused by human nature. The novel depicts how human nature and its potential to cause people to be evil, especially when there is a lack of civilization. Whereas some agree that humans are good by nature and stay good throughout their lives, Golding’s opinion is that all humans are naturally evil and he is able to express this belief through the evil that takes place in Lord of the Flies. The narrative is able to get across that it is far easier to be evil than to be good. Golding is able to express how evil truly effects society, and how evil separates the bad from the good. The conflict of evil is interpreted in the novel through Jack as an individual, savagery between the boys, as well

He then followed one of the littluns into the forest and creeped up behind the boy and approached him like a predator. Roger began throwing rocks at the littlun but purposely missed; which he describes as a barrier between him and society’s rules. However, no one ever saw Roger throwing rocks at the littlun and therefore, did not receive any punishment. From this event, Roger learned that out on the island, society’s rules do not exist and unfortunately caused Roger to send the boulder down the hill which then strikes Piggy’s body. Another way this set of mind is seen is the fall of civilization on the island.

over Percival and Johnny's sand castles. Then he throws stones at Henry, only missing because his arm "was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins." He was influenced bad by society because he killed piggy with a bolder. ‘’Roger pushed a rock onto Piggy which ended up killing him and destroying the conch.’’ He was influenced bad by society because he turned into a savage. ‘’Both are bad, but Roger is somehow worse. It is Roger, not Jack, who has sharpened a stick at both ends, preparing to make Ralph the next sacrificial murder victim on the island. Roger represents the worst savagery which might happen on the island, and Golding makes it evident that Roger is on a descent into savagery that even surpasses Jack's

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.

To begin with, Roger progressively transforms from a mysterious boy to a barbarian over the course of civilization to regression. Roger avoids social contact, initially, until refinement unravels among several boys, and he gets unruly--walking into the littluns’ sandcastle purposely--after relieving his signal fire duties. Afterwards, Roger continues bothering the kids, more particularly--Henry--as he “stoop[s], pick[s] up a stone, and thr[ows] it at Henry--threw it miss” (Golding 62). Roger gives in to the lack of civilization on the island by having the idea of harming a mere, young boy. However, civilization embeds a part of him, and it prevents him from hitting Henry literally. For example, he “pick[s] up a stone” (Golding 62) with the intent of using it to hurt a person since over time, the island gradually loses its authority and order. Consequently, these boys influence one another dramatically by their thirst to hunt or simple goal of survival. In this case, Jack, a power hungry tyrant, barbarically impacts Roger and his viewpoints. However, at home, society reminds Roger such actions are not acceptable, so he “threw it to

Roger demonstrates his own power at the begin of chapter 4 of the book lord of the flies, and experiences powers pushing back against him. In Lord of the flies, William Golding is describing Roger by saying, “Seemed to suit his gloomy face and made what had seemed at first an unsociable,” (60). The reason why this shows he wants power is in the struggle for power is the William Golding decried roger by his face in this part of the book. In Lord of the flies, William Golding said, “Roger led the way straight through the castle, kicking them over,” (60). This shows that Roger thinks that he is boss to the littuns since that his older to them. But on the other hand Maurice feels that what Roger did was wrong and so does Roger. In the book Lord

Roger’s evolution appears to be much more drastic than Jack’s, and is arguably one of the most savage of the bunch. During the exposition of the book, when Roger is first mentioned, he is noted as a quiet, reserved boy who enjoyed knocking over sand castles. At first he seemed relatively normal, he did very seemingly playful, things such playing the in the water, and couldn’t harm anyone. There was a time where Roger, had attempted to throw rocks at another person, but couldn't because “ Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.” Due to the policies, teachings and laws that he still felt obligated to follow, he could not willingly injure another human. However, as the rules created by the boy started to falter, Roger’s barriers were removed allowing his true colors to be shown. He started to quickly show