Roger Lord Of The Flies Analysis

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, states, “We refuse to see the true nature of evil and we underrate its strength. We appease the power of evil and allow it to develop unchecked when we should stamp out its manifestation.” Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel about a group of British boys who are stuck on an uninhabited island and struggle between civilization and savagery. When Golding said this quote, he meant that mankind does not take the roots of evil seriously and it develops more and more into a feeling that will be hard to control later on. Golding believes society should try to eliminate the beginning of evil before it grows into something more that would be harder to destroy. Mankind should try to cure or prevent

This is true because evil is not something that just goes away. If it isn’t helped as soon as possible, it will only grow into something that is nearly impossible to destroy. At this point, the person/people with darkness inside of them will be pretty hard to get back to normal. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the growth and development of evil in the characters is shown. A character that shows the growth of evil in this novel would be Roger. Roger is a character that gets more malevolent over the course of the story. In chapter four, we see Roger and his friend, Maurice, acting like bullies to the children on the island. “Roger lead the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones”(Golding 60). This is one of the first stops on Roger’s road to evil. When Roger destroyed the sand castles, no one told him to stop, therefore he did not feel the need to end what he was doing. The next step Roger took into evil and savagery is more serious than the last. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time time, bounced five yards to Henry’s

Society would have less chaos and troubles in the world if evil was handled correctly. Everyone would be happier, healthier, and safer in a world with no evil. Unfortunately, that is nearly impossible to accomplish, and Golding shows that in Lord of the Flies. “For a moment he had a fleeting picture of the strange glamour that had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood-Simon was dead- and Jack had… The tears began to flow and sobs shook him”(Golding 202). By the end of the story, the effects that evil had on the boys was immense. The boys lost friends and lost all civilization on the island. This quote shows how Ralph, one of the only boys who is not evil, is greatly affected by many of the situations that have happened on the island, such as losing his friends, Simon and Piggy, and being hunted by Jacks and his hunters. “And in the middle of them, with a filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”(Golding 202). When Ralph is weeping for these many reasons, it is important to remember that these things would have never happened if the evil was controlled. It would have been better for everyone on the island. Jack, Roger, and the rest of the hunters would still be civilized. Simon and Piggy would still be alive.