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... to half and inch Ralph's character appears to strengthen as the story unfolds, although he nearly succumbs to Jacks temptation. From his experience on the island he begins to recognize the darkness of Mans heart. Throughout the story he shows bravery, mercy, leadership and respect for authority: there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil He could be described as the very essence of British male youth and perhaps it is no coincidence that he seems to get his sense of decency from a father in the Armed Forces, as Golding himself was in the Navy. However, his failure to head an effective democracy may show how the human race also fails to acknowledge the evil from within. He is flawed as we all are - but at least he tries.
Like Ralph the character of Piggy is that of a civilized boy but he is not like any other child on the island in appearance which makes him a vulnerable target. At first he is assumed to be a moaning, obese, working-class hypochondriac whose contribution to life on the island will be negligible: Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor. Piggy is an outcast on the island by appearance. Although he is probably the most intelligent of the boys, his physical state makes him socially unacceptable and therefore the subject of ridicule. Yet he may be described as the voice of civilization, being the only adult on the island in behavior and rational thought. He believes in democracy and rules, and that is why he respects the conch: I got the conch!
He dies in the end by trusting in the conch, democracy and civilization to do the right thing and persuade the savages to return his specs. In this respect he lacks perception and insight to human nature. His arguments are pragmatic but not fully developed or realistic. Another important aspect with Piggy's character is how he compliments Ralph's leadership, giving advice, and having the ability to think through situations. Golding may be suggesting that humankind needs each other, especially when in positions of leadership, no man is an island. Their relationship can be compared to Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday.
Piggy is murdered by the dark character of Roger. Without law and order on the island Rogers innate evil, as suggested by Golding, quickly takes over. He learns that there is no one on the island who can punish him, such as his schoolmaster, and he is the first to fall into total savagery. He stands for the evil torturers, like Nazis, who took over countries who are then ruled by dictators such as Hitler. People like Roger are not leaders but help evil tyrants maintain power through fear. Rogers evil grows throughout the story.
The first sign of this is in Chapter Four when he began to throw stones at Henry but still intentionally missing: Rogers arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins Memories of punishment still exist in his mind: Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policeman and law The social conditioning in Roger is broken and his innate evil side surfaces, in the killing of the sow. The evil is released due in part to the crowd mentality and he is caught in the savage heat of the hunt and his past discipline is not enough to stop him. Like Jack, Rogers evil is let loose, but unlike him, he shows a far darker or developed evil. He is sadistic, frenzied by violence, and pianistic in the hunt for the sow: Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push until he was leaning with his whole weight... The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her... He recognizes that Jack as leader can help him carry on his sadistic pleasures and for the first time calls him chief.
Roger plans to kill Ralph, the last symbol of civilization: Roger sharpened a stick at both ends He can now kill without emotion, something that Golding must have witnessed in the war. If one can liken Roger to Satan, then Simon must be compared to Christ. Similar to Piggy, Simon is also an outcast of the group and is regarded as batty. Yet he is the only one that realizes the beast is within, and not a physical entity.
When he tries to warn them he is slaughtered by the beast in the boys, like Jesus Christ (slaughtered at the hands of sinners) because he represents people in society who are not understood, or who are different and might pose a threat to power. Lastly, the littles appear to represent Golding's view of the normal type of person in society who support leaders without much reason as to why this should be. They can represent in their weakness mankind's cruelty to those needy people in society. Stevenson also demonstrated the mixture of good and evil in us all.
In The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the characters are adults of middle class distinction. One such character is Mr. Utters on, a model person of the bourgeoisie.
He is austere with himself, and takes gin to mortify a taste for vintages. He believes that drinking wine and going to the theatre was not good enough for a man in his position. He appears a rather boring gentleman although honorable. Similarly, his friend Enfield, the well known man about town is a respectable middle class gentleman too, although the two do not have many shared common interests.
Enfield appears to be of a more lighter disposition than his friend. He does not behave in a respectable manner and there are references to places he visits which may be a brothel. This would not be mentioned in public because it was socially unacceptable although widely practiced: I was coming home from some place at the end of the world about three o clock of a black winter morning This may indicate Stevenson's hypocrisy in Victorian society, and it is also relevant that both these characters are rather flat, with no real warm friendship, no wives or other relations, just servants. Although all characters seem to admit to a darker side.
It has been suggested that these rather isolated plain characters serve to highlight even more the full horror of Mr. Hyde. The character of Dr. Jekyll is then introduced who also visits unrepeatable parts of London but under his separate personality of Mr.
Hyde, a person released from Jekyll by an experimental drug. Similar to Lord of the Flies this appears to be an innate evil, but it isnt released by lack of social structure, as seen in Roger, but by an unnatural drug. At first to use this drug was Jekyll's means of escaping the har...
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Research essay sample on People In Society Socially Unacceptable
