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William Golding uses symbolism to display his belief in the evil capabilities of mankind in Lord of the Flies. Piggy, Simon, Ralph, Jack and his tribe can all be seen as symbolic characters in the story. Piggy, Simon, and Ralph represent the good on the island while Jack and his tribe represent what is the bad or evil in Lord of the Flies. Ralph the leader at the start of the story leads a democratic society, and is totally fair to all of the boys.
When Jack takes over and starts his own tribe he begins to become a dictator. Throughout the novel he eliminates anything or anyone standing in his way. Jack and the rest of his tribe change throughout the story. They turn from good to evil and become obsessed with hunting and killing not only animals but eventually people. In Lord of the Flies Piggy represents the good on the island. But his poor vision and overweight stature quickly convey his physical infirmity and incompetence.
However, his glasses represent his intellectual strength and ability to think situations over logically, rather than let his emotions guide him. The gradual shift on the island from democracy to anarchy, where the climax is represented by the death of Piggy and the destruction of the conch. Without Piggy to help Ralph it is very possible that Ralph may have lost sight of things and given in to the Beast. Jack, who, throughout the novel systematically removes the forces opposing him, is scornfully afraid of Piggy and eventually kills him to eliminate his moral influence on the group. This gradual shift is also measured by the breaking of his spectacles, and the loss of the boy s faith in him. Piggy s character is used to show how even the best solution to a problem can be overlooked because of a lack of respect, prejudgments, and a lack of mature thinking.
Simon s character in Lord of the Flies is the most mature of all the boys because he does not fear the imaginary beast and he realizes that it is just in the boy s minds. Simon symbolizes a Christ-like figure on the island, who can see the truth, but is killed because of ignorance. He has the solution for surviving peacefully on the island, but he is unable to relay his message because he is killed in a mob-like fashion. His role is similar to Piggy s in this manner. This again just shows how the emotions of the boys prevail in a life-threatening situation, even if the life threatened is only imagined.
Simon s hallucinations symbolize messages from God, to be passed on to the people Ralph is by far the best leader of the all the boy s, even though they cannot see it. He runs a democratic government, is totally fair, and has the right priorities for surviving on the island. The change from good to evil is shown in Lord of the Flies by the shift form Ralph to Jack as the boy s choice of leaders. The boys start off by choosing Ralph as their leader, but over time all the boy except Piggy decide to follow Jack.
Ralph represents law, order, organized society and moral integrity. Throughout the novel he is constantly making wise rules for the boys to follow so they can live peacefully on the island and hopefully get rescued. As chief, he knows right from wrong. At the end of the novel he too realizes that man is not a kind creature by nature. When Ralph is being hunted in the end, this symbolizes the total revert to primitivism and evil, but Golding does not let us know which side would win without intervention.
Jack and his tribe represent the evil on the island. Jack is the leader of anarchy on the island. From the start of the novel he is perceived as a leader, his first appearance with him leading the choir to the rest of the group. After he is passed over as leader he decides he should be in charge of hunting. In the beginning of the story Jack, still conditioned by the previous society he had been apart of. He could not bear to kill a pig that was caught in the brush.
As the plot progresses he becomes less and less attached to any societal norms and becomes gradually obsessed with hunting and killing. He even leaves his other responsibilities of keeping the fire going to go hunting. Jack is a relentless dictator who gains followers by promising to for fill the children s desire for a reversion to primitivism. Near the end, he feels no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, nor his attempt to kill Ralph. Piggy and Simon represent the strings that hold society together, they are the most mature of the boys and when they were killed by Jack and his tribe, the society totally breaks down. The four main characters in Lord of the Flies are used by William Golding to symbolize different aspects of the inevitable change from civilization to primitivism and instinct.
This occurs when people are placed in an environment without direct authority.
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Research essay sample on Jack And His Tribe Lord Of The Flies
