Lord of the Flies Analysis Essay

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William Golding introduces the characters, concerns and language of the novel early in the beginning of Lord of the Flies. Ralph and Piggy, the survivors from a plane crash, are the first two characters that are presented to the readers. Piggy, who represents intelligence, discovers the way to find other survivors with a conch. While Ralph, who represents civilization, is willing to accept the leadership. Moreover, Jack represents savagery due to his role as a hunter. Golding perfectly makes use of characters, concerns and language to highlight the main theme of the novel, which is civilization versus savagery. There are three main characters in Lord of the Flies, which are Ralph, Piggy and Jack. From the story, we can simply read the lines to probe into these characters’ physical characteristics, their personality, their relationship with other characters, and so forth. But how did Golding introduce them? Perhaps we have known that characters in novels and fiction books are mostly created by means of characterisation, but then how about those in fables? The first character to whom the reader is introduced in Lord of the Flies is Ralph. Initially, he is simply referred to as 'the boy with fair hair’, which is an indication to his nature later in the book. Ralph is described as disheveled, with drooping stockings. He picked his way through the jungle to a lagoon, while wearing a school uniform and trailing his school sweater behind him. As we can see, Golding described Ralph as a very young boy, he also penetrated to what is basic in human nature, not simply as it reveals itself in children, but as it reveals itself in adults, too. The next character to be introduced is Piggy, who is once again judged by his looks, being described as ‘the fat boy’. Piggy establishes himself as a representative of the adult world. And for the last one, Jack, who is described as dark,
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