Lord of the Flies: Analysis of Roger

In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding portrays a great transformation of behavior and loss of nurture by using Roger’s decisions at the beginning of the novel versus his actions towards the end of the novel, highlighting that when one is put under a tough circumstance, the inner beast reveals. After being satisfied by knocking down the littluns’ castles, Roger decides that it is acceptable to continue his behavior. He looks at the nuts and then back at Henry and back again. Roger starts to pick up rocks and purposefully throws them at Henry and misses. “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps 6 yards, into which he dare not to throw” (62). Roger starts to transform from the shy, well-nurtured character to slightly barbaric. Although Roger still depicts that he hasn’t lost all of his nurture, he clearly starts to show his inner monstrosity. At this point of the novel, Roger is still building civilization and his nurture is monopolizing over savagery. William Golding purposefully did not want Roger to throw the rocks within the 6 yards to exemplify that Roger is simply just transitioning from nature to nurture and still maintains a small amount of sobriety over his behavior as his “cracks” start to show. His arm is “controlled by civilization” therefore impeding his inner beast at that specific part in the novel. After maintaining civilization on the island, Roger being held back by the “taboo of life,” starts to subside. Anticipative, Roger loses respect for civilization and restores it with a savage instinct. Earlier in the novel, Roger suggests that a form of democracy should endure. But when Roger commits to Jack’s tribe, Roger practices malice with greater intentions. Roger murders Piggy and shatters the conch along with it. “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight