Characters in Lord of the Flies

Characters in Lord of the Flies

1. Ralph

   • Democratic
     • "We'll have hands up, like at school"
     • "Let's have a vote"
     • "Rules are the only thing we've got!"
     • "Whoever's got the conch can speak"
   • Insightful
     • "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, for the darkness of man's heart"
     • "Things are breaking up. I don't understand why."
     • "If faces were different when lit from above or below.. What was a face?"
   • Primal
     • "Ralph, too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh."
     • "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering."
     • "Eager to take place" in "demented society"
     • Loss of innocence: "discovered dirt and decay" within self
     • Becomes "dirty" rather than "golden"
     • Ralph's Hair
       • "a curtain"
       • "like the tendrils of a creeper"
       • "filthy"
     • Denies own savagery, ashamed: "We left early"
   • Initial leader
     • "golden body"
       • God, worshipped
     • Ability to blow conch
       • respect, admiration
   • Civilized
     • "he was back where he came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall"
     • "mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil"
     • "Ralph dreamed of home"
     • Prioritises the Boys' needs
       • "We need shelters"
       • "we ought to die before we let the fire out!"
     • "Daddy taught me"

2. Jack

   • Unsensitive
     • "fear can't hurt you any more than a dream.. useless lot of cry-babies!"
   • Natural Leader
     • "The most obvious leader was Jack"
     • choir leader
     • can only rule with cruelty
     • "We don't want you"
     • "Get me a drink"
     • "I'm going to be chief"
   • Appearance
     • Contrasts to Ralph: "red hair" VS "fair hair", danger
     • "cap badge was golden" : threat to Ralph's, the "golden body"'s authority, second potential leader
     • "black cloaks" described as "creature"
   • 1st pig hunt
     • "I was just waiting for a moment"
     • "Because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood."
     • Unable to kill, still an innocent boy
   • Conflict with Ralph
     • "They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate"
     • R: "You're breaking the rules!" J: "Who cares?"
       • "bollocks to the rules!"
   • Paints Face
     • "liberated from shame and self-conciousness"
     • "face of white and red and black"
   • Animalistic
     • "bloodthirsty snarling"
     • "dog-like", "ape-like"
     • "hiss"
       • Serpent in Garden of Eden, evil
     • "flared nostrils assessing the current warm air for information"
   • Savage
     • "We want meat."
     • obsession with hunting and killing
       • "I thought I might kill"
       • expression of "madness" when talking of desire to kill
       • "compulsion to track down and kill"
     • "he hurled his spear at Ralph"
       • no inhibition about killing human rather than pig
       • hunger for complete power revealed
   • Becomes Chief
     • "The Chief has spoken"
     • "Power chattered in his ear like an ape"
     • "painted and garlanded like an idol"
     • "I'm not going to play any longer, not with you"
     • "authority sat on his shoulder"
     • "We don't need the conch anymore, we know who ought to say things"
   • Symbolizes human love of dominance and power