Question : Who are characters in this novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?
There were mainly 4 characters in this novel…
Ralph : The initial leader of the united society that tries to protect the ‘civilized’ manner until the very end within the society. He supported morality through the society and showed a powerful morality as the one who represents democracy and ego. He had a personality of a natural-born leader with handsome face and athletic body. He feels cares and worries to the little kids and feels responsible for Simon and Piggy’s death. However, he seems to be stubborn and dispassionate enough to control over Jack’s resistance. He also shows a great stimulation of his “Id” revealed through hunting with Jack.
Jack : He is contrasts with Ralph. He is the leader of the choir and the leader of ‘return to savagery’. He is tall and strong but seems to be foolish persists for power and honor, which creates conflict with Ralph and stands at the opposite side of him as a dictator with characteristics of a fascism based on natural instinct (Id). He could be representing the communism of the World War 2.
Piggy : He stands on Ralph’s side and shows an image of intellectual of a society that is able to make good decisions but lacks to live up to action. By referring to the World War 2, he represents the scientist that couldn’t resist against Nazism. The Conch shell discovered by him represents the ‘rights for all citizens to speak out’, which is a democratic system and Jack becomes a dictator by ignoring this. The glasses that he wore were also very symbolic. His glasses were the only technology and civilization inside the island that can be used in a benefit ways lighting fire. However, Jack ignores this beneficial ways and selects even more destructive use for it to set fire to the mountain and also kills piggy to obtain it. The glasses represents “Science & Technology”, to be precise based on World War 2 of the author’s time, it represents technology such as nuclear bomb. Technology that were applied in the nuclear bomb were designated to be something beneficial for us but slight change of application could create completely different results depending on the motivation of the user. The story could be stating that the science is like a ‘double-edged sword’.
Simon : He faces against the lord of the flies (Id) with his ego, and spiritually awakens by realizing the ‘true terror’. He was a true prophet. The mocking, ignorance, and the death he received create a very powerful meaning that reveals him as a person ahead of his own time referring to the resolution.
My favorite character in this story was Piggy, he had some characteristics that don’t meet my expectations (such as lack of action) but I like him because he was the smartest (intelligence = power). As told before in the other post, I like powerful characters. Piggy actually turns out to be the most powerful person in this story referring to the fact that Jack who had been the winner at the end was scared of him. Jack offended and picked on him because he was afraid of Piggy’s dialectic and logical thinking abilities that turns out to have large effect on audience so he tries to negate his voice and comments being delivered. This could be seen as communism (dictatorship) denying intelligence being spread to citizens due to ‘terror’ of rebellion. This is a revelation to social universal human experience where dictators were in fear of possibility of enemies.
Through these characters the author “tested” how strong a civilization and ego within a human are. The boys manage to keep the society well in the beginning however, the condition called “no grown-ups” broke down their limiters. There were no more “common sense and rules” to be kept, which turns out to suck out their civilization left from the moment they were completely isolated out of the civilization (the signal fire represents “the contact with civilization”, so the moment it goes out can be seen as complete isolation). I have been talking about “Id” and “Id’ is a natural instinct built based upon “Eros” and “Thanatos”, which forms the instinct. Jack and his companions failed to control the “Id” through overwhelming of Thanatos (Thanatos = instinct of death (ex. Terror), Eros = instinct of life).
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hey Eugene,,
I never knew that Piggy would be your favourite character. You said that you liked Piggy because of his high intellegence, but in contrast, i personally disliked and liked the character, Piggy.I liked him because, like you said in your post, that he was smart. I also liked him because he himself acted like a grown-up, unlike others who lost the idea of "civilization." In another side, I also disliked Piggy. I thought he was too smart and civilized that mostly everyone detested him. Which lead him to his death, when Roger threw down a huge boulder and struck his head.
Also, i disagree with your formula intelligence= power. Some people like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have been successful by their highly developed intelligence, so they own large companies. I admit that high intelligent people possess great power. However, other people without any intelligent skills can have power too, sometimes over intelligent people. Those who develop other skills rather than developing their intelligence have power.
It is true what you have said, but not all intelligent people have more power than others.
Good post!
ㄴ yeah....I basically mean that intelligent people have more potential of becoming powerful. Because way you act in society with certain abilities could also be a form of intelligence.
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