How does Roger Change in Lord of the Flies by William Golding?

Through the development of Roger in The Lord of the Flies, William Golding advances the theme that humans are capable of doing evil things, but society has conditioned us to hide it. Roger is held back in the beginning by the taboo of his old life and still holds on to the principles of his old life. Until the end of the novel when darkness has overtaken him.

What Does Roger Look Like in Lord of the Flies

Golding illustrated throughout the book that as Roger begins to live without order the downfall he will have.

At the beginning of the book when Roger sees Henry, a littlun sitting on the beach, he thinks it would be funny to throw rocks at him. Unlike other characters like Jack who wants power because he enjoys the feeling of being in charge of people, Roger wants power because he enjoys the feeling of hurting others. Roger decides to throw stones in a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter into which he dare not to throw. Here, invisible yet strong was the taboo of old life. This communicates that Roger desires to throw the stones at Henry but couldn’t because he was still holding on to beliefs of his old life. Rogers arm was committed by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins. Roger was living in a British society having to follow many rules and standards. There was no tolerance for any wrongdoing. By being on an island with no authority he was able to experiment living with no rules and testing boundaries. As time goes on there is a downfall in lots of the characters showing how bad things will occur without order. Even one of the purest characters Ralph launch[s] himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage. When Ralphs’s life is at stake, he will become as savagely as any of the other boys, it just took him longer to get there than the others.

As time went on, Roger became a free spirit and had stopped following orders. Later on in the book, Roger is continuously getting worse and becoming more savage. The boys went on a pig hunt and “Roger ran around the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pig flesh appeared.” The way Golding described Roger’s demeanor was implying he wasn’t really in it for the meat but rather for the enjoyment of killing the pig.

How Does Roger Change in Lord of the Flies

Following the pig hunt, Ralph and Piggy go to Castle Rock to retrieve Piggy’s glasses. Almost immediately Jack and Ralph start fighting and High overhead Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment leaned all his weight on the lever. Ralph heard the great rock before he saw it. Roger tips the enormous rock over the edge killing piggy. At this point, he has lost all sense of good and is filled with evil. This is extremely ironic because, in the beginning, Roger couldn’t bring himself to hitting Henry with small stones but now has killed someone with a giant boulder. Also, Roger leaning with all of his weight shows he had no hesitation and nothing was stopping him from killing. Going from the little rocks onto the big boulder illustrates how much his power has grown over time. In his old civilization, Roger would have never thought to hurt someone, until he was placed on an island with no rules or order and the darkness in him came out. One of the last things that Roger does in the book is sharpen a stick at both ends. Most hunters only sharpen one side, but sharpening both sides shows how dark Roger’s rage has become. He now craves killing. This double-sharpened stick would’ve been used to decapitate Ralph and put his head on the stick. Now clearly Roger is the biggest threat on the island and ever surfaces Jack, who is one of the most feared boys.

Overall, everything that was mentioned in the book had a detrimental downfall. Most of the boys become savages and completely lost their innocence. At first, the island appears innocent and pure when the boys arrive. By the end of the book, it’s burning to the ground with all of its beauty destroyed. Golding used all of these examples to express how without order what will happen to anything but especially humans.

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