Hero, Scapegoat, and Sage
In the book lord of the flies by William Golding a large group of boys with ages ranging from 5-12 are trapped on an island due to a plane crash and forced to survive on their own in hopes of rescue. As the story goes on you begin to notice that each boy takes on an individual role and they begin to represent new symbols. Three characters that truly stand out are Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, these characters represent examples of the Archetypal Theory. Ralph being the hero, Piggy being the Scapegoat,and Simon being the sage.
Soon after the plane crashes, Ralph takes place as the leader of the boys. He finds a conch shell and uses it as symbolism of his leadership. "Now the shell was no longer a thing seen but not to be touched, Ralph to became exited." (Golding 16). With the conch he tries to keep the island under control in the form of a democracy. Yet as the story goes on a boy named Jack soon gets sick of Ralph and splits off into his own group taking a majority of the boys. Jack has no intention of being rescued and has given into the thought of living on the island for the rest of his life. On the other hand Ralph continues to keep the fire lit in hopes of being rescued. Sadly at the end of the book Ralph's leadership comes to an end when he goes to reclaim piggy's glasses and jack decides to burn down the entire forest in search of Ralph. "He swerved as a spear flew past and then he was silent, running." (Golding 199). Ironically the burning of the forest attracts a near by navy vessel which in the end saved the boys from themselves.
From the beginning of the story up until the end Piggy is made fun of and put on the bottom of the totem pole for having glasses and being fat. Thus getting his nickname "Piggy". "Better piggy that Fatty, and anyway, I'm sorry if you feel like that. Now go back, Piggy and take names." (Golding 24). Piggy is an innocent character who follows Ralph from beginning to end. His glasses...