In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the author depicts what happens when a group of civilized British school boys are left to rule themselves on a deserted island. Jack, Roger, and Ralph each portray how wild humans can become. Jack is the most outspoken of the group and he is one of the first to turn vicious. Ralph, on the other hand, is the sensible one who tries to keep the boys organized. Eventually, Ralph does give in to this ferociousness. Roger, being a bully at school, becomes much more violent on the island. When there are no set rules to follow as a whole, a civilized society can turn into unruly savages.
Ralph is the “leader of the pack”, the one who concentrates on surviving and getting rescued. The uncivilized actions of the other boys bewilder Ralph and yet he feels he has to fight the temptation to act like them. “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society” (Golding 152). Ralph does not want to join Jack’s society or tribe of hunters; he feels the need to hunt without being under Jack’s rule. After killing his first boar, he partakes in the act of killing Simon. In the end he is brought to tears at the realization of what they all have become.
Roger, in the beginning, winces at the idea of violence. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss…Here, invisible but strong, was the taboo of the old life” (62). Roger continues to bully the younger boys on the island as he did at school. Now, he actually aims the rocks to hit them, unafraid of the consequences. Roger does not need anyone’s influence; he progresses from bully to murderer by his own free will. Near the end, ironically, Roger uses a large boulder to kill one of the boys for no reason whatsoever.
Jack quickly becomes the very definition of savagery on the island. On Jack’s first hunting experience, he is unable to kill the pig. “The...