LORD OF THE FLIESOTHER CHARACTERS

ROGERAppearances and traits

He is a mystery as very scarce information is given about him His background is never mentioned and his thoughts are barely touched upon. He is described as “a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.” When asked for his name, he mutter inaudible showing that he pays no consideration in giving out that little information about himself. The only time he speaks at an assembly serves to reveal his gloomy, pessimistic nature: “I've been watching the sea. There hasn't been the trace of a ship. Perhaps we'll never be rescued.“

Later, initial impressions are reinforced after his presence on the island for some time: “He was not noticeably darker than when he had dropped in, but the shock of black hair, down his nape and low on his forehead, seemed to suit his gloomy face and made what had seemed at first an unsociable remoteness into something forbidding. “

Roger’s nature

We learn that he is mindless of the consequences that may befall on himself as when a number of coconuts fall around Roger, while he may have been injured by a direct blow, he “looked from the nuts to Henry and back again.” He associates this with throwing stones at Henry but we can also see that he takes care that the stones he throws fall some yards away since “invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life” where he would have been punished; in effect his arm was still conditioned by his previous life of “parents and school and policemen and the law.” At first he is unable to express fully his cruel desires but without sanctions, and with the collapse of Ralph’s microcosmic tribe representing law, democracy and civilisation, he becomes fully emancipated from the regulations of the old life.

The stone throwing habit occurs again when he throws stones at Ralph, Piggy and Samneric when they visit the castle and does so with impunity from his high position on the rocks. This becomes Roger’s new source of power ultimately taking him to stage of “delirious abandonment” when he levers the rock onto Piggy, killing him.

Parallels and significances

Roger is the fitting lieutenant for Jack as he is just as mindless about consequences as him. When compared with Jack, Roger surpasses him for the natural capacity for evil as he “sharpened as stick at both ends” in order to hunt and kill Ralph. If Jack represents Hitler in his new tyrannical society then he can be compared to Heinrich Himmler, who oversaw the systematic destruction of the Jewish race in the Nazi regime and instilled fear by the Gestapo, as Roger is Jack’s executioner. Roger is gradually revealed as time passes on the island as we are allowed the opportunity by the Golding to see the things he wanted to do all along. He is revealed by Sam in a strangled voice as a true “terror,” representing the type of person in every society who has a large, but unfortunately, non unusual capacity for cruelty. Human sacrifices, medieval torture, purges and other atrocities testify for the capacity of homo sapiens for terror murder an a list of unwise acts when authority approves or fails to resist. From Golding’s perspective, Roger constitutes a warning that if man fails to shape the society in peace, keeping its citizen in check by sanctions, or a society strong enough to withstand wars and dictators then we will all be at the mercy of those who have no mercy.

MAURICE-He is one of the "biguns," he is next in size to Jack among the choir boys and is a big follower.

-He only calls upon and mentions his parent once ''Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.'' . This emphasizes that he is also forgetting about his family which is a reason why he begins to lose his morals

-Maurice helps support the theme by his decline throughout the novel. At first he is kind to the littluns . However due to the collapse society as well as his peers downfall he loses his moral thinking. This comes in stages.

-Firstly he kicks down the sandcastles and throws stones at the littuns, however when remembering his grandmother and her words, feels guilty. However later on in the novel he resorts to bulling as his and everyone else's morals decline

-Maurice is a good-natured and pleasant boy. However is easily manipulated by the forces of evil, Roger and Jack. He would quite happily be a normal person of civilization but on the island is coerced to bow down the hunters and the evil forces

Parachutist• The parachutist is a largely symbolic character – he takes no part in

the story other than being a symbol of the beast and of the darkness in man’s heart.

• When the boys ask for an adult to come and a dead parachutist comes instead, it shows that the adult world will offer them no help and that they must save themselves.

• This is ironic, because the parachutist was meant to be a sign that they must save themselves but instead it fuels their inner darkness to the point where they are beyond saving – murder of Simon and Piggy.

• The fact that the boys (except Simon) are scared of the parachutist shows that there is darkness in the boys’ hearts because they are afraid of him when there is nothing to be afraid of.

• The parachutist has a special connection with Simon, because Simon does not think that he is the beast, and when Simon dies, the parachutist also floats away.

NAVAL OFFICERThe novel ends when the last civilised boy, Ralph, is hunted down like a pig and about to be killed. He is the only character who arrives from the adult world.

He sees the Jack as a “little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair.” His naive comment: "I would have thought that a pack of British boys... Would have put up a better show than that” echoes Jack’s earlier sentiment of “We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything .” The irony is that the British is like everyone else, as the “beast” is an internal threat within all man. He does not see Ralph a prey of a deadly hunt but a boy who “needed a bath, a haircut, a nose-wipe, and a good deal of ointment.” When he sees Jack’s tribe wearing war paint and carrying spears, he assesses the situation as “Fun and games.” He fails to see his own “fun and games” on a larger scale; the fun that the Lord of the Flies promised Simon.

When the destruction within the boys is complete, Golding restores our world to them. The naval officer wears the uniform of soldier complete with the gilt-buttons, the revolver, and the trim cruiser. He “rests his eyes on the trim cruiser in the distance” as he is going back into a war where men kill each other, not unlike the island, but on a much bigger scale.

Samneric• Samneric represent human beings’ dependence on each other, because

they rely on one another so much that they do everything together. As a result, their names have been fused to form Samneric.

• "They breathed together, they grinned together, they were chunky and vital. They raised wet lips at Ralph, for they seemed provided with not quite enough skin, so that their profiles were blurred and their mouths pulled open."

• They symbolise civilisation because when they were captured, they “protested out of the heart of civilisation”, but they also symbolise the weakness of that civilisation and of man’s heart when they betrayed Ralph to avoid punishment.

• While they can be said to be disloyal because they betrayed Ralph’s hiding place to Jack and the Hunters, they can also be said to be loyal because they remained on Ralph’s side for the longest (they were still on Ralph side after Piggy and Simon died).

• They were often in charge of the signal fire which represents hope of rescue. That means that they might have been a source of hope for Ralph and so when they were captured, it shows that Ralph has now lost all power and hope.

Percival Wemys Madison• Percival Wemys Madison is the smallest littlun was “mouse-colored

and had not been very attractive even to his mother.“

• In the novel Percival although he is not the leader of the littluns he represents their feelings their emotions and their fears. He speaks out about the beast to Jack is one of the few littluns named and his introductions decline shows the decline of importance of the littluns throughout the novel

• Percival is and important character to the development of the novel. When the are trying to think of a rational reason for Phil's dream of battling with "twisty things in the trees," Percival’s crying and mention of the beast the beast becomes a prominent and real fear for the boys

• His loss of remembrance of his name, city and address and telephone number symbolise the loss of home and also portrays the time spent on the island by the boys.Initially it is 'Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage. Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone....' to at the end of the novel 'I'm-- I'm--'