Lord of the Flies
Final Analysis
Character Analysis
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Jack
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Instinctual, brave, decisive, authoritative,
insensitive, confident
Although dangerous and insensitive, he never
doubts himself
At home in jungle- creature of jungle
Much like Hitler
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Rallies boys around him-master manipulator
Fall is akin to Satan
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His mask liberates him to kill- power is an
aphrodisiac
Begins as killer of pig, becomes killer of man
Character Analysis
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Ralph
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Gentle, democratic, naïve, Quasi-leader, Quasiintuitive, common sense
Uses talents of others for good
Because of naïveté, cannot see evil
Good nature also is weakness
Not completely intuitive/leader-relies on Piggy
Not completely comfortable in leadership; no
personal stake like Jack
Character Analysis
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Piggy
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Intelligent, intuitive, scientific
One who is blind is usually more aware of
surroundings, yet not recognized by those
around him- true of Piggy
Although he possesses good ideas, his
appearance holds him back from leadership
Character Analysis
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Simon
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Intuitive, good (no evil at all), caring,
sensitive
Refuses to believe in beast- sees evil in
everyone
Descent from mountain akin to Moses
bringing 10 commandments, as well as
Jesus bringing truth to people
Psychological Interpretation
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Freud’s View of Human PsychePiggy, Ralph, and Jack together make up
a complete
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Id: Jack
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Ego: Ralph
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Basic survival drives: completely unconscious
Mediates between superego and completely
conscious reality
Superego: Piggy
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Internalization of rules, societal and otherwise that
are partly conscious
Religious Interpretation
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Island  Garden of Eden
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Lord of the Flies  Devil
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Literally, a mistranslation of Beelzebub
tries to convince Simon not to give news to society, just as
Satan attempts to sway Jesus on his mission.
Simon  Jesus
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One element of evil present (beastie)
Lush vegetation, no outside influence on society
Feeds the masses (littluns)
Goes off on his own (hot, thirsty)
Brings the news down from mountain-top
In this interpretation, however, the devil wins,
furthering Golding’s criticism of humanity’s evil
defects.
Governmental Interpretation
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Ralph  Democracy
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Jack  Dictatorship
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Votes for chief
Establishes “cabinet” of hunters and advisors
(Piggy)
Rules by command
Rules violently
Neither form of government is able to keep
civilization. Here, Golding is saying that man’s
inner evil will always corrupt leaders.
Discussion
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Can the type of evil Jack possesses overtake
indecisive goodness? In other words, must
goodness be just as strong to sustain itself
against evil?
Ralph’s goodness and Piggy’s intelligence
were not enough to withstand Jack’s evil. Are
we more willing to be led than to question
our leader(s)?
Is this story confined to a story of children, or
can it be extended to adults?