Protagonists
Ralph – protagonist of Lord of the Flies
Ralph is the protagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is very athletic and charismatic. He was elected the leader of the boys and is the key representative of order, civilization, and leadership. Most of the other boys are more concerned with messing around, having fun, and avoiding work, but Ralph is always busy building huts and thinking of ways to increase their chances of being rescued. For this reason, Ralph’s power and influence over the other boys are fine at the beginning, but as the group slowly caves in to savage instincts over the course of the story, Ralph’s position declines suddenly while Jack’s position rises. Eventually, most of the boys except Piggy leave Ralph’s group for Jack’s, and Ralph is left alone to be hunted by Jack’s tribe. His commitment to civilization and morality is strong, and his main wish is just to be rescued and returned to the society with adults. This strength gives him victory at the end, when he casts the Lord of the Flies to the ground and takes the stake it is on to defend himself against the hunters. In the beginning, Ralph didn’t understand why the other boys would give in to instincts of brutality and savagery. The sight of the hunters chanting and dancing is baffling and distasteful to him. Eventually he comes to understand that savagery exists within all the boys. He stays determined not to let this overwhelm him, and only briefly does he consider joining Jack’s tribe in order to save himself. When he hunts a boar for the first time he experiences the excitement of it. When he attends Jack’s feast, he is swept away. There he participates in the killing of Simon. This firsthand knowledge of the evil that exists within him, as within all human beings, is tragic for Ralph, but this also enables him to cast down the Lord of the Flies at the end of the story. Although he is rescued and returned to civilization, when he sees the naval officer, he weeps with this new knowledge about the human capacity for evil.
Montag – protagonist of Fahrenheit 451
Named after a paper-manufacturing company, Montag is the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451. He is not a perfect hero. The steps he takes toward his goal often seem clumsy and misguided. Montag’s faith in his profession and his society begins to decline almost immediately after the opening passage. He is faced with the bulk and complexity of books for the first time, which leads him to be often confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed. He is often rash, self-obsessed, and too easily swayed. At times he is not even aware of why he does things. These actions can be quite horrific, such as when he found himself setting his supervisor on fire, but they also represent his desires to rebel and find a meaningful way to live. In his quest to understand his own life and purpose by means of books, he makes not so good choices. His attempts to reclaim his own humanity range from the compassionate and sensitive, as in his conversations with Clarisse, to the violent and irresponsible, like in his murder of Beatty and his scheme to overthrow the firemen.
Comparison
Both of these characters stayed true to what they believe in but were easily swayed. They each killed or helped kill another character in these novels, but I think Ralph felt more regret in the end. Neither of them were the perfect hero.
Antagonists
Jack – antagonist of Lord of the Flies
Jack is the antagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is the novel’s key representative of savagery, violence, and power. From the beginning Jack desires power above all other things. He is furious when he loses the election to Ralph and continually pushes the boundaries of his role in the group. In school Jack was the leader of the choirboys. The first time he encounters a pig, he is unable to kill it, but soon becomes obsessed with hunting. He paints his face like a barbarian. The more savage he becomes, the more he is able to control the rest of the group. Apart from Ralph, Simon, and Piggy, the group largely follows Jack in embracing violence and savagery. Jack’s love of authority and violence both enable him to feel powerful. By the end of the story, Jack has learned to use the boys’ fear of the beast to control their behavior. This shows how religion and superstition can be used to have power.
Beatty – antagonist of Fahrenheit 451
Beatty is the antagonist of Fahrenheit 451. He is a complex character, full of contradictions. He is a book burner with a great knowledge of literature. So he obviously cared passionately about books at some point. Beatty’s speech to Montag describing the history of the firemen is very questionable. It contained lots of irony, sarcasm, passion, and regret, all at once. He calls books treacherous weapons, yet he uses his own book learning to control Montag. Beatty says he’s tried to understand the universe and knows firsthand it can make people feel lonely. He shows that he prefers his life of instant pleasure, but it is easy to get the impression that his outrage denies his true feelings. He becomes too sympathetic to function as a pure villain.
Comparison
Both of these characters thrived on power and control, but Beatty seemed to have felt little sympathy which he had tried not to show. Jack used superstition to have more power over the boys, while Beatty used his knowledge of literature to have more control over Montag.