English 11
13 December 2018
How are identities lost or altered in Lord of the Flies?
One of the key concerns of Lord of the flies is the role of identity that plays in society.
Golding shows the great importance in the success of the characters involved and the survival of humankind throughout his novel. The novel opens up with a plane crash on an unknown island, stranding a group of schoolboys. The boys go through series of events where we are shown that without the rules and controls of civilization, the boys clear and separate identities wear away. The transformation are seen particularly in Ralph, Simon and Jack from once civilised English boys to their inhumane nature. (Inhuman beast)
Topic sentence….. At the beginning of the chapter we are introduced to two characters, Ralph and Piggy, who immediately realizes they are abandoned and starts exploring the island in hopes to find other survivors. Ralph appears to be a good looking and fitted boy who has a sense of responsibility ever since the beginning of Golding's novel. At first, he reaches a lot of success in discovering his identity as chief. First, he makes use of his social intelligence at Jack's jealousy by putting him in charge of the choir. Ralph then apologizes to Piggy for saying out his nickname to everyone and gave him the role of taking names to make up for it. This shows Ralph’s genuine leadership. However, later on in the novel he shows himself unable to control the emotions among the boys: fear, anger and violence. Golding writes, “Ralph was annoyed, and for the moment, defeated. He felt himself facing something ungraspable. The eyes that looked so intently at him were without humor. ‘But there isn’t a beast!” Something he had not known was there rose in him and compelled him to make the point, loudly and again” (Chapter 2, pg.35-36). After the boys return from exploring, Ralph gives out rules for the boys. At this point, he believes he has ultimate power of the boys and seems to completely identify himself with the role as a responsible leader. So, when one of the boy asked Ralph about the “snake” or “beast” (pg.36-37) he tried to talk his way out of it but fails and for a brief moment he loses control. If he doesn't think there is a beast, he expects the others to believe him and not argue about it. Ralph was unable to prevent both his group and himself from giving away to terror and feeling that there’s no hope. As a result of his lack of examining the illogical side of his nature, he eventually loses grip of his new identity.
Piggy’s failure to know himself is to blame for his deadly blindness in understanding the boys. Due to his physical appearance, Piggy is seen as an outcast even though he is the most intelligent boy in the group. Understanding the spirited side of Piggy’s nature is not good enough to prevent him from suffering a greater loss of identity than any other major character when the beast is shown, it destroys his clear and sensible world. With jack gone Piggy is more confident and recovers something of his identity: “Piggy was speaking now with more assurance and with what, if the circumstances had not been so serious, the others would have recognised as pleasure.’’(Chapter 8, pg.141) For a brief time, Piggy had the most power when he suggested that the fire should be moved to the beach for a better chance of rescue and his suggestion was well received. He still strongly encouraged Ralph to continue what he was doing even though it was obvious that the boys are sneaking into the forest one by one to join Jack. Jack lead a sudden attack for fire, but also invites the boys to a feast of meat. Piggys weird sudden desire towards self pleasure overrules his dedication to the rescue fire and his belief that Jack is the source of all that is wrong on the island. Piggy’s strong encouragement at Ralph to accept the invitation causes Piggy a great loss of self, that becomes absolute when the two boys and others participate in the murder of Simon. Piggy never, even for a moment, admit that he had anything to do with Simons murder. He feels more at ease because he can just blame Jack for Simon's murder, along with everything else that has gone wrong on the island. This stage is not reached until Jack suddenly attacks Ralph's camp once more and this time runs off with Piggy's glasses. Piggy started to show his old self again, as he reached his self confidence once more, when he outrageously responded to Jacks theft. The glasses represent his eyes and identity, without them he cannot see the world. Jack stole Piggy’s eyes and identity leading him to dive into blindness, in understanding others and eventually, to his own death. In other words, Piggy loses his identity.
Topic sentence Left to be discuss is another major character who suffers loss of identity, Jack. He is the leader of a church choir. In his first appearance in the novel, it shows clearly that Jack does have control over his actions and feelings. His awareness of self, that he is a person of importance, Jack Merridew, goes beyond greatly that of just another boy on the island. As Ralph said,”This was the voice of one who knew his own mind."(Chapter 1, pg.17) What seems to be his strong identity is shown when he arrogantly controlled the marching choir boys with his military-like command. The hunters accept him as chief and that is not enough for Jack, he insists on recognition even from Ralph and Piggy as well