Lord of the Flies – Character Analysis

Name / What we know about this character / Chpt / Page / Symbolism
RALPH / Fair hair / 1 / 7
Playful, likes to stand on head
12 years old, broad athletic build, healthy tanned complexion / 1 / 10-11
Idealist – “Daddy…he’ll come and rescue us.” / 1 / 13, 37
“attractive appearance” / 1 / 22 / Democracy, the idealist vision of what we think our leaders should be like
“If only they could get a message to us…send us something grownup.” / 5 / 94 / Foreshadow
His pre-stranded life / 7 / 112
Piggy / shorter than Ralph, very fat, / 1 / 7
Realist - judging the situation by his observations, a thinker, a boy with ideas / 1 / 8,14,15
Tires easily, has asthma, wears glasses / 1
2 / 9
40 / Glasses: intelligence, creative ideas, like the glasses are used to create fire. Also-ORDER
Can’t swim / 1 / 13
Johnny (littlun) / 6 years old, sturdy, fair skinned, Thumb sucker / 1 / 17-18
Boy (littlun) with mulberry-colored birthmark on face / Introduces the idea of the “Beastie”
Supposedly lost in fire / 2
2 / 35
46
Phil (littlun) / “self confident”
Walks in his sleep / 5 / 84
85
Percival (littlun) / Goes crazy / 5 / 86-87
94-95
Multiple other “Littuns” / 5-6 year olds
“…endless outstretched arms…” / 1
3 / 18
56
Sam and Eric (Samneric) / Twins, “bullet-headed and with hair like tow…they were chunky and vital” / 1 / 19
Participate in fire-keeping duties / 6 / 96
Jack Merridew / “…he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red…His face was crumpled and freckled, ugly without silliness…two light blue eyes.”
Head of the choir, proud/arrogant, / 1 / 20
Keeper of the fire
Head of the hunters (choir)
(In Jack’s hands Piggy’s glasses and fire take on another meaning – pg 44) / 2
1 / 43
23 / Lucifer : “bearer of light”
Isaiah 14 as Lucifer was a Worship Leader before he fell, a leader of a choir of angels. He was cast from heaven because of pride.
“I ought to be chief.”
“We don’t need the conch anymore.” / 1
6 / 22
101-02 / Dictatorship
Viewed as an idol / 9 / 147
Simon
(choir) / Known for his fainting spells / 1
8 / 20, 21
144
“…a skinny, vivid little boy…straight hair that hung straight down, black and coarse.”
A bit shorter than Ralph and Jack
“If Simon walks in the middle of us…” / 1 / 24 / Simon stands as a bridge/divider/Christ figure between Ralph and Jack
Or
Everyman, representing the common people who are caught up in the middle of warring nations
“…a small skinny boy, his chin pointed, and his eyes so bright they had deceived Ralph into thinking him delightfully gay and wicked.” / 3 / 55
Empathetic to “littluns” and
reclusive / 3
5 / 56-57
85
“to speak in the assembly was a terrible thing to him” – great fear of speaking to crowd / 5
6 / 89
103
Maurice
(choir) / “Next in size among the choir boys to Jack, but broad and grinning all the time” / 1 / 21
Empathetic for “littluns” and knows how to break the tension when they are upset / 5 / 87
Roger
(choir) / “…a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.”
“He hesitated. The dark boy...spoke up. “ ’Let’s have a vote.’” / 1 / 22
Bill
Robert
Harold
Henry / Various other choir boys
Smaller than the other boys his age / 1 / 22
Walter / 6 / 102
Wilfred / 10 / 159
Stanley / 10 / 160
Jack broke in contemptuously. “You’re always scared.”
“I got the conch--“
“Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch any more…”
Ralph could no longer ignore his speech. The blood was hot in his cheeks. / 6 / 102