Is Roger evil in “Lord of the Flies”?
This is an essay for English Literature on “Lord of the Flies”, which received an A. Overall, I received an A* in English Literature.
Throughout his book “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding uses Roger to
present the innate violence and cruelty inside humanity to the reader. When
with Jack, a “shadow crept under… his skin”. Golding uses the metaphor to
cultivate a sense of foreboding in the reader, as shadow is often
representative of evil in literature. This causes the reader to view Roger as evil
as it foreshadows his immoral deeds, such as Piggy’s murder, that occur later
in the novel.
Initially, like with the other hunters, Rogers violence is limited to animals.
In “Lord of the Flies”, the hunters “stood in a pool of their own shadow”. The
possessive pronoun “own” highlights to the reader that the darkness and
immorality the boys exhibit originates internally, whilst the metaphor
emphasises the sense of foreboding created by the noun “shadow”, which
continues to connote darkness and evil to the reader.
Roger then continues to display this evil in the treatment of the sow,
hunting her like an “eruption from another world”. With the noun “eruption”,
Golding creates a harsh tone to highlight the shock and pain, caused by
Roger, to the reader. The metaphor is a form of emotive language which
builds pathos for the sow, causing the reader to feel disgust towards Roger.
Roger’s cruelty towards animals mirrors other oppressive groups who started
with smaller targets before progressing to more radical violence. For example,
Goldg lived during World War Two where he witnessed the Nazi Party in
Germany practise cumulative radicalisation by starting with small acts of
violence like anti-Semitic hate speech before progressing towards the Nazi
death camps. Roger is representative of this horror throughout history and the
violence within man, resulting in him being presented as evil to the reader.
Later in the novel, Sam and Eric say “Roger… a terror”. The fragmented
syntax created through Golding's use of dashes highlights the twins’ fear of
Roger to the reader supported by the emphatic noun “terror”. This provokes
the reader into pitying the twins and viewing Roger as terrifying and evil.
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