Piggy seems to be a well educated boy, with his own opinions and ideas, but seems to be very shy and also quite insecure, "the fat boy hung steadily at his shoulder." This shows he's quite needy and dependant on others. Throughout the play he has good ideas but needs Ralph to reinforce them because Piggy has no power or control over the others, but Ralph does when he is elected as chief. Piggy would make and excellent leader, as he is very knowledgeable and thinks methodically, but he is weak and not very confident as a person. He gives in easily and will not speak out which lets him down. I believe his weight is one of the main reasons he isn't very confident with himself because he is ridiculed for it, which puts his confidence down. He comes up with the ideas, whilst Ralph enforces them. They make a good team throughout the novel because Piggy is the brains whilst Ralph is the brawn.
It's obvious from the start that Piggy is an outsider, when he is ridiculed by the other boys shows he isn't "one of them", "Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination to manual labour." Due to these factors listed Piggy was different to the other boys, and they didn't like different so Piggy was classed as a "social outcast".
The next main character, or rather "characters" to be introduced are Sam and Eric, known as one name, Samneric, throughout the novel. These two don't actually play as big a part in the novel as the other main characters, but they are part of the "big'uns", the older children on the island, the younger children called the "little'uns". They are generally good hearted, but tend to follow the orders of the person they feel has the most power on the island. At first, they were obedient to Ralph and did as he asked, but later they go off and join Jacks tribe, because Jack is the most powerful person on the island, with the majority of the boys on his side, rather than Ralph's.
The last of the main characters to be introduced are Jack, Roger and Simon. The way they are introduced suggests that there is something odd about these three, as they are described as a "creature", "then the creature stepped from mirage on to clear sand, and they saw darkness was not all but mostly clothing. The creature was a party of boys." The word "creature" alone raises eyebrows towards these characters, signifying that there is something odd about one (or all three) of these boys.
Jack is the only big'un whose surname is revealed, Merridew. Golding may have done this for a reason but this is unknown. Maybe he did it to show that Jack is superior to the others. Straight away it can e seen that Jack is an intimidating character and s extremely over-confident, "Choir! Stand still." He bosses the choir boys about which include Roger and Simon. Jack is described as "tall, thin and bony: and his hair was red beneath the black cap," and also, "out of his face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger." From this, it shows Jack has anger inside him, and that this will affect the outcome of the story, in a bad way.
Piggy is intimidated by Jack upon meeting him, "Piggy asked no names. He was intimidated by this uniformed superiority and the offhand authority of Merridews voice." Piggy is scared of the mere sound of Jack's voice, showing Jack is a daunting and threatening character.
When Jack and Ralph meet, they have a few things in common already. They are both "big'uns", being two of the eldest boys on the island and both have a certain amount of prestige right from the start. Ralph found the conch and gathered all the boys together which immediately earned him everyone's respect; Jack is the leader of his choir and was head boy at his school. They both want to be chief, but Ralph is elected leader, much to Jack's dismay.
Almost immediately, Ralph and Jack appear to have different priorities. Ralph is keen to work towards their survival and rescue, with the aid of Piggy, who although doesn't seem to be important, is probably the only reason the boys survive for that long. Jack is intent on killing a pig for food, hunting with his fellow choir boys, now known as "the hunters". While Ralph works for the good of everyone, and may not enjoy what he is doing, Jack actually enjoys hunting, and is probably doing it for his own amusement, "a compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up." "Swallowing him up" suggests he was completely consumed with this wish. He allows his burning desire to get in the way of things he ought to be doing, such as helping to build the shelters. Although Ralph and Jack disagree at this stage, they still try to be friends and go bathing together, but they do so "baffled, in love and hate". They are aware of the potential friction between them.
When Jack and his choir leave the fire building to hunt, a "barrier" grows between Ralph and Jack. They successfully bring back a dead sow, but during the chase the fire goes out and a ship sails by. Ralph is furious that they weren't there to help keep the fire going, then the ship may have seen the smoke and the boys would have been rescued.
The idea of the beast keeps Ralph and Jack together as a team for longer than they may have been otherwise. Both fear the beast. A discussion about what to do about the beast rages out of control and turns into a shouting match between Ralph and Jack, ending with Jack shouting "Bollocks to the rules!". This shows that Jack is undermining Ralph's authority and is encouraging others to do the same, His slang language shows lack of respect for the order that Ralph is struggling to keep up.
Overall Jack rejects Ralph's rule entirely. At the next assembly he says "I'm not going to play any longer". This expression indicates that Jack is quite immature: he still sees life on the island as a "game". This is when Jack goes off to start his own tribe, when the major rift between Jack and Ralph is formed. In the end, Ralph and Jack are deadly enemies, Jack even hunts down Ralph at the very end of the novel, after the death of Piggy, like Ralph is a sow and Jack and his tribe are the hunters.
Roger and Simon are a part of Jacks choir, but are totally different from each other. Roger represents evil, as he kills Piggy in a ruthless way. He is also described at the start as "a slight furtive boy" but later on is described as "something foreboding." At first he seemed a quiet and animal-like boy, but later he is described as something "foreboding" which means "a sense of evil or misfortune", but can also mean "an evil omen", which shows he is evil and symbolises the devil.
Simon is totally different than Roger. He represents good and is portrayed as a Jesus figure. He goes up the mountain to find the truth about the parachutist, like Moses went up the mountain to find out the truth about God and to receive the 10 commandments, another symbolic reference by Golding. When Simon comes down the mountain he is brutally attacked by the other boys, who get carried away in a sort of "tribal dance" in honour of the pig they have caught and the beast. It's as if he was a "sacrifice" to the beast. After Simon is actually killed though, it's as if he has an almost angelic death, the way his body is carried out to sea gently, "The water rose further and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness." The appearance of angels is also hinted when Simon dies, "strange, moonbeam-bodied creatures with fiery eyes." This description is referring to angels, indicating that Simon represents some sort of holiness and good in the novel, seen as his death is related to angels, which represent good.
As soon as the boys realise they are alone on the island, with no adults, as predicted (being young boys), they think it’s all a game and that they will have fun until they get rescued, yet they don't realise the harsh reality, that there is slim chance of survival, never mind rescue, and they will have to work together to stay alive and well. Not all of the boys are mature enough mentally to grasp the concept of "no adults", meaning no rules, order or civilisation, Jack being one of these boys straight away. Immediately this singles out some of the boys, including Ralph, Piggy and Simon, because all the other boys want to do is one, have fun, and two, hunt, which is another form of "fun" for the boys, or rather something to "entertain" them. Almost straight away there is a struggle for leadership and a clash of personalities. Both Ralph and Jack desire the title of "leader", as both are power hungry and have leadership skills, but Jack is much more ruthless than Ralph and do what he has to to get his own way, (i.e. making his own tribe so he can call himself "chief"). Piggy has the ideas and intelligence to stand any chance of survival or rescue on the island, but he hasn't got the power to enforce his ideas. That's where Ralph comes in. While Piggy feeds Ralph with the ideas, ideas such as building shelters and starting a signal fire, Ralph enforces them and tells the others to help out, because they listen to Ralph but not Piggy. This is when we learn who is strong and who is weak, Jack and Ralph being strong and Piggy being weak.
Golding hints that not all is right on the island, "The undergrowth of the scar was shaken…" at first the island is described as "a beautiful un-touched sanctuary", but then the boys arrive, which seems to be the beginning of the break down ahead. The language used by Golding changes throughout the novel, for example, at the beginning he describes the weather as a warm and humid climate, "now through the heat of the morning", but later on he goes on to describe the dark and grungy weather later on in the novel, "the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. Darkness poured out…" The weather changes along with the mood of the characters and the general mood on the island. This is "Pathetic Fallacy", another language technique which Golding uses to add effect to the novel.
Another hint is when Jack is horrified that he doesn't become leader, "Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification." Jack is horrified that he isn't leader, and its predictable that Jack would have done something awful in retaliation, but Ralph quickly decides to give Jack a role of leadership, in charge of his choir boys, who are then on known as the "hunters".
There are several themes which are raised within the first chapter alone, including dispute, tragedy and fate. It was "fate" that the boys were to crash on a desert island in the middle of no where with little chance of survival, when Britain was at war. I believe Golding sets the story at the time of war to show what people lived like without civilisation, when civilisation was under major attack due to war in Britain. This is Cultural Context, setting the story in a context which reflects certain aspects of life at the time. I believe Golding is showing the reader how people have the capability to turn into savages and destroy civilisation with ease, this may be what he thought of war as and the people at the head of this war as the "savages".
Another theme raised in this chapter is dispute. On more than one occasion a quarrel of some sort emerges. One of the main disputes in the first chapter is the battle for leadership, Jack thinks he should be leader, "I ought to be chief…..because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp." His sheer arrogance blinds him from the simple truth, no-one cares whether he was head boy or not, or that he can sing in C sharp, they still vote Ralph for chief. Disputes about the building of the shelters and watching over the signal fire, so it doesn’t go out, also occur early in the novel, but dispute is one of the themes which carries on throughout the novel One of the other major themes n this chapter is tragedy. It was a tragedy that Britain, where the boys were from, was at war, and that people had died, "they're all dead", and "didn't you hear about the a-bomb?" This also hints at a nuclear attack of some sort, and if Golding has written about this in his novel, this may have been a concern of his, if no the country, at the time, once again "Cultural Context".
Lord of the Flies is very similar to the novel "Coral Island" by R.M.Ballantyne, published in 1857, one hundred years before Lord of the Flies. It is focuses on three young British boys who are shipwrecked on a desert island without any adults. They thoroughly enjoy their experience and there is never a hint of trouble, but Golding realises that the idyllic life of Coral Island could never exist in real life. So, he set out to write a novel which showed his ideas about the darker side of human nature starting from the same basis; boys stranded on a desert island, away from civilising influences. Lord of the Flies was the result.
The island in the novel is a microcosm representing the world, with all the characters and other things in the novel representing different things in the world. Piggy represents clear-sightedness and intelligence, whilst Ralph and the conch represent democracy and order. Simon represents pure goodness, a "Jesus like" figure, when Roger represents evil, the devil even. Jack is associated with anarchy and savagery, both two awful things in today's world. The "scar" represents mans destruction and destructive forces, and the Beast represents the evil residing within everyone, the dark side of human nature. The Lord of the Flies itself represents the Devil, great danger or evil.
The island is first seen to be a "paradise" but alter on is seen more as "hell on earth". The sea is preliminary described as "the white surf flicked the coral reef," but is later described as, "…the long, grinding roar of the breakers on the beach." The dramatic change of description from early on in the novel, to near the end shows that the mood of the story changes from a good mood, to a bad mood. Another thing that is described differently at different stages of the novel is the lagoon. At first it is described as, "inside was peacock water, rocks and weed showing as in an aquarium," but then is later described as, "The swell…seemed like the breathing of some stupendous creature." From a pleasant imagery, to horrid simile describing the lagoon as some sort of "creature."
I believe Golding wrote this novel to show people that we are all capable of unthinkable things. After the first chapter I want to read on and find out what happens in the rest of the novel. Later on in the novel the mood changes from a relaxed atmosphere, where the boys can have fun without any adults or civilisation, to a tense and thrilling atmosphere, with Jack and his tribe reigning terror over the island. The descriptions of the island go from descriptions representing paradise, to descriptions more related to hell as the novel progresses. One question I would like to ask William Golding is, "Is this novel based more on your personal opinion or more of what you thought people thought at the time you wrote it?", to find out whether the story is more based on his personal opinion or not. The way the first chapter ends, with Jack failing to kill the first pig, but ready to kill next time, leaves me wanting to read on because this is a sure sign that Jack is changing, turning into more of a savage without a conscience to kill the pig. The phrase, "next time there will be no mercy," is what draws me to read on. A next time? This must mean something is going to happen later on and Golding is hinting at that to make the reader carry on reading.