Anchita Khurana

McGee/Romano
Lord of the Flies Essay

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which many large themes are
exemplified as well as character development. Most major characters in this novel are
thoroughly characterized through the means of their actions and words. Ralph is primarily seen
as responsible, showing the qualities of a leader, while Jack is seen as reckless and selfish,
caring more for his private interests than for those of the group. In Passage 6 of the packet, the
scene shown is at the end of the novel, when the naval officer shows up to rescue the boys.
Despite the naval officer being a deus ex machina, this scene depicts the personalities of the
boys in a deeper way than before.
In the sixth passage, Golding further develops the characters of Ralph and Jack. When
the naval officer shows up, the boys all appear in front of him, the forest burning. He asks them
who the leader is, and Ralph immediately steps forward, taking responsibility of the group,
despite knowing that hell be ultimately taking responsible for the savagery and calamity of the
group. This shows true characteristics of a leader. He was willing to take the weight of his
position. He did not step down, just because he was faced with the weight of savagery. While
Ralph blatantly stepped forward for the position of leader, Jack had started forward but faltered
and decided to stay back. He is then described as a little boy, throwing him back into
innocence and childhood, opposing the position hed created for himself as the novel went on.
This shows that while Jack had tried to take big responsibility in the novel, in the end, he was
nothing more than a little boy who couldnt take the weight of leadership when the time came.
Ralph, on the other hand, even while being victimized and hunted down by the boys he was
once the chief of, did not fail to claim responsibility of them. During this moment, he once again
becomes the rightful chief.

This passage contains much irony, through the characters of Jack and the naval officer.
When Jack set the fire, his intention was to bring an end to everything, to get rid of Ralph.
However, his fire ends up saving all of the boys, including Ralph and himself. The fire hed used
to destroy ultimately rescues them. The other example of irony is the fact that the naval officer is
rescuing them from savagery to take them into even more chaos, disorder, and blood. Their
rescue is almost pointless, as they are not going to be rescued into any better a place.
This passage shows that savagery follows humans everywhere, even in places of
orderly society and civilization. Even in the civilized society of the boys world, chaos was
abundant. Ralph was an example of a true leader, someone who would stay moral and
grounded even in the toughest of situations. He took responsibility at the time when most people
wouldnt want to. This scene shows a lot of characterization as well as displays themes of the
novel.