Character Analysis (Ch 1-3)

Analysis of characters in “Lord of the Flies”

The main characters so far seem to be Ralph, Jack and Piggy. It is evident that their personalities and character traits will cause problems in the future. They have been on this island for a short period of time and already there have been many arguments and disputes. I believe that ultimately the vast contrast between characters and their beliefs and ideas will lead to severe problems on the island in regards to power and decisions affecting the entire group. Ralph seems to be a very confident and outgoing boy. He is the type of person who likes to take control of a situation. This side of is personality was visibly evident to many of the boys on the island when they voted him “chief” (Golding 19). Jack is the most like Ralph. He displayed his stature as a power figure from the start as the leader of the choir. “Choir! Stand still!”(Golding 16), shows his authoritative manor. He is also head strong and seems to like things to be under his control. This similarity between Ralph and Jack may cause problems in the future if they both fight for power. Piggy is the kind of character who seems to cause problems unintentionally. His lack of confidence as a result of the other boys picking on him seems to be making him very irritable. Piggy is the type of person that doesn’t know how to stand up for himself, he doesn’t know how to defend himself or is to scared to, so he just allows to others to abuse him. “He went very pink, bowed his head and cleaned his glasses again” (Golding 18) demonstrates how piggy is embarrassed very easily and doesn’t know how to defend himself. I believe that a lot of how these characters are developed and their personal tendencies is what will make this novel interesting.