Essay:

In the novel, it is clearly shown from the start who the protagonists and antagonists, This is a writing tactic most writers use to encourage an attachment between the reader and the character. William Golding leaves very little mystery in his story when it comes to characters; all of the boy’s personas were revealed very early on in the story to support the identification of good vs evil. The character I would consider to be the most mysterious and latest revealed would be Roger. As his character is slowly unravels, we get an insight on more of his psyche, motives and point of view.

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Roger is described as a 12 year old boy with dark hair and a grim expression. Rogers personality didn’t go through much of a change since he already had cruel tendencies and intentions but he physically sinned which must have changed his mindset through experience and knowledge of his own capabilities.  This sadistic boy grows to be a more disturbing character with every decision and act of evil, it starts off with a kick to the littluns sandcastle and matured into the intended murder of several boys. Roger is the clear example of letting the id take over especially when he impulsively pushed the boulder on to piggy, This was foreshadowed earlier in the book when he amused himself by throwing stones at the younger boys.  Roger symbolises pure evil in a few different ways first of all being his desire to inflict pain followed by the lack of knowledge of how society rules and finally his corrupt morals. All the boys seemed to be terrified by him as they have seen his cruel actions and noticed his increase in persona. He has been involved in 2 counts of first degree murder and to an extent cannibalism, first he orchestrated piggy’s death and then took part in Simon’s death.

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This young savage reveals very little insight as to his motives for his behaviour other than the urge for freedom, fun and control. As entertainment is his priority he progressively becomes more careless with the boys safety, In chapter 1 he is described as “ a boy who kept to himself with avoidance and secrecy” which is his state of mind while he is working out how to act on the island. He looks to Jack as an example which shows him that he only has himself to worry about; the island has no rules so roger unleashes his inner beast. A possible motive for his actions is his desire to be free from society or his neglected side (the id) just takes over often. His young brain shows evident signs of early sociopathic tendencies due to his reckless behaviour, lack of remorse or empathy and development through environment. It is said that his constant conditioning to control his behaviour as a child may have brought on this way of viewing others emotions. He is noticeably using the island as a canvas for his oppressed primal tendencies which has a large impact on the other boys who are simply trying to survive.

-Being stranded on a foreign island in the peak of the war is bound to freak anyone out but to be a prepubescent boy with raging testosterone levels trying to cooperate with an army of other monsters is bound to bring out some unknown responses. Roger makes some very poor decisions while under pressure but it is never for sure explained to us why he does these acts of evil; maybe it was the excitement of freedom or the adrenaline rush caused by the plane crash or even his pre civilized instincts which causes him to harm others. In Chapter Twelve, Sam explains to Ralph, “You don’t know Roger.  He’s a terror.” followed by, “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends”. This disturbed boy is shown to have every intention to injure another boy but as his id develops maybe he is just going to the lengths he deems necessary to protect and defend himself. In Rogers eyes maybe piggy was a danger to him therefore his solution to kill him was an act of defense. Imagine being in the middle of a feast and some boy comes running at you screaming about some nonsense of a pig and a beast, suddenly the rest of the boys start to get violent of course you would join in after being accustomed to this way of living for quite some time. He is a clear sidekick to jack and could be feeling the peer pressure to dominate the other boys by keeping them in fear, no one except he could tell us why he did the things he did.  We can clearly see a change in his decision making as his actions grow from throwing rocks at kids to burning down the forest but his premature amygdala is clearly in a state of panic; falsely alerting danger and reacting unreasonably.

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William Golding wrote every kind of personality in to this book with roger being by far his most savage and extreme. Roger shows weakness in the book when the id takes over and he only gets weaker with every cruel action. This shows us that no matter the purity of your surroundings some minds will succumb to temptation and others suffer the consequences of the others actions.

eMmA