The reason society is flawed is because people are flawed. Golding, who had served in World War II, is well aware of the flaw known as savagery within humans, which he used to base his book The Lord of the Flies. In the novel, Roger shows this with his vicious and sadistic personality, motivation to inflicting pain and inciting fear onto others, his conflicts that highlight his savage and cruel intentions, and his symbolization of the Id from a Psychoanalytical criticism.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses how Roger has a sadistic and vicious personality. To illustrate this idea, on page 180-181 Golding writes, “Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever […] Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck […] The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee.’’ In this scene, Roger threw a rock down the cliff, and it rolled down, killing Piggy. The evidence highlights how Roger has begun to break out of his reserved image and show his true savage nature, because of his stay on the island; It indicates how inhumane Roger is. For instance, in the text, it states, “ He bent down, took up a double handful of lukewarm water, and rubbed the mess from his face. Freckles and sandy eyebrows appeared. Roger smiled, unwillingly. ‘You don’t half look a mess.’ ” (Golding 63). In other words, Jack put mud on his face and Roger smiled and expressed his liking towards it. Figuratively speaking, the facepaint works throughout the novel to shield whoever puts it on from their individuality and humanity, giving way for violence. By encouraging Jack, Roger demonstrates his blossoming desire to abandon civility for savagery. As one can see from his actions provided above; Roger’s personality began to show up the longer his stay on the island; it shows him lose his sense of humanity revealing his sadistic and vicious personality.
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Roger is motivated by the pleasure he gains from inflicting pain and inciting fear onto others. To demonstrate this, on page 175 it states, “Roger took up a small stone and flung it between the twins, aiming to miss. They started and sam only just kept his footing. Some source of power began to pulse in Roger's body” (Golding). In other words, Roger, trying to mess with the twins threw a rock in between them aiming to miss but felt a sense of power after. William Golding includes this statement to emphasize how sadistic Roger is; it showed the pleasure he gains from hurting others and seeing them in distress. Another illustration of this idea, where it states “Roger spoke. ‘If you’re fooling us’----Immediately after this, there came a gasp, and a squeal of pain … The twin moaned faintly and then squealed again. ‘He meant he’d hide there?’ ‘ Yes ---- yes---- oh---!’ Silver laughter scattered among the trees” (Golding 192). To summarize, Roger was interrogating Samneric about where Ralph was while inflicting pain on them. Samneric told them where he was and Roger and Jack laughed. As one can see, Roger enjoys inflicting pain on Samneric, due to his lack of care for how hurt Samneric are and how he laughs it off. Overall, the evidence suggests Roger’s pleasure from hurting others and making them scared of him due to his sadistic personality.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses Roger’s conflicts to highlight his savage and cruel intents. To demonstrate this, on page 135, it says “Roger ran round the round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pig flesh appeared ….. Roger found a lodgement for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing become a high pitched scream” (Golding). Basically, Roger was trying to get to a place where he could kill the pig and wherever the pig was, so was his spear. He found a lodgement began to kill the pig. The evidence highlights how savage Roger is, due to his way of trying to find an opening of any to kill the pig. It illustrates his full intent of violence and how he craves for it. In addition, the author writes, “Silence and pause; but in the silence a curious air-noise, close by Ralph’s head. He gave it half his attention-- and there it was again; a faint “Zup!” someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever.” (Golding 180). To summarize, the boys were arguing and someone was dropping rocks on them and it turns out to be Roger. The quotes reveal Roger’s cruel intents because of his lack of care for others as he throws the rocks down on them. As one can see, the actions of Roger help drive his conflict that Golding uses to highlight his savage, cruel intent.
In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Roger symbolizes the Id from a Psychoanalytical criticism. For instance, on page 182, “The yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.” (Golding 182). Basically, Samneric were looking terrified as Roger charged at them. The quote conveys how Roger follows his impulse of thirst for violence. He charges at Samneric with just his intent on what he needs to satisfy for himself and not about Samneric getting hurt. As another example of this idea, on page 180, “Silence and pause; but in the silence a curious air-noise, close by Ralph’s head. He gave it half his attention-- and there it was again; a faint “Zup!” someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever” (Golding). In summary, the boys were arguing and someone was dropping rocks on the boys and it turns out to be Roger. The author includes this fact to emphasize how Roger truly represents the Id. Roger uses this opportunity to satisfy his Id desires, thinking thoughts what about himself, with no care whatsoever about the people down below. In summary from the evidence provided above, Roger uses opportunities in the novel, driven by primitive impulses to satisfy the desire to hurt people, bringing out his Id personality.
All in all, the evidence provided shows how Roger has a vicious and sadistic personality, while being motivated by inflicting pain and inciting fear onto others, with conflicts that highlight his savage and cruel intentions, and makes him symbolize the Id from a Psychoanalytical criticism. With all the evidence provided, they all connected, making an even stronger case. The stronger case was, even though Roger was the most horrific character in the novel, he had savagery in him like everyone else, which made him do what he did. what's to say everyone else can’t do the same?
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