In Lord of the Flies, it is dubious
whether Roger has possessed any civility at all. For, in Chapter One, he is described
as a
slight,
furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance
and secrecy.
Roger, the"dark
boy," then appears in Chapter Two to say that there has been no trace of a ship.
"Perhaps we'll never be rescued," he says. Then, in Chapter Four he and Maurice come
down out of the forest and he leads the way through the sand castles that the littl'uns
have made
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kicking them over, burying the flowers,
scattering the chosen stones....Only Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand
and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for
filling a younger eye with sand. Now, though there was no parent to let fall a heavy
hand. Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing....He muttered something...and broke
into a trot...Roger remained, watching the
littluns.
When
Henry wanders off along the beach, Roger follows him, hiding beneath the palms. Henry
goes to the beach and busies himself along the water's edge, playing with the "creatures
that lived in this last fling of the sea." Roger waits, at first hidden, then he comes
out in full view. Then, he looks along the beach and sees that the others have moved
on. From above he
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stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it
at Henry--threw it to miss.....Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old
life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen
and the law. Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew
nothing of him and was in
ruins.
When Jack returns,
Roger sees him, and "a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin." Jack
does not notice his ominous appearance and tells Roger about the mask that he has made
to disguise himself from the pigs. "Roger understood and
nodded gravely."
At best, society conditioned Roger
somewhat, but his innate nature is sadistic and given free rein, Roger is soon cruel and
deadly.
Jack degenerates into savagery rather early on. In
Chapter Two as the boys build the fire on the mountain, Jack and Ralph work together
piling the branches and leaves. When they finish Ralph and
Jack
looked at
each other while society paused about them. The shameful knowledge grew
in them and they did not know how to begin
confession.
And,
even Ralph, who realizes that the boys fall silent at the sight of the new rescue fire,
feels the beginnings of
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awe at the power set free below them. The
knowledge and the awe made him
savage.
Shortly
after this, when the fire goes out of control and Piggy scolds. Jack turns on Piggy,
"You shut up!" He wants to silence the voice of civilization. In Chapter Three, Jack
hunts and the imagery of his description is that of animals: He breathes with
"flared nostrils"; his eye seem "bolting and
nearly mad"; when he rouses a bird who sends "echoes...by a harsh cry
that seemed to come out of the abyss of ages," Jack shrinks with "a hiss
of indrawn breath," and for a moment, Golding
writes,
and
for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing,
ape-like....He passed like a shadow under the darkness of the tree and
crouched....
After
he returns to camp, Jack squats and Ralph peers into "Jack's fierce, dirty face." When
he does kill a pig, he "hacks at it." In Chapter Four, Jack smacks Piggy's head,
knocking off his glasses with an opaque look in his
eyes.
In Chapter Five Jack takes over the meeting about the
beast, shouting "Bollocks to the rules! We're strong--we hunt! If there's a beast,
we'll hunt it down!...." He Jack exhibits no rationality; he suggests just brute,
primitive force. Certainly after he and the hunters steal the fire in Chapter Eight,
the descent into savagery accelerates as in Chapter Nine, the boys reveal in an feast
described in terms of Roman orgiastic feast where Jack sits "painted and garlanded like
an idol" and "piles of meat on green leaves near
him."
