Lord of the Flies

Jack is Ralph’s foil. He represents power and the corruption it causes. He becomes increasingly barbaric the longer they stay on the island, and he increasingly resents Ralph’s attempts to maintain civility. Jack also represents the military, or organized arms. He first says that his hunters are soldiersbefore calling them hunters, and his followers march in uniform. They become Jack’s army, and with them, he takes over the island in destroying the conch, killing Simon and Piggy, and hunting Ralph, his only opposition. 

Piggy represents intelligence and science. It is his glasses—his ability to see—that gives them hope in the form of fire. Piggy is also weak, however. He can’t run or work because of his asthma. He is fat whereas the other boys are slim. Because of this, he is seen as an outsider. The others instinctively shun him because of his weakness, the way the runt of the litter would be left to die. Piggy tries constantly to remind the others of civility, of the need for law and order, but his voice is weak—he struggles to talk with asthma—and so he is not heard. 

Simon may be the only morally good character. He has neither the imposed civility of Ralph nor the savagery of Jack. He helps take care of the others and works for the good of the community. It is Simon who recognizes the innate evil of humanity when he presents the idea that maybe the beast is them. He sees the fears they all carry with them, and he worries those fears will turn them against one another, as eventually happens. He names the pig head, the symbol of Jack’s savagery, “Lord of the Flies” (138) and is beaten to death shortly after.

Roger is Jack’s second-in-command. Even early on, Roger shows a sense of brutality. He throws rocks at Henry, and although he doesn’t try to hit him, the suggestion of cruelty shows what he is capable of, if he only goes one step further toward savagery. Near the end he sharpens a stake at both ends to spit Ralph’s head on, much like they did with the boar’s head. It is Roger who kills Piggy, by pushing a large rock on him, the most primitive weapon available to them, showing how far they have reverted to savagery.