William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a novel about society and leadership. In any society, there are roles for each person. Some are leaders, some mindless followers, and others between. The personalities and actions of the characters in Lord of the Flies often reveal which group they are in. Roger, a fascinating character in the novel, is one of these people. Although he is mentioned only a few times, his actions constantly captivate the reader. Perhaps Golding was wise in rarely making Roger the object of attention so the reader slowly becomes aware that what is happening is an important aspect of the novel. By the end of the story, we see Roger grow from a shy boy into a monster worse than Jack. When the reader first meets Roger the author makes a point to have him stand out right away. Passively giving a list of some of the boys on the island, he then singles Roger out, giving him the description of a, “boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of… secrecy.” (22). Goulding does this with only six other characters: Jack, Ralph, Simon, Piggy, Sam, and Eric - each of whom turn out to be very important in the chapters to come. The fact that the reader and the boys don’t know anything about Roger’s past …show more content…
He is throwing rocks at another boy, “throwing to miss”, with the “taboo of the old life” looming over him (62). That is to say, Roger knows this would not be allowed if adults were around. Much later in the novel, after he establishes himself as part of Jack’s hunting tribe, Roger learns that Jack is planning to tie up and beat another character for no reason at all. Roger, “received this news as an illumination” and fully realizes that there are, in fact, no adults to keep them from doing horrible things to each other and pondered what this “irresponsible authority” could accomplish (160). At this point the reader can see a shift in