Persona In Lord Of The Flies

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A persona is a character or external personality that is used by most people when around others. Often, one person can have multiple personas, each coming into activity at a various point. The possible danger that lies with a persona is that it begins to push away the true personality, changing the person in a possibly negative way and constricting some aspects of the true personality. One example of a persona and its effects can be seen in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. During the events of the novel multiple characters are forced to adopt various personas. Almost all of the boys act differently when around different people, and some gradually change their persona or personas in a way that they often become stronger and…show more content…
Jack enters the story as the leader of the choir, defined by his bossy and overbearing attitude. He wants to have many different rules for the almost sole purpose of being able to punish anyone who breaks them. He is immediately deflated after losing the vote for chief, but he still retains most aspects of his choir leader persona. Later in the novel, Jack becomes increasingly frustrated and unstable. This comes to a head in Chapter 8 when he leaves the tribe, described by “He leapt down from the platform and ran along the beach, paying no heed to the steady fall of his tears”(127). Gone from the only semblance of society left, Jack quickly becomes a complete savage, as well as portraying himself like a god or idol. It is said that “Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol”(149). By the time of the final confrontation at Castle Rock, the only civilized piece left in…show more content…
Once he is elected chief, he takes on an authoritative persona, acting as a source of order and commands to the little children. However, around the older boys like Piggy and Simon, Ralph acts as more of a friend; he is not seized by a hunger for power like Jack eventually is and still sees others as roughly his equals. Jack alone brings out another persona in Ralph. This one contrasts and is more closed and not as friendly, due to the tensions between the two. Although Ralph maintains a relatively constant set of personas throughout the novel, he has occasional flickers of his thought, described as a “curtain” that falls over his thought. Toward the end even Ralph begins to lose his stability, albeit much later than all of the other boys. While he is being chased through the forest he begins to revert closer to his natural, animalistic instincts. Order and society take a step back when Ralph is faced with imminent death, and the result is a new persona for him. Ralph begins to act more primal, and during this time anyone viewing him would see a different

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