|
|
"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever. Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat. (. . .) High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. | „ |
| ~ Roger's dehumanization as he prepares to unleash the boulder. |
Roger is the secondary antagonist of William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, and the 1963 and 1990 film adaptations. Initially a choir boy, he serves as Jack Merridew's best friend and right hand-man and torturer, taking sadistic pleasure in maiming and killing those who disobey the "law of the jungle".
He was portrayed by Roger Elwin in the 1963 film adaptation, and by Gary Rule in the 1990 film adaptation.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- While he did respect Ralph earlier on in the story, he subverts it once him and Jack go into savagery.
- Despite only being a kid, his actions are taken seriously at most times, and he also seems to have moral agency.
- Even before the boys went into savagery, he already showed sociopathic traits such as bullying other children by ruining their sand castles, throwing sand in their eyes and rocks at them, and making fun of Piggy’s name, along with Jack and the other boys who were working with him.
- Raping, torturing and murdering pigs primarily for his own enjoyment.
- He also rapes female pigs, which makes him somewhat misogynistic.
- Mistaking Simon for the Beast and inadvertently murdering him (along with several other boys). However, he shows no remorse for his murder, unlike Ralph and Piggy.
- When Ralph tells him to stop throwing rocks at Piggy, he listens to Ralph, however, once he stops he gives a sadistic smirk, taunting him by gesturing that he was going to kill Piggy.
- Murdering Piggy by levering a rock to strike him.
- Torturing Samneric and several other boys.
- Attempting to kill Ralph and his gang.
- Also planned to cut off Ralph's head and impale it on the stick to feed to the Beast.
- He is the most cruel and evil antagonist in this novel, even more than Jack Merridew. Jack is insecure and hurts others primarily to show that he is in power, while Roger is purely sadistic and goes very far with his actions (i.e. raping pigs for his entertainment instead of simply killing them for food and killing Piggy for no reason except sadism). Worse, he gets away with his crimes, earning absolutely no comeuppance for his reprehensible actions.
- While he does maintain a good relationship with Jack Merridew and his gang, nothing in the novel or movie adaptations really do anything to show that he truly cares for the other, and likely only follows him out of pragmatism.
- The only care he shows for anyone is the Larry and the others, as evident as when he runs away and said he heard the monster, however, this is non-redemptive as he only shows care for the hunters out of pure sadism.
- While he mostly assists Jack in his plans, Roger manages to stand out due to his worst actions being done individually of the other's orders.
- Despite the fact that the novel having no one who is truly heroic (as everyone did at least one immoral thing), Roger still stand out for being the only one to have no traits that can be seen as redeemable.
- Though at the end of the 1990 film other teens had felt remorse for their acts, it’s unknown if he was one of them.
- Overall, he has no redeeming qualities and is potrayed as nothing more than a sadistic scumbag who likes to hurt people for fun.
- Even worse, he has no motive for his evil acts, and the narrative makes it clear is that while he may have shown respect to Ralph early on, all that respect is thrown away once he attempts to kill him.
Trivia[]
- At the end of the novel, it is stated that the boys felt remorse for what they did and what they have become. It is unknown if Roger was one of these boys or if he simply did not say anything and did not show any remorse (though the latter is more likely).
- Roger is the only character in Lord of the Flies to be Pure Evil, as his boss Jack have redeeming qualities and is NPE, while all other hunters fail the heinous standard.
External Links[]
- Roger on the Villains Wiki
- Roger on the Lord of the Flies Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
| ||
|
Live-Action Films See Also | ||
