Lord of the Flies characters

Appears from the start

One of the older boys stranded on the island, fair-haired and athletic, who finds a large conch shell and uses it to call the scattered survivors together. Elected chief by the group, he stands for order, fairness, and the hope of rescue. He fixes the boys' energies on keeping a signal fire burning and on building shelters, trying to hold on to the rules and routines of the grown-up world they have left behind.

Appears from the start

An overweight, asthmatic boy who wears thick spectacles and speaks in the accent of a humbler background than the others. Physically weak and endlessly mocked for his size and his talk, he is nonetheless the most rational and thoughtful of the boys, full of sensible ideas and respect for order. He attaches himself to Ralph, and his glasses prove essential to the group.

Also known as Jack

Appears from the start

A tall, thin, red-haired boy, the domineering leader of a choir that arrives on the island in his charge. Proud and used to command, he expects to be made chief and is resentful when the others choose Ralph instead. As a consolation his choir becomes the island's hunters, and Jack throws himself into the pursuit of the wild pigs, hungry for the authority and excitement it offers.

Appears from the start

A slight, quiet boy, one of Jack's choir, who faints during the first gathering and proves shy and easily overlooked. Gentle, kind, and inclined to wander off by himself to a hidden place in the forest, he helps Ralph with the practical work the others avoid. There is a thoughtful, almost visionary quality to him that sets him apart from the rest.

First appears in chapter 4

A secretive, withdrawn older boy among the hunters, marked by a streak of cruelty. Early on he still holds himself in check by the habits of civilized life, throwing stones so as to deliberately miss a smaller boy rather than hit him, but the restraint is visibly thin. He is drawn to Jack's growing power and to the license the island offers.

First appears in chapter 4

A broad, grinning older boy and former member of Jack's choir, now one of the hunters. Good-humored and content to follow the group's lead, he takes part in the hunters' games and mischief, including kicking apart the sandcastles the smaller boys build on the beach.

Also known as Sam, Eric, Sam and Eric

First appears in chapter 6

Identical twin brothers, Sam and Eric, among the older boys and so alike and inseparable that the others treat them almost as a single person and run their names together. Loyal to Ralph, they help tend the signal fire. Keeping watch at night, they catch sight of a strange, moving shape on the mountain and flee in terror, convinced they have seen the beast the younger boys have long feared.

First appears in chapter 8

The severed head of a sow, killed by Jack's hunters and set on a sharpened stake as an offering to the beast the boys fear. Left in a jungle clearing and crawling with flies, it becomes the object of a feverish, dreamlike vision in which it seems to speak to Simon, presenting itself as a thing that lives inside the boys and cannot be hunted or killed. It gives the book its title and embodies the savagery emerging on the island.