A quiet, brooding member of Jack's chorus. Roger is at first little more than a mystery, a quiet, intense boy who seems to hide himself from the other boys. But as the trappings of civilization begin to recede on the island, Roger begins to reveal himself, first by throwing rocks at littleuns (and purposely missing), then by killing a pig more viciously than necessary, then by rolling a boulder down on Piggy, then by torturing Samneric, and finally by sharpening a stick on which he plans to stake Ralph's head, just as he earlier staked a pig's head. While Jack loves power, Roger loves to cause pain. He symbolizes mankind's sadistic instincts, the suppressed desire to hurt others.
Roger Quotes in Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Flies quotes below are all either spoken by Roger or refer to Roger. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4
Quotes
Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry — threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounded five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.
Get the entire Lord of the Flies LitChart as a printable PDF.
Roger Character Timeline in Lord of the Flies
The timeline below shows where the character Roger appears in Lord of the Flies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
As three littleuns play in the sand, two biguns, Maurice and Roger, emerge from the forest. Maurice heads off to swim, but Roger stays behind. When one...
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Roger watches Henry from a distance, and finds some nuts blown from a tree. After a...
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Jack emerges from the forest and calls to Roger, telling him to follow. In the jungle, Jack paints his own face for hunting camouflage....
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Chapter 7
...night. But Jack questions Ralph's courage, and so Ralph agrees to climb right then. Only Roger agrees to accompany them. Halfway up the mountain, Ralph decides it's foolish to go up...
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Chapter 8
...raid Ralph's camp fore fire to cook the pig, and invite everyone to a feast. Roger, meanwhile, sharpens a stick at both ends. They stake the pig head on the stick...
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...fun on this island!" The beast warns Simon that if he tries to interfere Jack, Roger, Maurice, Robert, Bill, Piggy, and Ralph will "do" him.
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Chapter 9
...group into "their dance." They form a chanting circle: "Kill the beast! Cut his throat!" Roger pretends to be a pig at the center of the circle, but eventually stops. Even...
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Chapter 11
At Castle Rock, Ralph blows the conch. Roger throws a rock, though he purposely misses the twins and the other savages remain quiet.
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Roger pushes a boulder from the fort. Ralph dives out of the way, but Piggy can't...
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...the fort. Jack prods them with his spear to terrorize them into joining his tribe. Roger brushes past Jack, making it clear that he knows how to inflict torture.
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Chapter 12
...Rock. Samneric are guarding the gates. He sneaks up to them. Frightened of Jack and Roger, Samneric beg Ralph to leave. But first they give him meat and tell him the...
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