Mirav Hazan
The Lord of the Flies
In The Lord of the Flies there are four main characters: Piggy, Ralph, Simon and Jack. They all have their own personality. According to Dr. David Keirsey all people can be placed into four basic personality traits: Artisan, Rationalist, Idealist and Guardian. The main characters in this book fit into most of these characteristics.
Simon is a rational. Rationalists keep to themselves. They are independent and practical. Simon displays all of those characteristics. In The Lord of the Flies, Simon was always by himself and always kept to himself. He was very independent. For example, in the book Simon was never going crazy and hunting, he always just let it be. When little kids couldn’t reach the fruit he would reach it for them but, the other kids couldn’t care less. Another example was when he went up the mountain to see the “beastie” alone when the other kids didn’t have the guts.
Ralph, who is another character in The Lord of the Flies, is a guardian. Guardians are recognized as being dependable, hard working, and stabilizing leaders. Ralph is an example of all of those. In the book, Ralph was chief. He was always worried about the signal fire. Ralph would always be thinking of other ways to help the island which as helpful for everyone there. Like Simon, Ralph was never going insane and hunting twenty-four seven; he was always trying to help. Guardians also have a lot of fun with their friends but are serious about getting the job done at the same time. Ralph also loved getting the job done right more than having fun.
Piggy can be very similar to Simon in some ways. Piggy is also a Rational. He is very self- contained. He is also smart. He tried to solve all the problems and find solutions that had application to the real world. Whenever they would be arguing, Piggy would give them the adult answer to the problem. For example, in the middle of the book, when they had to get the fire off the mountain because of the “beastie”, they couldn’t think of anywhere to put it when there were so many simple answers. Piggy told them to put it on the beach and they thought it was so smart.
Jack would be described as the guy that prizes freedom, dreams of mastering his skills and he will also do whatever it takes, rules or no rules to accomplish his goals. He would be called an Artisan. Jack envied Ralph a lot. Ralph was the chief and Jack wanted to be chief more than anything. He got fed up with not being chief. One day he went off and said, “If you want to have fun and play come with me!” He broke tons of rules to get his point across. He made his own tribe where they hunted, ate and had fun!
I would like to call myself an Artisan, though not the same type of artisan as Jack. I’m the type that is focused on here and now, spontaneous, wants to make a splash, wants to be where the action is, and seeks adventure. I also believe that anything that is not fun or exiting is a waste of time.
In The Lord of the Flies, Simon represented spirit, Ralph represented body and Piggy represented mind. In the book Simon and Piggy die, this meant that the kids on the island were becoming less civilized ever since those deaths. Jack is an Artisan and breaks tons of rules. At the end of the book he took over the island and became completely uncivilized. Jack and his tribe were trying to kill Ralph, a guardian, when they got rescued. Don’t you think that means something?