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Ralph Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis

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The inability to sustain a perfect society stems off of the flaws of human nature. No matter how hard people try, their different viewpoints and ideas interfere with constructing a civilization that works for everyone. This struggle is soon discovered by the boys in Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding. One boy named Ralph, whose actions are completely driven by the wanting to go home, beings to rise to power and becomes a leader of the boys. However, another boy named Jack starts to rival against Ralph’s ideas, causing a division among the boys. The boys also conjure up the thought that there is a ‘beast’ on the island, striking even more fear into them. This ultimately destroys the hopes of building a singular society. Golding depicts …show more content…

Ralph represents the idea of order and civilization, causing him to become a leader of the boys as his main focus is to construct a society. This makes Ralph attain the symbolism of the Ego, the part of the personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. This counterpart of the Id is what balances out one’s persistence with a strong sense of morality. At one point, Ralph begins to slip into the grasp of savageness when he engages in a mock-killing of a pig. Quickly though, he realizes what he might become and reminds himself that it was “‘Just a game’” (115). This makes him out of be the Ego of island because no matter how close he gets to becoming essentially an animal, he always holds onto his humanity. He shares the same idea of wanting to survive that Jack has, however, Ralph approaches these ideas in a much more socially acceptable manner. While Jack wants to hunt and kill, Ralph wants to build shelters for the boys and maintain a fire. His plans to construct a lasting society develop from the morally correct ideas he has and his role of being a leader. As many of the boys start to succumb to their new flawed nature, Ralph raises and continues to hold onto the idea of having a civilization as well as trying to get rescued. In continuation, Ralph makes out to be very sensible, much like the Ego. Even Piggy claims how practical of a person Ralph is by asking, …show more content…

The beast symbolizes the boys’ inner fears for they conjure up this fear and truly believe that the beat exists, which in the end, it did not. Nevertheless, when Simon encounters the beast, it asks him, “‘I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’” (143). The terror of the beast that many of the boys share causes them to slowly tear apart of the society they were once building, destroying their chances of being saved. As the beast says, the true reason that these boys are turning away from civilization and thought of being rescued is purely due to their inner demons coming to life in the form of the beast. The boys could be working towards building a fire, sending out a smoke signal, and figuring out anyway to be saved, and yet, they still all focus on this fear they have. The terror of the beast should be driving the boys away from the island for the fear should be kicking the fight or flight response within all of them. However, the trepidation only keeps the boys on the island even longer. Moreover, the beast also symbolically represents the Id, the part of the personality that contains all primitive wants and urges. The fear within the boys that sprouts from the thought of the beast quickly evolves from panic into savagery. In the case of Jack and the hunters, they

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