During WW2 over two million children were removed from Britain to other areas where they would be safe. In the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding a group of seven to twelve year old boys are being evacuated when their plane crashes onto an island. With no adults to help the boys survive, they choose Ralph to be their chief. Ralph’s innocence is demolished with all his experiences on the island. All his experiences made him have to grow up fast. He went through multiple traumatic experiences and had to try and be strong for the others, even though he struggled sometimes. In the beginning Ralph is full of optimism and innocence, as he feels like everything will be alright. Ralph takes charge of his tribe and, decides that the best …show more content…
Ralph is pushed into being a savage, when he kills the boar. “Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride”(113). After Ralph kills the boar he gets a taste of the savage deep down inside. Ralph tries to hide it, but it shows up again when Ralph Biggs 2 participates in the murder of Simon. Again Ralph denies that he is losing his innocence by denying he was in the the circle when Simon was murdered. Ralph says “you were outside:outside the circle. you never really came in”(157). Ralph starts to become a savage with the rest of the boys by denying his wrongs. Ralph eventually starts to lose all innocence and civilization when Piggy is smashed by the boulder. Everyone leaves Ralph behind and joins Jack as savages. In the end of the book jack's savage tribe tries to kill Ralph but, they can’t find him in the dense forest so they set it ablaze. The fire that is ironically set to kill Ralph by the savages ends up saving him. A naval boat saw the fire and came to their rescue. Ralph trying to escape the fire accidentally runs right into the naval officer, the rest of the tribe that is still alive comes out too. The officer says ““ who is boss
Ralph shows a great of courage and determination to be rescued, during his time on the island.Ralph commitment to society and morality is strong, and all he wants to do is leave the island and go home.As a leader,Ralph has to set an example for the boys on the island, and has to face many obstacles alone.This is why Ralph has to show courage and determination. "Ralph went for the end of innocence , the darkness of a mans heart, and the fall through the air of a true,wise friend called Piggy (Golding 225).This quote concludes the novel and shows how Ralph is relieved and accomplishes his goal of being rescued, and how he reflected back on the memories on the island, the memories of his good friend Piggy. Just before Piggy died he makes a valiant
Both of the boys change a lot during their stay on the island. Ralph begins the novel as a leader and role model to the other boys. But eventually, the group gives in to savage instincts and Ralph's position
Ralph is the main protagonist in the story and he is the leader of the children on the island. Since Ralph was voted leader, he has the characteristics of leadership and he brings civilization and order to the story. Unlike the other boys, Jack and Simon, Ralph’s main focus is to get off the island instead of having fun. For example, Ralph tried constructing huts with Simon; meanwhile, the boys are playing and running off having fun. In the beginning of the story, Ralph’s power with the children was secure; however, towards the end, that power is being transferred to Jack. Ralph represents the
Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief. He carries this position until Jack and his fellow hunters break away
Even the most sensitive boys go with a character arc that goes back to a decrease from innocence. When Ralph is first introduced at the beginning of the book, he is acting similar to a child, splashing the water with piggy, mocking him and laughing. Ralph also tells Piggy that he knows for sure that his father, a naval commander, will rescue him including the others. Ralph continues the belief in their rescue throughout the book without giving up, changing his hope that his own father will discover them, with a passing ship that will be alerted by the large fire on the mountain. Towards the end of the novel, he has completely lost hope in the rescue. The progress of Ralphs character from pursuing his dreams to not having any kind of hope shows
Ralph's character is progressively broken down throughout the novel, only to be rebuilt stronger, and more knowledgeable in the end. If it wasn't for Ralph being hunted by Jack's tribe, the island would never be engulfed in flames; the boys would never be rescued. Thus, he also serves as the key character to the resolution of the novel. The events of the story prove that in a typical society, evil may gain control on occasion, but ultimatelyeverything will be balanced
We see throughout the beginning of the novel Ralph is struggling to get all the boys to help him build the shelter, and the others are still goofing around. This shows so much about how great of a leader Ralph will be and this is why he deserves to be a
In the novel the lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph’s responsibility and Jack’s persuasiveness and authority to argue that effective governments must be both fair and able to keep peace in a country.
Ralph is not only a leader, but a voice of reason within the group. Ralph’s main priority throughout the novel is to be rescued, even when it did not seem as important to the other boys in the group. Ralph creates a signal fire and consistently reminds the boys that it is imperative to their survival. Ralph explains, “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). Ralph’s scolding to the hunters is well deserved considering that they wasted a possible opportunity to be rescued after letting the signal fire go out. As time went on, Jack and his hunters become more and more consumed with hunting and order began to turn into chaos. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in” (Golding 75). Ralph refuses to join the boys and viciously murder pigs. The boys’ hygiene habits were also worsening, to the point that the boys were defecating in the wrong areas. Ralph tries to address it at a meeting, but the boys’ find their animal-like behavior amusing. Throughout the loss of civility and order, Ralph always keeps a persistent effort to keep the signal fire going and keep order within the group. Ralph’s attitude towards the entire situation drops, however he never completely lost hope.
Ralph however holds his position of leadership and Jack forms his own tribe with his hunting party. When this happens, Ralph's tribe hits a low point and is struggling to keep their society stable. It is now when Jack seizes the opportunity, feeds all of Ralph’s people, exclaims “‘ I gave you food...my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’” (Golding 150). This is the turning point for many of the boys because the loyalty to Ralph is not as strong as the comfort provided by Jack to their fear of the beast. Jack offers them everything that they want at the time and is very easy. After this decision however, they will be unable to overcome this fear and in fact, it will only become
Throughout William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the fair leader, responds to his unique setting in many ways. At first, Ralph is ecstatic to be on the island and to have freedom from society’s rules, adult oversight, and authority. However, he soon finds that an irrational fear of a beast threatens to cause chaos amongst the boys. When all rules are forgotten and savagery reigns without authority, he takes it upon himself to enforce the island’s laws in an effort to maintain order and morality. In the end of the novel, Ralph starts to lose the specific character traits that define him as a productive leader as the boys around him turn savage and civilization fades from their society. As the novel progresses, Ralph takes a turn for the worse as he forgets his core principles and is tempted by savagery.
Ralph unleashed stored frustration from being chief onto the the dead boar. He has become more savage-like and has even joined Jack and his hunters for the killing of a boar. He was being extremely vicious considering that he wanted to “squeeze and hurt” the flesh of a dead boar.
To further illustrate, in “Lord of the Flies” the character, Ralph, is a round and dynamic character. Ralph can be classified as this type of character because of the changes he undergoes as the story unfolds. To explain, at the beginning of the story, Ralph is confident and optimistic when himself and multiple boys crash on an island. He takes control and earns the trust if the group. Ralph conducts assemblies and his words are determined and civilized, “All at once he found he could talk fluently and explain what he had to say… ‘we want to be rescued; and of course, we shall be rescued…we must make a fire”’ (Golding 32-38). Ralph’s words and actions show his boldness to take control and his strong belief in being rescued. However, as the story continues, the system and trust Ralph establish begins to diminish, resulting in two separate groups. The one group contains Ralph and very few civilized boys, and the second group is made up Jack and the savages. Although the groups are at peace at first, multiple fights and Piggy’s stolen glasses causes Ralph to partially change. This change is revealed to the readers when Ralph and Piggy go to the saves to retrieve the glasses, “Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance… ‘Ralph-remember what we came for. The fire. My specs”’ (Golding 177). During this mission, the once civilized Ralph begins to fight with the savages and he acted barbaric himself. Ralph’s and actions and Piggy’s words show the reader how Ralph transformed the course of the book from being civilized and confident with his word; however, Ralph is now becoming a savage and loses his optimistic attitude. Piggy’s words to Ralph, shows how Ralph is forgetting the idea of being civilized because Piggy must constantly remind Ralph of their mission, but Ralph seems to just want to fight. Ralph’s shift in personality shows the reader that he is a dynamic and round character. Therefore, Ralph’s character undergoes development; however, Brutus in “Julius Ceaser” changes in an equivalent way.
After rallying the boys from all around the island Ralph calls a meeting. At the meeting he tries to create order by having the boys elect a leader, all of the choir boys vote for Jack but the rest vote for Ralph. Ralph wins the vote. He starts organizing a way to survive. First, he assigns Jack and the rest of the choir boys as the hunters. Later he has the boys build huts for them to live in until they get rescued. He also assigns shifts for the fire to help as a signal and to get rescued. He constantly shows leadership and sense of
When Ralph does take charge he does it silently and does not flaunt his intangibles, like Jack Merridew did, saying he is the lead choir boy amongst other things. Ralph took control of the castaways and won the boys over without being aggressive, without disrespecting Jack, and without arrogance and self made pride. He wins the boys over with his calming presence and his ability to get everyone on the same page. It is for all those reasons, that Ralph was able to win over the boys and ultimately take over the island, but doing so in a well balanced, fair democracy. While Ralph does lead the boys, however, there is still no love loss between Jack and Ralph. Later on in the novel, some of the boys have begun to lose interest and faith in Ralph's leadership. But instead many boys are becoming intrigued with by what Jack and his hunters are doing. It is for that reason that Ralph must give into the ways of these barbaric actions by the hunters. While out hunting one day, Jack and his fellow hunters are accompanied by Ralph who wants to contribute, learn, and feel the rush of hunting. The hunters and Ralph see a scurrying animal trot across the jungle, “ ‘Through here’ ‘But he’d do us!’ ‘Through here!’ Jack said… ‘I hit him!, said Ralph again’, and the spear stuck in a bit … ‘I saw you. Right on his snout, Whee!’ “ (113)