Why Did Ralph Lose The Bonfire

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 ultimately—everything will be balanced

Ralph specially cared about keeping the fire burning as a distress signal since he believed there’s no better way to help them be rescued. “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep the fire going?” (80). Ralph common sense to determine what is best for the group as a whole further demonstrates his superior leadership skills. He insisted on keeping the fire and exasperated when the boys ignored their mission. Ralph is not easily distracted person like the other boys, especially Jack when he tried to hunt the wild pig and let the fire out.

Fire can represent knowledge and industry. I feel the relationship between Ralph and the fire conveys that Ralph is certainly a good person to be in power on the island. This is because Ralph feels it is most important to maintain the fire. On figurative terms, Ralph wants to keep the knowledge and hardwork alive, and use common sense in order to be rescued, whereas Jack just wants to take chances and

One day while one of Jack's hunters were supposed to keep watch over the fire, they went on a hunt with Jack to kill a pig. Meanwhile on the beach, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are building forts when they realize that a ship is passing over the island. Then, they realize that the fire is out, so they sprint up the mountain but by the time they get there, the ship was gone. At the same time, Jack and the hunters had just come back from the hunt. They see Ralph and know exactly what their mistake was. So, Jack tries to lighten up the mood by saying to Ralph that he should have been there because it was so much fun. Ralph gets very angry at them and says that they could have been rescued if they had been watching the fire. In retaliation to Ralph's anger, Jack takes Piggy's glasses and breaks one of the specs. Then they try to rebuild the fire while Ralph is blocking them, and Ralph doesn't move. (Golding 65-75). "No one, not even Jack would ask him to move and in the end they had to build the fire three yards away and in a place not really as convenient. So Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought for days. Against his weapon, so indefinable and so effective, Jack was powerless and raged without knowing why. By the time the pile was built, they

Ralph concentrates on being rescued and Jack goes along taking on the responsibility that he and his choir will mind the fire. “We’ll be responsible for keeping the fire going-”, (Page 38) but while Ralph remains focused on being rescued, Jack’s new-found interest in hunting leads him to forget about rescue. “Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was. “Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first-.” (Page 58) This also starts to show that Jack has entered the realm of savagery.

To illustrate, when Ralph is addressing the boys about the importance of the signal fire after a few boys let it die, Ralph declares, “The fire is the most important thing on the island” (80). Since the signal fire is the primary, physical symbol of civilization, Ralph clearly believes that civilization, in turn, is the most imperative concept on the island to sustain. Ralph maintains this throughout the entire novel, demonstrating that his views towards the significance of civilization are constant. Since these values towards civilization never vary throughout the novel, Ralph clearly illustrates the leadership quality of having a distinct point of view that the boys follow. Moreover, as boys begin to become scared of the “Beastie” that lurks in the forest, Ralph calls an assembly where he states, “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it” (82). Since Ralph believes that the boys must acknowledge that there is nothing to fear in the “Beastie”, he believes that the boys must ignore and stand against the savagery the concept of the “Beastie” represents. Ralph’s apparent opposition to savagery clearly represents the strong belief that the other boys follow because it strongly represents the prevention of the decline of humanity; since Ralph has these distict beliefs that boys follow, he portrays good leadership qualities. Even through the immense

Ralph starts out making the island seem fun, that this is a grand adventure they’re on. But he also believes that they need rules and order, so they don’t become savages and forget who they are. This is why he uses the conch to create order and a system of rules. Ralph becomes leader and starts giving people jobs and making a fire become the most important thing. He wants to be rescued and is trying to get them off the island as fast as possible. “While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island… It’s like a book.” Ralph is trying to make light of a bad situation and making the island seem like a utopia that the boys can explore. In life people do this all the time, they sugar coat the truth to make it seem like it’s better that it is or fun when in

No one ever likes to take the blame for anything; everyone wants to blame someone for everything that goes wrong. It’s just the way society works; no one ever wants to be seen as the bad. Nothing changes in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a story about a group of boys who get stranded on an island far away from civilization, with no supervision of any kind. A boy named Ralph is the voted the leader at the beginning of the book by the group of boys, but from the very start Ralph does not have total control as a leader should have. In fact right after he gets the role of leader, he gives up some of that power to Jack which turns out to be the worst possible decision he could have made. At this point you can tell that Ralph

Ralph made sure all the older kids on the island had a key job role to ensure safety and survival by setting things straight. Ralph orders the hunters to keep the fire going because it produced smoke which could signal the ships nearby securing their rescue. Ralph spotted ships and knew there shouldn’t be any fooling around because it is up to them if the fire stays lit or not. He, himself, was focused on providing everyone with shelter and was determined to do it by himself if he had to, whether the hunters did their job or not. Unlike Ralph, who is doing his job, the Jack’s choir ignores the fire and goes out hunting. When the fire goes out, the hunters aren’t really upset with the fire going out while Ralph saw that the situation could’ve been their rescue saying, “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out” (70)! If he had the same attitude as the other boys nothing would likely get done and he would remain the same as before and not care about the aftermath, but he continues to act mature and not this incident stop him from trying to seek rescue. This shows his change because of how he sees the priority of being rescued and keeping the fire lit expressing his maturity and showing his understanding of life not just about having fun like most adults

An external conflict that Ralph has is that he and Jack have different opinions on the island. To Ralph, the priority was to keep the signal fire going so that they could be rescued. Ralph faces many challenges with trying to get off the island. Most of the problems were made by Jack. Many of the boys on the island were not very helpful and were too lazy to keep the fire going, leaving Ralph and a few other boys to do it themselves. Eventually, Jack leaves Ralph's group and starts his own. Most of the other boys go with him. As a result of the boys going with Jack, Ralph starts to

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’s character embodies the ego. The ego is the rational aspect of the mind. Ralph’s rationality is exhibited in his role as leader. He focuses on the idea of being rescued and organizes the fires as a mode of getting the attention of a rescue ship. He works on building shelters for the members of the tribe. He attempts to keep meetings organized and establishes the role of the conch to keep order. Ralph makes the decisions for the good of the group. He holds debates and always aims to have the group stick together, despite Jack’s constant attempts to break

One of the main symbols throughout the book was the symbol of fire. Ralph, being the leader at this point, called a meeting to try to get through to them that the fire is how they will survive: "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?...Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can’t keep a fire going to make smoke. Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to—ought to die before we let the fire out?" (31) Ralph is trying to explain to everyone that the fire is the key to survival. Also he is trying to convey that fire will save them and get them off the island. When Jack bought the idea up that they should make a fire all the boys were so excited and all they could think about is making a fire, even though Ralph was trying to call them to order: “‘A fire! Make a fire!’ At once half the boys were on their feet. Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten. "Come on! Follow me!" The space under the palm trees was full of noise and movement. Ralph was on his feet too, shouting for quiet, but no one heard him. All at once the crowd swayed toward the island and was gone—following Jack” (37). Jack was convincing everyone to go with him and they did, and stopped listening to Ralph. Also Jack is starting to become the

This demonstrate the change of Ralph when he first arrived at the island he was a confident boy who believed that his father who is in the navy will come and save them and the meantime he will enjoy the island, which he then at the end he found himself. By the change of it when he thought that being honest with everyone one the island was the good thing but over the course of the story he was then to realized that wasn't true. Also at the end the book when Ralph sees the officer, his sudden realized that at the cost of his innocence he had taken part of one of the boy called Simon death, also the witnesses of Piggy death and the realization the piggy he never bother to found out his name was actually the only he could called his friend. Also

They’re many characters in this novel, each with their own personalities; some of which fell into evil and participated in the chaos that was on the Island. One of the participants, was the main character, Ralph. Ralph is a twelve year old boy who was in the plane crash on the Island. This boy was the one who wanted to have order, who wanted a “government”; it ends up not working out. The island plummet into chaos as he participates in the coming of evil. Ralph was losing hope, he saw that no one really wanted to get saved. They let the signal fire go out, let the boat sail by, and no one wanted to build shelter. He gave up, the other boys noticed, they started to not believe in him so they turned to Jack,