How Does Ralph Develop In Lord Of The Flies

In his novel Lord of the Flies,William Golding sets an excellent example of how character development should be done.The character Ralph displays a perfect example of how to develop a character with style and accomplishment. His language in the novel truly shows how successful he was in illustrating character development.

At the beginning of the novel, Golding introduces Ralph as an innocent kid, not even close to adulthood. Immediately into the novel, Ralph is described as a “fair boy”. This statement is implying a stereotype of the “perfect child”- blonde hair, blue eyes, attractive, well built, etc, The novel specifically describes him by saying that “He might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was

The way the author describes Ralph’s eyes and mouth present him as a soft, innocent, and helpless boy, which is what he intended to do and what he wants the readers to believe. Golding also used this to give the reader a feeling of where Ralph is on the scale of maturity. If Ralph is as innocent as he looks then clearly he is not a fully matured boy that is equipped to handle what he is going to be put through during this novel. This guides the novel to show how much Ralph needs to grow throughout the novel to reach complete maturity.Ralph’s innocence is clearly noticeable and seen when he says his daddy is “A commander in the Navy” (Page 13) and that “When he gets leave, he’ll come rescue us” (Page 13). Ralph obviously has the inability to view matters logically and practically, especially given his situation of being stuck on an island with “No grownups!” (Page 8) and no way of getting off of the island. Ralph is more of a simplistic thinker and is more hopeful than realistic, but there is a difference between being hopeful and being practical. Later on in the novel, Ralph thinks of piggy as a chubby, annoying kid with

Ralph steps up to be leader and announces “I’m chief then.” (Page 23) and “The circle of boys broke into applause” (Page 23) during an election between himself and Jack. The other boys clearly thought Ralph was a better and more mature candidate for the role of chief so they chose him over Jack. Further on in the novel a ship had passed the island, but there was no fire to signal that anyone was on the island, so the ship didn’t come to the rescue. When Ralph realized that Jack was to blame, because he was in charge of the fire, Ralph confronted Jack as a responsible leader. Ralph “Took a step toward Jack, who turned and faced him” (Page 70) and said “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts- then you go off hunting and let out the fire-” (Page 70-71). This angered Jack and rather than accommodating with Ralph, Jack decides to take out his anger on Piggy, the only person who is really intimidated by Jack at the time. Ralph reacts by calling Jack’s violent misbehavior a “Dirty trick” (Page 72).Ralph was disgusted with the way Jack had acted. His final words in an “ungracious mutter” (Page 72) were “All right. Light the fire” (Page 72). All this infers that Ralph is becoming less warm, friendly, and sociable and more serious and responsible. He displays his maturity when he sticks up for Piggy, who is sort of the underdog in the group of