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Essay on ralph in lord of the flies
Character Analysis Of Ralph In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding
Ralph character development lord of the flies
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Ralph establishes discipline, and order, and shows affection towards the other boys. Prioritizing the group's welfare, Jack is becoming more and more savage, thinks less of others, and thirsts for
Towards the middle of the book, Jack starts to push Ralph more, he starts making Ralph become stricter, and enforce the rules, and in turn, leads Ralph to do things that would surprise everybody, like hitting the boar in the snout with the spear, and getting mad at Jack, and fighting him. Even stepping up in the very beginning, Ralph may not be the strongest leader, or the bet at hunting, but he has the best people skills, he wants to make sure what he’s doing is in best regards for the group, and that everyone is on board with it. Another reason why Ralph is a good leader, is because when he calls a meeting, he tries to keep it as organized as possible by only letting the person with the conch shell
In the end Ralph starts to act like Piggy. Ralph is strong and kind of a bully to Piggy at the beginning. He was the other civilized character. At the beginning, Ralph uses a conch shell to call a meeting of all the boys (p 17). He organizes what will be done after he is voted to be the chief (p 23).
Ralph also keeps order by creating a system and speaks up when he sees things getting out of hand when he sees Jack harassing Piggy about the conch and hears him saying that they don’t need it anymore, he keeps authority by telling him to sit down and stop talking because he doesn’t have the conch (Golding 101-102). Ralph also calls a meeting and explain that it's “ ‘not for fun. Not for laughing and falling off the log.- An assembly to put things straight’ ” (Golding 79).
There are three main characters of the book: Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Jack is where the immorality on the island originates from, and it spreads to the other boys. Jack is very reckless and careless in his decisions. Ralph was the leader of the island, until Jack took control of the tribe and turned all of them into savages. Ralph was an image for the boys to follow but spoke Piggy’s words.
Writing a book or a novel could often be for pleasure or to write a fun story, yet often times it could be to shine light on a subject that needs to never be forgotten. Isabel Allende once wrote, “ Write what should not be forgotten” many authors can use their writing skills in order to help horrible things in history to not be repeated again. In the novel Book Thief by Markus Zusak and the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, both authors discuss one of the most tragic moments in human history, the holocaust. Zusak writes his novel based on the life of a german girl named, Lisel, during the period of World war two. Meanwhile Wiesel writes his own personal journey of what his life was life, being part of what was known as the inferior race at this point in history between the years of World war two as well.
Upon arriving, Ralph’s primary ambition is to get off the island safely, considering the expected immaturity in reaction to the boys’ sudden loss of authority. He manages to maintain this intention regardless of his job or worth in society among the boys. As evil challenges his capability to retain this quality by the irony of the fire, breaking of the conch, and overall destruction of civilization, demonstrates his level of mental strength considering all of the odds against his favor. Having the, “voice of someone who [knows their] own mind,” and instituting an independent attitude towards his goal, Ralph displays competence and trust in his capabilities rather than depending on that of others. As displayed in his immediate need for order, Ralph establishes a plan to get off of the island.
He is also described as being in an intermediate state, who has “lost prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence” (p11). From this, the readers can infer that Ralph is still just another innocent boy not ready to realize the malicious evils of mankind. The other boys initially accept Ralph as a leader. He is the first to summon all the boys with the conch, which serves as a symbol and token of authority.
In chapters 6 and 7, there are more signs of Jack and everyone else disobeying Ralph, implying the further strain of Jack and Ralph’s relationship. In Chapter 8, Ralph angered Jack simply by calling him and his hunters cowardly and ineffective. In response, he unsuccessfully tries to impeach Ralph then permanently runs away into the forest, with many others joining him. A small provocation from Ralph causing Jack to form his own separate group shows how volatile the tension in their relationship now is. It can also be seen that Jack now fully rejects Ralph’s leadership in favour of his own.
At the beginning Jack is very agreeing with Ralph and tries to follow the rules to keep the boys civilized. One example is when he takes the takes the boys watching the fire hunting, and the fire goes out, he apologizes to Ralph for letting it go out. But as the story moves along he starts to move away from Ralph and his ideas. When Ralph and Jack are arguing and Ralph brings up the rules he seems appalled.
Ralph is first introduced as the fair boy who is a natural born leader. He applies Piggy’s intelligence to think of a way to summon the other survivors on the island. Ralph follows through with Piggy’s idea and uses the conch which emits a loud sound that can be hear through the island. The sound eventually lures the group of boys towards them. His leader instincts are best portrayed when he’s able to side with Jack after offering to share his power: “The suffusion drained away from Jack’s face.
Ralph’s realization of power shift, loss of innocence, and whom he considers a friend changed. He learned the effects of jealousy and fear that lead to murder and betrayal. Most of the boys betrayed him and joined Jack, teaching Ralph the lesson of who his friends are. He learned Piggy may look different, but in the end, he had the most loyalty and reason. Jack’s envy of Ralph led to his outburst his disrespect for the boys’ right of speech and the animals’ right to live.
I do believe that the main character changed by the end of the book, although some other characters changed a bit more, I still believe that Ralph changed drastically during the entire span of the book. Ralph, I believe that he starts out as an optimistic and calm boy, and with confidence in himself and that they are going to find a way off the island and a way back home. But, during chapter nine, a savage side shows while he joins the boys chanting about the pig. He only realizes, that later, he never should have participated in the cruel and horrifying act, because of how frightened the whole scene made him. As for what kind of character I believe Ralph is, I believe he is a dynamic character because he does change in his physical appearance(being
Ralph nodded. He relaxed his fighting muscles, stood easily and grounded the butt of his spear” (Golding, 177). Piggy is able to stop Ralph with his reasoning. Moreover, Piggy’s logic helps Ralph keep his sanity for the duration of time that Piggy is still alive. Due to the fact, that Piggy is always with Ralph, his rationality helps keep Ralph from becoming a savage similar to the other boys.
Ralph represents leadership, civilization, and order. He decides to build huts and find ways of being rescued while the other boys play and have fun. This is why Ralph is elected leader by the boys. Ralph also refuses to give into his savage instincts over the course of the novel while the other boys gradually