William Golding's Lord Of The Flies Essay

LOTF - How would you characterize Ralph? Cite textual evidence to support your opinion of Ralph please.

Like Simon, Ralph is classified as a “good guy” by the readers as he is driven to find a way home and take care of the younger boys on the island. However, he participates in negative actions of human darkness such as outing Piggy with his undesired name and

Throughout the novel, Ralph shows a lot to courage and determination. When Ralph and Jack’s hunters

Ralph is the character that represents the ego and he is in control of the boys in the beginning of the book. He is elected chief of the island: "Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing. Ralph raised his hand for silence" (22) and already has power over the boys even right after he is chosen. He also is influenced by Simon, Piggy, and Jack. He listens to the superego when Piggy tells him to blow the conch in the beginning and listens to the id when he Ralph feasts with Jack and takes part in killing Simon. The reader is able to see that Ralph relied on the superego when, at the end of the book, both Simon and Piggy are dead and he is being chased, he asks himself "What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense" (196). Ralph relies on others to help him make decisions and is influenced by what other people say and do. He is also the one in control of the boys for most of the book. These are both traits of the ego. These characters in the book all help represent the human

Ralph is one of the only boys that can sort out his needs and wants. For example, Ralph values rescue over the hunting and killing of pigs. As Jack talks about hunting on the island, Ralph comments,

All throughout the story Ralph shows us heroic qualities like: blowing the conch and having all the boys run to him. It shows that the boys look up to him as their hero to get them off the island. Even at at the end when all the boys chased him down trying to kill them. He still lead them all right to the naval officer. Showing us that he is the true hero of the story. At least Ralph stayed moral that meant he could live with himself without the weight of a person's death on his

Golding uses other characters to show Jack’s regression to savagery and one of these characters is Ralph. Ralph brings out Jack’s inner savagery

Golding uses the symbols of Ralph and the conch shell to show that the mob mentality of a group can make people reckless and feel less accountable for their actions. Ralph is one of the main characters in this novel, thought of as a leader of the boys in the beginning. His character represents the human ego, which is a balance the id and the superego; the id is our animal-like nature caged by society, while the superego is the morality ingrained into us by society. The superego in Ralph has clear dominance in the beginning of the novel when the boys are first stranded on the island, shown through his focus toward getting rescued as soon as possible and finding an effective way to do so. To make this happen, Ralph knows that they can help the adults “find us.

ralph possess good quality such as leadership, rational mind and good sense of justice. in chapter one ralph blew the conch he found and gathered all the survived boys together. “ There was his size, and attrative appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully,there was the conch” ( Golding

One of the scenes where a major character faces a problem is when Jack and his hunters were chasing Ralph and he was thinking what he should do. This shows a lot about Ralph and how he is it shows ralph is civilized and thinks through problems and doesn’t just do thinks without thinking about them.

Ralph is a young boy with fair hair and a tall and skinny frame. He likes to swim and explore things, he is even a pretty good acrobat. He is mainly a very good boy, but nobody is perfect so he does have a little bit of a bad side. He is not a very fast thinker, but he knows what he wants and that is to be rescued. He is the leader of the boys on the Island and was a good one too.

One reason why i might agree with this statement is due to the description of Ralph's appearance. For example, the first description of Ralph already suggests his kindness as are told of his 'fair hair'. The word fair has angelic connotations suggesting that he is kind and does the right thing. For a leader choosing to do the right thing is key as they are guiding the group to what will turn out to be the best outcome for them. To strengthen this argument he likewise had 'eyes that proclaimed no devil', demonstrating that he doesn't do wrong and will be fair and kind to the other children. Not only does his kind appearance make him suitable to be leader but we

The religious allegory Ralph illustrates would be much what Judas Iscariot depicts in a religious context. Judas was taunted with every intention to have a life full of remorse when given the temptation of betraying Christ for 30 pieces of silver offered by chief priests. Judas, not having complete faith in Christ, calls him ”Rabbi” while every other disciple called him “Lord.” This suggests that Judas never really thought Christ was God but more of a teacher. Ralph, in the same way, is given a choice; he is elected chief and can choose to either give up on his group and let chaos arise or opt to try and preserve order. Although he attempts and keeps hope like Judas, the outside world alongside his peers make him have doubt in what is to come

Ralph’s appearance is described on page 15 where Golding wrote, “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.” This description, especially about his eyes, indicates that he has no devil within him in the beginning and is perceived later in the novel that Ralph is not the devil but only wants to be rescued and go home despite his questioned leadership. This quote could also early indicate that Ralph is not the sort of boy that would want to be involved in violence. He has a calm personality, therefore the boys looked up to him and he was elected to be chief because his physical appearance influenced what they saw in him. Although, he loses respect as he lacks the ability to lead the boys and continually complains about things not getting done or that things aren’t done correctly. His power slowly declines as Jack’s power inclines when he begins to see the boys are following Jack, into becoming savages. He, himself also begins to sink into savagery but soon realises the horror of what he’s doing.

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