Preview

Lord of Flyes

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1655 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lord of Flyes
Essay
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The novel, Lord of the Flies, takes place on a dessert island in the 20th century.
It is not a very big island, and though it is beautiful it is also mysterious, and consist the unknown. There are places, which look like the Garden of Eden, but the fruit gives them diarrhea, at day it is a paradise, but at night the children get nightmares.
Like this the Fable by William Golding is filled with contrast and symbols.

Ralph is the main character in the story. He symbolises the average person. He is a normal, English boy about 12 years. He has fair hair, and is very proper.
In the beginning of the novel, Ralph and Piggy is alone on the Island. Here Ralph is arrogant, rood, bragging, and only concerned of him self. He is an unknowing child, and not very nice towards Piggy.
But it is with the help of Piggy that Ralph calls all the other boys to a gathering, by blowing a conch.
The conch is the symbol of power, rules, and the one who gathered all the boys.
This way of calling them all to an assembling makes Ralph the natural leader.
As the story develops, Ralph does as well. He becomes more concerned about the others, and even though he has been acting like the leader from the start, he gets better at it as the time goes by. He becomes more adult. From the start it was very important to him to build a rescue fire, to built huts, and make rules, all to be civilized. But the most important thing to him is to get rescued.
As the story develops it is like Ralph we, as the reader, experience the change of the boys behaviour. - Ralph represents the reader, as the reader is the average person.
From Ralph being the most admired boy, Jack slowly takes over as the popular one. Jacks new leader role turns almost all boys into savages, but Ralph still stands by the importance of being rescued, and tries to hold on to the civilities, but that is hard with Jack trying to take control.

Jack enters the story with a whole

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There are many interesting characters in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but the character that stood out the most to me while reading the book, was Ralph. He is the protagonist in the story. Ralph is an outstandingly smart, young boy. He resembles various traits of a leader, and a person of power, including the unfortunate bossiness of many leaders. Although he is barely a decade old, Ralph undergoes an important lesson when he finally comes to learn the ugly truth about people. He starts to see the evil sides of the other boys, and even of himself, and finally he comes to the realization that there is evil in everybody.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph represents orderliness and tranquility. He is the one who brings the boys together. When they vote for a chief, they elect Ralph, as he is in possession of the conch who brought them together; "There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch." (Goulding 22). The conch has given Ralph authority and sets him apart from the other boys. As the novel progresses, he finds himself at competition for power-- with Jack. When the boys are tempted to engage in his savage…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph takes on the role as the adult on the island as there is none. He constantly thinks of survival, having fire, and building shelter because he is concerned about everyone's safety, “Been working for days now. And look!” (50). He’s been working on the shelters with the other boys, but then soon tire and leave him with Simon to finish the shelter. He tries to make sure a fire is always burning, constantly thinking ahead for warmth, cooking food and the possibility of rescue. Jack is a problem, he is becoming more and more barbaric, never thinking things through or supporting others, selfish and unworthy for chief, “He isn’t a proper chief” (126). Ralph would like for everyone on the island to be in one tribe so they can all help each other using all of their strengths, some are better at building shelter, others are better at hunting. Jack does not agree and resists that idea, stealing their food and making their lives even more difficult. Jack is making Ralph’s life unbearable, but Ralph perseveres to be a leader on the…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After wandering the island for a bit, Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell. Ralph blows it like a trumpet and all of the boys meet up to form an assembly. During this assembly, a vote is held to see who will be chief.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first few pages of the book we see that the boys are stranded on a uninhabited island. Thanks to Ralph’s conch, all the boys grouped up together. Once again as a group, they choose themselves a leader, which turned out to be Ralph, and once the formalities were over, who brings up the point that they’re stranded on an island with nobody’s knowing? Why none other than our loveable friend Piggy. “Who knows we’re here? Eh? Nobody knows where we are. Perhaps they knew where we were going to; perhaps not. But they don’t know where we are ‘cos we never got there.”(page 34) This shows Piggy’s more social side, because he expresses this idea to the entire group of boys, and showing the bond he has to civilization. We can see Piggy’s is a very civilized and sophisticated child, always remembering all the useful thing his auntie taught him. These two small yet very relative examples show the bond Piggy has to society.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lord of the Flies

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ralph, one of the older boys, is the protagonist of the novel who at first is overjoyed to be on a tropical island free from adult restraints. He is neither the smartest nor the strongest but has a kind of quiet charisma and good looks. He tries to keep the boys focused on trained order and the rules of civilization but loses his authority and almost his life to Jack’s, the antagonist of the story, seizure of power. By nature, he is an innocent, mild- tempered boy who accepts leadership when it is thrown at him. He portrayed as a democratic leader who tries to keep the boys together on the island. Ralph has courage when the occasion demands it, but he really longs for the secure world of grown-ups, especially when order starts breaking down on the island. He dreams about a rescue and insists the signal fire burn at all times so that they can be seen.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ralph is the type of guy who would want the best for everybody. He stands up for what he wants and is fair to everybody. He tries to get along with Jack in the beginning, but Jack didn’t like Ralph from the start and was mean to him the whole time. (Chapter 1, Page 22- end)…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph Vs Jack Leader

    • 709 Words
    • 1 Page

    the boys and becomes more confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to make the boys…

    • 709 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    <br>Ralph's character plays a major part in the plot of ‘Lord of the Flies'. Ralph is the first character we meet in the novel and at first he seems to be very relaxed about the situation of being in unknown territory. The plot begins opens when Ralph and another boy, Piggy, discover each other and eventually decide through Piggy's constant persistence to blow through a conch shell to see if there are any other people around. It turns out that there are many other boys stranded on the island and they begin to form a small community, which is controlled by Ralph who becomes the leader. Throughout the novel Ralph tries to keep the boys in order and to preserve a civilised society by showing constant faith that if they work together they will be rescued. He does this by encouraging them to keep a fire burning, which represents that faith, and to organise themselves into a unit equipped to handle the unpredictable situation. However, Ralph finds this increasingly difficult as the story progresses. Ralph begins to long and daydream of his civilised and normal past. Gradually, he becomes confused and began to lose clarity in his thoughts and speeches. "Ralph was puzzled by the shutter that flickered in his brain. There was something he wanted to say; then the shutter had…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph demands order in the tribe. He fights against chaos, a place where people do whatever they want. He is constantly trying to input organization and limits.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph, a round character introduced in Lord of the Flies, seems to be the most likable and civilized boy on the island. Ralph’s natural willingness to lead becomes apparent early on when he blows the conch shell and gains the admiration of his peers: “there was a stillness about [him] as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (Golding 29). However, Ralph’s futile attempts to organize the boys, to build shelters and to keep the signal fire going breed frustration and make him lose his cool: “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—” He turned away, silent for a moment. Then his voice came again on a peak of feeling. “There was a ship—” (Golding 99). Even after Ralph momentarily descends into savagery and takes part in Simon’s murder-- “That was Simon . . . That was murder” (Golding 224)--Ralph refuses to succumb…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The protagonist of "Lord of the Flies", Ralph, is an essential character to the novel. Ralph, who is athletic and pleasant, is elected leader of the boys in the beginning of the story; he instills order and civilization through his leadership. Ralph has his sight set on being rescued and thinks of ways…

    • 3033 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first two chapter of Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding illustrates the character Ralph in great detail. Physical attributes of Ralph include blonde hair, mild eyes, tall stature, and an athletic build (1,10, 22). Due to his athletic build and tall stature, Ralph appears to be physically superior to the other boys. Appearance is power, the physical superiority Ralph has over others grants him automatic power; however, because of his mild eyes and fair, blonde hair the other boys are not afraid of him. Ralph’s behavior in the first two chapters displays the powerful and the young, boyish side of his personality. In Chapter One Ralph does headstands, makes fart noises with the conch, and wrestles with other boys (10,27,17). These actions reflect those of a young child without a lot of responsibility, or the actions of a child with a high level of…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “ Ralph, the representative of civilization and democracy, lives rules, acts peacefully, and follows moral commands and values the good , who dramatically reveals the condition of civilization and democracy in Golding’s time”(Li 119). From the description of Ralph in Lord of the Flies he is automatically recognized as the main character and in like most books the main character is the hero or positive leader in the book “ He is purporting to break the rules and in the newfound freedom, but the irony is that cannot escape has accustomed regime”(Watt 178). This talks about while Ralph walks about the island he tries to be happy about not having any type of structure from an adult but he later finds out that structure is needed in order to keep everything…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Power In Lord Of The Flies

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Right away everyone is getting along; nonetheless, in a blink of an eye everything changes. Ralph and Piggy are two of the main protagonists in the novel, at the beginning of the novel Ralph discovers a conch. Piggy, having heard stories about conchs encouraged Ralph to blow the conch in order to call a meeting. Piggy is known for his smarts and not his wits, but could he really have known what he just did? Can anyone really predict how someone will act in times of trouble? Ralph and Piggy could not and that is where the trouble began. Boys began to come forth and sit around Ralph, for he held the conch which called the meeting. Jack, another main protagonist came forth to the meeting with a group of boys behind him. Jack was a leader for the group of choir boys, he was known for his talent in singing, but not his curse for leading. Right off the bat Ralph and Jack had problems with authority and each other. By the end of the meeting Ralph was elected leader of everyone except the choir boys, who later became known as the hunters, Jack was the leader of…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays