Comparing Ralph and Jack to Show How the Characters Change in Lord of the Flies

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Comparing Ralph and Jack to Show How the Characters Change in Lord of the Flies

Golding uses many techniques to change his characters as they progress

throughout the novel. The main character Ralph is a prime example of

this developing character.

Both of the boys arrive on the island with a certain manner. They are

sensible and being from well brought up families and homes, soon start

to work together in harmony on the island.

The first time we encounter Ralph is at the beginning of the novel

where he is described as "The boy with fair hair…[He had] taken off

his school sweater...[His] grey shirt tuck to his back and his hair

was plastered to his forehead." The fact he has fair hair and also the

quote "built like a boxer" suggest he could be a heroic figure. This

emphasised by Golding when he clearly shows Ralph to be from a public

school as he "has taken off his school sweater."

We can see that Ralph is still clearly a child at this point in the

novel, he "stands on his head" and uses juvenile language such as

"Whacko" and "Wizard"

When the voice of piggy shouts out, he stops and waits. This shows us

an insight that he is willing to wait for this unknown person, but he

"jerks up his stockings" Golding uses this to show us that he is

impatient too.

Later on in the chapter we see Ralph being "offhand" and "obviously

uninterested" towardsPiggy. We feel sympathetic to Piggy as he is seen

as an outcast from the very beginning.

We can see that Piggy is knowledgeable as he spots the conch, and

knows what it is. Although Piggy found it, Ralph is the person who

swims down to the bottom of the lagoon and collects it from the reeds,

showing us that he is clearly strong and fit, as he can swim.

T...

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...e and ape-like" and finally his painted face, hiding all

innocents and his sinister side. Near the end of the novel, he feels

no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, nor his attempts to kill

Ralph. In the novel Jack and his tribe represent anarchy and the

downward spiral of civilisation. This is most seen when the conch,

which throughout the novel is the symbol of humanity and civilisation,

is smashed.

Both Ralph and Jack have changed throughout the novel. Golding

presents both of them as young innocent children at the beginning.

They are almost unrecognisable by the end. They have changed both

physical and mentally. There is an intervention at the end: the Naval

officer, jokes about them "having a war or something?" and this of

course is exactly what is happening.

The moral of the novel is with out intervention, which will win, good

or evil?

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