In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, every character provides a very important piece of the story and the theme. The main character in the novel, Ralph, is a symbol of civilization and order. While stranded on the island, Ralph is actively fighting against the savagery that the others so quickly sink to. Golding gives Ralph an important role in the novel as he illustrates the point that there can be a choice between the civilized side and the savage side of human nature. After the boys land on the island, Ralph is the first one to blow the conch (Golding 16-17). The conch is a symbol of order and authority in the novel, establishing Ralph’s role as the leader. It is fitting that Ralph should be the first to call any form of civilized meeting, …show more content…
He insists on building shelters and keeping the fire going, while the others don’t see it as a priority. During one of the assemblies, as Ralph scolds the others for not being focused enough, he said, “‘Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can’t keep a fire going to smoke. Don’t you understand the truth? Can’t you see we ought to–ought to die before we let the fire out?’” (Golding 81). Even after Ralph said this, most of the other boys refuse to take it seriously, revealing just how much more mature and focused Ralph is than the others. From the very beginning, Golding shows how Ralph differs from many of the other boys in his goals and priorities. What really differentiates Ralph from the other boys is his determination to not become savage like the others did. Throughout the majority of the novel, Ralph maintains a strong hold on his commitment to returning home and staying civilized. After the group split up and most of the boys joined Jack, Ralph said, “‘Well, we won’t be painted. because we aren’t savages’” (Golding 172). It is clear in this instance that Ralph is strong in his stance that they need to stay
In our society, law is what keeps our country in wraps. Order is key to running a steady and organized nation. In Lord of the Flies, the children manage to maintain a peaceful civilization with a conch shell. The conch rallies groups and gives people a chance to speak out. The conch represents order, but the beast brings out the fear and dysfunction of the children. The group is torn apart as the beast wreakes paranoia on the members, but it is merely a figment of their imagination. Jack breaking from the group, the stealing of Piggy’s specs, and the breaking of the conch all lead to the demise of society itself on the island. While the conch represents ordinance and harmony, the beast symbolizes fear and disorganization,
Throughout the novel when Ralph notices some of the boys have started to turn into savages, he tries to put an end to it as soon as possible. Ralph wants the young boys to remain as close to their old selves as much as they can, rather than transforming into unrecognizable people. Once the boys have gotten somewhat settled in on the island, they forget to watch after the most important job, as seen in Ralph’s eyes, “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there might be a ship out there” (Golding 42). The majority of the group has turned to having fun rather than getting rescued. Ralph is one of the only people that has common sense and seems to know their correct priorities. We can see that choosing Ralph to be the leader may lead to benefiting them all. In chapter 11, Jack and his group have bombarded Ralph’s group and stolen Piggy’s glasses, so when Piggy asks what they are going to do, Ralph responds with, “Supposing we go, looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed- after all we aren’t savages really and being rescued isn’t a game--” (Golding 170). Ralph ends up handling this given situation like an adult. He can see quite clearly that the thought of salvation and maturity has no meaning to everyone in Jack's’ group. They have been treating their whole situation like it is just a game, but Ralph knows at this point that rescue is
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about human nature and the functions of society. One of the main characters in this novel is Ralph, who is chosen to be the leader of a group of boys. He assigns tasks to the boys and tries to keep them accountable for it. However, the boys begin to slack because they can no longer see the point of these tasks and rules. As a result of the constant slacking the boys soon turned into savages. Ralph’s struggle to maintain order amongst the boys shows how without rules it is human nature to descend into savagery due to the avoidance of authority.
From Lord of the Flies, there were many things like Conch and Fire that symbolized something. One of the most important symbols was the Conch. The Conch, which is a big shell that can be seen at the beach symbolizes many things in the Lord of the Flies. The Conch represents power because it once was able to control the boys with it, and it also symbolizes democracy because of anyone who has their ideas and can speak their thoughts. The Conch represents unity because it was used to call an assembly and was used to put the boys and keep the peace between the boys so nobody would fight with each other. So, the conch is an important symbol in the novel, because it represents power, democracy, and unity.
Generally speaking, the conch has represented democracy and collectiveness throughout the novel. Golding uses the conch to highlight many different ideas in the book by setting the story on an island, which is a microcosm of the entire world and the world that the boys lived in before encountering the fateful crash of the plane. The group of boys encounter problems which, even on this island, they are unable to escape from. It is important to remember that at the same time, there is a nuclear war taking place. The ‘long scar’ that ‘smashed into the jungle’ implies that the island has already been ruined permanently. It seems as though the attempt to remove the boys from a war-filled world has failed because the island is already contaminated by the crash of the plane, which was shot down by an enemy plane, this is somewhat related to warfare. The boys now need to survive on the island and this causes problems revolving around social order, as there are no adults present. In that case, some of the problems are attempted to be resolved by using the conch.
Without order in any society, things are bond to fall apart. Having order is like having rules, without them there is no structure. The situation is similar to being in school, when students don’t raise their hand before they speak; the classroom becomes more complex and has no type of order. This relates to the boys on the island going from using him conch to not using the conch anymore. As time went on the boys became more like savages, this can be seen through the destruction of the conch. With the conch losing its power, the society began to tear apart on the island.
They thought their society was stable; they thought it would last. It all started with the conch shell that gathered them. In the book The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys became nomads on an island causing them to take on the biggest challenge of their lives, survival. The traits for a successful survivalist would include cooperation, maturity and responsibility. But if they can’t achieve those traits they will crash, causing chaos on the island.
In the novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding tells a story about a group of conservative boys who get stranded on an island after a plane crash. The boys are left to take care of themselves by finding food, water, and setting up a social system to keep order. The boys had to do this because there were no adults to guide them. The boys establish rules to keep everything on the island under control. Eventually the boys break these rules to accommodate their own selfish wants and needs. When the rules are broken the order on the island falls apart and a violent fight for power begins. Lord of the flies was published during the era of the cold war. The cold war was a tension for power between Russia and the U.S., a dictatorship and a democracy. Just like the struggle for power in the cold war, the novel Lord of the Flies also has a struggle for power between a dictatorship and a democracy. In order to convey order, Golding uses the conch to symbolize how fragile society and its rules can be.
His concern for the individuals in the group is pertinent from the beginning: he conveys to Jack the necessity of shelters “as a sort of [home]”, upon noticing the distress of the younger children (pg. 58). It is seen that Ralph’s problems are not his own; he assumes the role of leader to bring orderly forces of civilization to all. By approaching circumstances with logistics rather than emotion, Ralph does not lose sight of himself in the face of adversity. Despite this, he is later forced to act irrationally in order to preserve his status. When confronted with the evidence of the beast, Ralph is hesitant to hunt it; he is only manipulated into doing so when Jack “[sneers]” and questions him if he is “frightened” (pg. 100). However, Ralph does not respond out of his spite or self-pride as he understands that he must retain his status among the boys. If he does not remain chief, Jack will secure the position, bearing the notion that there will always be individuals working against altruism for their own benefit. Ralph sacrifices his morals by becoming subservient to Jack’s ego, yet does so in order to preserve civility within the group. On the day of the boys’ rescue, Ralph understands that his efforts to preserve peace and order are all for naught. Man’s destructive forces overwhelm him as “[he weeps] for … the darkness of man’s
William Golding’s book, Lord of the flies, begins with the central character stuck in a jungle of which he knows little about. Ralph as we later find out his name, is the athletic, level-headed, leader of the boys on the island. He is the emotional leader of the group, and he has a major influence on all of the other characters. Ralph is used as a sort of reminder of the old world. He reminds the boys that there are laws and rules and everyone must abide for survival. When the boys realize that they are not at home anymore and they being to rely on their natural instincts they lose the society that man-kind has created. Ralph is trying hard to keep the boys together because he knows if they are not the chances of being rescued become lesser.
In society rules and government restrain man’s inherent evil, but without rules evil is left with no adversary and can wreak havoc. In William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies important objects, like the conch and glasses are used as symbols that represent rules and government in society. These symbols are shown how they restrict and provide a barrier between man’s inherent evil and conforming to society and its rules.
Ralph is a character that shows perfection and leadership. Ralph believes that rescuing is important to keep the boys alive. Ralph recognises that building a fire would get them rescued and so they could live a normal life. He showed the importance of having a fire; “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!” “We might have gone home---” “You can’t even build huts-- then you go off hunting and let out the fire-”.(P.71) He believes that the fire is a symbol of salvage and if they have the...
On the other hand, Gregory Mantsios’ point of view on the “effects on Family” that over the years, the upper-class who have more of an advantage due to better education, healthcare coverage and are fundamentally more well balanced have a better chance at getting married which gives them better family activities because they have financial acumen (Mantsios290). The wealthier you are, the more opportunities your family is given. Mr. Mantsios list four myths in his article that are relative to the “effects on family” which are: 1. “Rich or poor, we are all equal in the eyes of the law, and such basic needs as health care and education are provided to all regardless of economic standing.” 2. “We are, essentially, a middle- class nation. Despite
In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a conch shell representing the order of civilization. He uses this symbol to effectively portray the theme that humans are inherently evil and have savage desires, shown through the decline from discipline and peace among the boys on the deserted island. In the novel, civilization directly correlates to the boys’ past lives in England. Before coming to the island, there were adults present who maintained order by enforcing rules and punishing those who did not follow them. However on the island, the conch, representing this society, is a powerful object that demands the respect of the boys in a similar way that the adults do. As time passes, the conch’s influence over the boys weakens and ultimately all forms of civilization are rejected.
Ralph had gone from being a leader to the other boys that they could look up to for guidance and assistance to being a wanted outlaw who would be hunted down. Ralph had become Jack’s enemy because of their indifference to goals and priorities. Ralph had always had his main objective to maintain the signal fire to get rescued and return to their civilization. Jack, on the other hand, wanted to relish the fact that he could dominate others and hunt down living things for the fun of it. The two boys argue several times during the novel over this fact, with Ralph taking the stance that they shouldn’t be distracted by this savagery and should focus instead on keeping the fire going.