More handpicked essays just for you.
Who decided to make a leader in lord of the flies
Violent acts in lord of the flies
Analysis for Ralph in the Lord of the Flies
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Ralph is the first character in the novel that we are introduced to. He meets Piggy and Piggy immediately opens up to Ralph, telling him about his nickname 'Piggy'. Ralph has a bit of a laugh at it but when the other boys hear about 'Piggy' they laugh their heads off. 'A storm of laughter arose and even the tiniest child joined in.' (pg. 29) Ralph shows his leadership by using the conch that they had just found as a way to call the other boys. He is voted leader ahead of Jack due to Ralph's confidence and Jack settles for the leader of the hunters. The boys start making fun of Piggy because of his size and his asthma. Ralph tries to defend Piggy and helps him out but Jack and some of the other boys don't care if they hurt his feelings. Ralph's …show more content…
commitment to getting rescued is evident by the fact that he sets up the fire on top of the mountain. 'So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.' (pg.49). Whilst the other boys are more concerned about hunting and having fun, Ralph remains the civilized and responsible boy that he has always been throughout the novel. As the novel progresses, Ralph power as a leader diminishes as a few boys grow more and more restless with the rules Ralph has set for the boys on the island.
Eventually, Jack gives up on the group and walks away. This results in a lot of the boys leaving the group and joining Jack. Ralph still has some boys on his civil side, but over time the boys leave to go to Jack's savage group. Eventually, Ralph only has a couple of boys with him as the other boys had all went to Jack. Despite Jack and the other boys trying to hunt Ralph, he still attempts to restore order and civility to the now savage group. When Piggy and Simon both die vicious deaths, Ralph is the only boy on the island that understands how far these young schoolboys have really come on this island. In the final chapters of the novel, Ralph starts to get concerned for not only the island and getting himself rescued, but his own life. Sam and Eric warn Ralph of the danger that might come his way. 'Roger sharpened a stick at both ends' (pg.190) When Ralph is running away from the boys and discovers the naval officer on the beach he is overwhelmed with different emotions. He is brought to tears by not only his sadness over the deaths of Piggy and Simon but his sadness of the realization that even a group of schoolboys can turn into brutal
murderers.
Ralph joins Jack and the hunters in the hunt for the pig and gets caught up in the excitement of the kill. Prior to this, Ralph has been the voice of reason and common sense on the island. Now, he has let his urge to kill take over, and he is obviously excited and enjoying it.
From reading this chapter,so far I believe that Ralph’s attitude towards Piggy is Ralph thinks he is a nuisance but later on believes he’s more useful in life. For example when they knew when they had the conch how many funny noises they can make. Piggy then realized how much Ralph was being nice and how much he grew on him. My first part of evidence I found was they realized how much they needed each other and they knew somehow they will learn to get along. My evidence fits well because they both read and judged each other on the outside and how they looked and acted. They assumed a lot of things about each other, they both didn't get a chance to explain what they were doing and how they were doing it.
Ralph is enthusiastic and energetic; he frequently grins, stands on his head, and says 'wizard' when excited. He is also a good leader; he listens to everyone's opinions during island meetings, prioritizes the needs of the tribe (a signal fire, shelter, enforcement of lavatory rocks), and tries to be diplomatic with the other boys (giving the hunters to Jack). Even after Jack has created a violent band of the island's boys and become enemies with Ralph, Ralph still tries to reason with him. He goes to Jack to ask for Piggy's glasses back peacefully and only becomes violent when he is left with no other option. Ralph serves as the chief of the first tribe formed on the island, the only true friend of Piggy, a voice of reason for the island, a source of animosity for power-hungry Jack, and a homesick boy stranded on an island. The quote that best reveals Ralph's character is from chapter
Piggy, portrayed by Hugh Edwards, is the most vulnerable character. At the beginning, he makes the mistake of divulging his nickname. Piggy seems to be intelligent and sensible, but lacking the confidence in himself to put it to use. Jack belittles Piggy throughout the film. He continuously calls him “Fatty” and at one point slaps him in the face, which causes his glasses to break. Piggy’s only hope is the friendship of Ralph, who betrayed him at the beginning, only to eventually become his best friend. Piggy never succumbed to the savagery of the others. In his last words, “What is it better to be, a bunch of savages like you are, or sensible like Ralph is”, he proves that it is possible for someone to remain themselves and not succumb to the pressures of others. Piggy is the symbol of rationality and adult society.
"Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labour." (Golding 68)
The image of Piggy slowly began to fade to the black silhouette from where the image came. Ralph was shivering and sobbing uncontrollable, sinking back down to the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Please, Piggy, don’t go. Piggy! I need to know, Piggy…”
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
Ralph was introduced as a fair and likeable boy. His interaction with Piggy demonstrated his kind nature as he did not call him names with hateful intentions as Jack had. His good looks allowed him to be well accepted among his peers, and this gave him enough confidence. His handsome features and the conch as a symbol of power and order made him stand out from the crowd of boys and led to his being proclaimed Chief: "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 powerful, there was the conch" (p. 24). From the quick decisions he made as Chief near the beginning of the novel, it could be seen that Ralph was well-organized. Gradually, Ralph became confused and began to lose realness 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 come down." (p. 156) He started to feel lost as the boys, with the exception of Piggy, began to change and adapt to their freedom.. He was more influenced by Piggy than by Jack.
Both Piggy and Ralph’s personalities had a large amount of contrasts that determined their relationship at the beginning of the story. Piggy was the outcast, due to his large awkward body, his thick glasses and his know-it-all personality. While Ralph on the other hand was the stereotypical image of an ordinary boy. Piggy had no friends, besides those that he lived with. Thus was not used to being among other children. He quickly trusted, and latched onto Ralph, ignoring Ralph’s constant teasing . Ralph was insecure as all boys his age are, he didn’t really want to be caught liking the outcast so he teased him. “I don’t care what they call me, so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school…They used to call me Piggy'; (Golding: pg.11) Piggy confided to Ralph, asking him to be secretive, thinking that Ralph was his friend. When really he couldn’t care less about Piggy’s fate. Ralph betrayed Piggy by announcing to all the other boys Piggy’s name, not really caring about the consequences it would have on Piggy and Ralph’s friendship. Piggy is hurt but quickly forgives and forgets, thinking that him and Ralph are friends. Ralph doesn’t really mind Piggy’s dependence upon him, but finds Piggy to be a bore and does not consider him to be a friend. “Piggy was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar and his matter of fact ideas were dull, but their was always a little pleasure to be got out of pulling his leg, even if one did this by accident'; (Golding: pg.65). Ralph joined the others in teasing him, especially about his asthma and his love and dependence upon his auntie.
As Ralph, “the boy with fair hair” matured to the boy with “matted hair”, his perspective matured from haughty to compassionate. Early on, Ralph believes that “Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and certain disinclination for manual labor”. He rejected Piggy’s “proffer of acquaintance”. He believed “this was [the children’s] island, [that] it was a good island”, that, “until the grown-ups come to fetch [them], [they] will have fun". However, by the end of the novel, Ralph understood that deep down the children fear the island, “the littluns, even some of the others, [talk and scream] as if it wasn’t a good island”. Empathy develops through experience and understanding of truth. Scout thought “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch”. At the beginning of the novels, Ralph nor Scout understood the true nature of Piggy or Boo. However, their respective experiences mean “the end of innocence”. Scout and Ralph begin to differentiate between empathy and authority, good and evil. Scout realizes “[Boo] was real nice, and most people are, when you finally see them”. Ralph recognizes the importance of his “true, wise friend called Piggy”. Yet concurrently, they see “the darkness of man’s heart”. Man discriminates even when doing so harms
Before the boys all say their names, they are all identified by their appearances. Ralph is the “fair boy” and Piggy is the “fat boy” But Piggy's name is based on his weight. There isn’t really a difference with being called “fat boy” or “piggy”.
Golding describes Ralph at the end when they were finally rescued said, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness in man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, a wise friend called Piggy” (202). Ralph thought by not joining the Hunter’s he could be the same boy that came onto the island some time ago but with the need to survive Ralph had to leave who he was behind and fight for his life. Ralph also loses a piece of his innocence when he realizes the true weight of leadership on an island without adults to make sure they could be rescued. As a result of Ralph having to fight to survive and take on the role as leader he lost his innocence. Although this is in a different way than the hunter’s because they felt the need to kill, they were not just killing to survive and provide food anymore. Nevertheless, none of the boys left the island the same way they came on. Either by their own free will or because they simply could not survive as British
They find themselves on an island after the plane they were on crashes. Piggy was a short, fat boy and Ralph was fair-haired. At the beginning of the book their relationship seems fine, but then Ralph asks for the fat boy’s name. Piggy answers, “I don’t care what they call me,” Piggy said confidentially, “so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school.” Ralph was faintly interested. “What was that?” The fat glanced over his shoulder, then leaned toward Ralph and said, “They used to call me Piggy.” At this point, Ralph laughs at Piggy for his name and Piggy is upset that Ralph is making fun of his nickname. (Page
In the beginning of the book Ralph shows some immaturity to the piggy. Ralph makes fun of Piggy's name and calls him Piggy even though he was told not to. Ralph, in my opinion, was pretty insensitive about Piggy's feelings and emotions in the beginning. Ralph gets better with this throughout the book, but they start off their relationship poorly. Being a head boy and chapter chorister doesn't have anything to do with being a leader.
The nightmares still came sometimes. Even though Ralph was home, even though he was safe, he still remembered the horrors of the island. He didn’t think that he would ever forget what happened. For a brief time, not even a month, he had left civilization. And living on that horrid island, he had seen what people would do when there was nothing to stop them. He knew, deep in his heart of hearts, that he had murdered Simon. He also had seen Piggy die, right in front of him, killed by Jack. He never even knew Piggy’s real name. People had died, on that island, and some of their deaths had been his fault. If the commander had arrived just a little later, then Jack and his band of savages would have killed him. That’s