Ralph And Piggy's Relationship In Lord Of The Flies

Friends change throughout their friendship, either for the better or for the worse. However do you still remain friends with them? In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, Piggy, a fat and short little boy that doesn’t really seem to fit in becomes friends with Ralph, a boy that’s self confident and adventurous. At the beginning of the novel Piggy and Ralph dont really know each other and have different feelings towards their friendship. They been in arguments but later on they understand their situation and know they need each other to get through the obstacles.
Ralph and Piggy at first have an abnormal relationship. They wandered around the island; Piggy mentioned that in school he was called “Piggy (Golding 11).” Boys in his school seemed

to have bullied him so he had asked if Ralph wouldn’t mention anything to anyone else about his name.

They continue walking and Ralph spots a shell. That Piggy explained it’s so expensive and fragile. Piggy came up with the idea of using the shell to attract others attention. He says, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us- (Golding 16).” If it wasn’t for Piggy’s brilliant idea the boy’s would've never had a meeting to meet each other and have a start to a plan where they can possibly be rescued. However Ralph doesn’t keep his word that he wouldn’t say anything. Ralph said “He’s not Fatty, his real name is Piggy (Golding 21).” Then everyone starts to laugh and he makes Piggy feel bad. Ralph’s feelings towards Piggy change in a matter of seconds, just to fit in with the crowd. Although Piggy was treated bad by Ralph, he still voted for him to be chief. Later on, since Ralph was

elected to be chief, he had set a group to look around to make sure it was an island. His group was Jack and Simon. Piggy was confused as to why Ralph did not chose him. They both had a conversation as to why didn’t Piggy get chosen but it was because he was useless and was better off staying taking names down of the boys in the island (Golding 24). In the beginning of the chapter, Ralph and Piggy have just met. They already had confusions about what their relationship meant and different feelings about one another but still ended up not fully befriending each other.
Later on as they all try to survive in the island, the twins, Sam and Eric say they spotted a beast which was actually a person in a parachute that was mistaken by a beast. As usual there were problems between the boys. But Ralph and Piggy were trying to survive on the other hand everyone else didn’t care, so they teamed up to help each other survive and get rescued. As Piggy and Ralph keep the fire going on the top of the mountain to help get rescued, Ralph says, “We just got to go on, that’s all. That’s what grownups would do (Golding 139).” They realize they want to move on and be rescued from the stranded island and also not act like the others: immature and selfish. They they can’t rely on anyone else but each other. Unlike others in the island, their relationship grows towards another as time goes by and therefore define as friends that will help each other out. They both agree that “Without the fire we can’t be rescued. So we must stay by the fire and make smoke (Golding 142).” While the other boys careless about the fire, they do. In Chapter 4, Jack ruin the chance of being rescued so Piggy and Ralph are determined to try harder for the fire not to go out , so they can get rescued and finally home.
In Chapter 10, Ralph and Piggy get more closer due to what had happened with Simon.

Simon was “murdered (Golding 156).” They know that it was Simon instead of the beast but don’t want to admit to such a heinous incident. Unlike Jack’s group they just think it was the beast “disguised (Golding 160)” as Simon. What happened to Simon actually united Piggy and Ralph. They agreed it was an accident and feel terribly guilty about it. Ralph said “Well, we won’t be painted, because we aren’t savages (Golding 172).” Meaning they weren’t like Jack’s group, rude and think their superior. Later on Piggy’s eye sight gets really bad and the boys usually use his specs to start the fire. This time Jack and his group didn’t ask but they stole Piggy’s specs and therefore Ralph’s group wants to get them back and talk about the fire. Ralph feels the need to protect and stand against Jack for Piggy because he can’t do it alone. But the plan doesn’t turn out the way they thought it did. Jack demanded that Sam and Eric were to be taken away and tied up Ralph and Piggy were beside each other but then in a matter of seconds Roger, a group member of Jack leaned all his weight against a rock that fell. Ralph saw it coming but Piggy didn’t. Piggy died with the conch in his hands falling “forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea (Golding 181).” After what had happened Ralph had no words, he ran away and hid in the forest. Ralph feels alone and doleful about Piggy’s death.

He realizes he was his only true friend that was always there for him since the beginning.