Lord of the Flies Ralph Character Focus
Lord of the Flies - A character study of RalphThis essay is a character study of Ralph, who is one of the main characters in William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'. I have chosen to analyse Ralph's character, as it is the character with which I feel that I can relate most closely. Ralph is probably the novel's main character. This essay will include my identification of the major aspects of Ralph's character and how he symbolises different themes, which are portrayed in the novel. I will cover in this what Ralph contributes to the plot of the novel, a description of Ralph's appearance, his dreams, his attitude to being stranded on the island, how he relates to the other boys and how he organises the boys into becoming a self-dependent society. 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 islan
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 participates when Simon dies, does not fully appreciate Piggy's qualities until after he is dead and is prepared to resort to savagery at the end to save his life. Though he started as a sensible boy who thought the best of people, he now realises that all people are flawed. Simon becomes the first victim of what the boys of as the beast, 'the Lord of the Flies' or 'Beelzebub', when he goes to his sanctuary and finds there a pig's head on a stick, with which he starts to have an imaginary conversation. When he tries to tell the boys the truth about there situation and that the beast is in all of them, he is beaten to death by the other boys. He is more effective at keeping the tribe together and controlling them. There is increasing obvious rivalry between Ralph and Jack and it is significant that Jack is more successful as a leader because he can persuade the boys and they believe that he is better able to protect them. ' This quote tells us that at the start Ralph is an exceptional able boy who is strong and athletic and has many of the qualities necessary to be a good leader, as he shows by his authority, resourcefulness and ability to organise the other boys into a community. It is ironic that Jack starts out as the leader of the choir and ends up by being the most evil of the boys. In conclusion, Ralph is possibly the most heroic character in the book as he is, if you note, the only one who follows his belief and faith and this brings him through, even in the forest at the end, when it is him against the rest. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person, in order to give an understanding of the different powers that some people can posses over others. the average, rather more than average, man of good will and common sense; the man who makes mistakes because he simply does not understand at first the nature of the disease from which they all suffer. Eventually the conch shell loses its significance and is left unnoticed at the other side of the island. The sailors have no idea of the savagery to which the boys have descended and think that they are just playing a game. "Ralph was puzzled by the shutter that flickered in his brain.
Common topics in this essay:
Eventually Ralph,
Flies' Ralph,
Ralph Jack,
William Golding's,
Lord Flies',
Ralph Peter,
Flies Ralph,
Lord Flies,
Christ Jack,
Ralph's Jack's,
ralph's character,
jack's tribe,
conch shell,
character study ralph,
persuade boys,
'lord flies',
common sense,
character essay,
leader choir,
boys ralph,
ralph tries,
|
Acceptance Essays
