William Golding's Lord Of The Flies: Character Analysis

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Logan Cooper Ms. Manst Freshman Literature 11 January 2016 Lord of the Flies Character Analysis In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding exists a character by the name of Ralph. The novel starts when a group of boys crashes on an island during World War II. They quickly begin to become savages and murder pigs. A second group headed by a character named Jack then splits off from the main group Ralph created, to hunt more pigs. Soon, Jack’s group kills Simon and Piggy, and starts to hunt Ralph before they get rescued from the island. Ralph is a character with marginal leadership skills, a care for being civil and organized, and is essential to making the group dynamics flow in a way that makes the novel about the nature of mankind. Ralph is voted chief by the boys of the island and throughout the course of the novel, demonstrates marginal leadership skills. In chapter two of the novel, Ralph begins to lose his grip on the group and they all rush up to the mountain to create a bonfire, and stop listening to that Ralph had to say. “‘But the first time Ralph says ‘fire’ you goes howling and screaming…show more content…
One of the first things Ralph does when he is elected chief is make a rule to replicate the hands-up talking rule from school; making it so you have to be holding the conch shell they found on the beach in order to be allowed to talk. “‘Then I’ll give him the conch.’ … ‘That’s what his shell is called. I’ll give this conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking’” (33). Even as the island descends into chaos and the conch rule no longer works, Ralph attempts to maintain a remnant of the lives they left behind, by performing the simple action of bathing every day, differing them from the filth of the savages. “‘Bathing’, said Ralph, ‘that’s the only thing to do.’”

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