How does Golding introduce his protagonists in Lord Of The Flies?

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Beca Dafydd        11H

How does Golding introduce his protagonist in the first chapter?

        

The first character that is introduced in Lord of the Flies is Ralph. He is described at first only as “The boy with fair hair”. One of the first things Ralph does when he realizes that there aren’t any grown ups is stand on his head - “he stood on his head”. This shows that Ralph has a carefree attitude and is quite naive because he’s excited at the prospect of no adults and has not yet thought of the problems that this might arise from this. Ralph’s naivety is also shown by how optimistic he is about being rescued “He’ll be back all right”, this also shows that he trusts the civilized world. Golding describes Ralph’s body as being of similar build as the body of a boxer “might make a boxer” but he also says that “there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil” which shows although Ralph could be capable of violence that it is not in his nature. The fact that Ralph laughs when he hears Piggy’s name and then tells the others shows us that Ralph is not perfect and that he is just like any other twelve year old boy, this makes his character realistic and relatable. The fact that Ralph “giggled into the sand” also shows us that Ralph is not mean, just a bit immature. Ralph then goes for a swim in the “incredible pool” which shows us that Ralph is very comfortable on the Island and just wants to have fun. Golding later describes Ralph saying that “there was a stillness” about him and as “the being” who blew the conch. Both of these descriptions show us that Ralph is not like the others, he’s special. Immediately when Ralph realizes that Jack is humiliated Ralph offers him the choir “the choir belong to you of course”. As well as being generous this shows us that Ralph is keen to keep everybody happy and tries to avoid conflict. The fact that Ralph doesn’t realize how much he’s hurt Piggy shows us that Ralph is not a nasty person and did not try to hurt him. He is very logical telling Piggy not to come to explore the Island but after realizing he was wrong to tell other people about Piggy’s nickname he tells Piggy to collect names as a way of trying to make it up to him. This supports my earlier idea of Ralph attempting to keep everyone happy.

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        Piggy is introduced first as “it” then “the voice” and then as being “very fat”. We do not know his name only his nickname “Piggy”. This shows that his physical appearance has and always will define him. Unlike Ralph, Piggy senses the severity of the situation immediately and he thinks things through asking a lot of questions “What happened to it”. This shows his intelligence. When Piggy asks Ralph’s name Golding shows us that Piggy is also friendly. We can also see that he is far from physically fit because he has asthma and can’t keep up with Ralph. When ...

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