Then the boy with the mulberry birthmark disappears.
At the start Ralph and jack form a strong bond as they both struggle for leadership. They both want different things as Ralph wants to make a fire and build a shelter but jack and the others want to hunt and enjoy them self, but also jack becomes more and more obsessed by hunting. Ralph changes and started to get annoyed with jack.
“No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing.”
Ralph changes a lot when jack becomes the leader of the savages but Ralph wants them all to be united.
At first Ralph doesn’t seem to like piggy, which is why he gives him a nickname he also picks out piggy deficiencies and keeps reminding him of them.
“Piggy! Piggy!”
But as we get further into the novel Ralph starts to realise Piggy’s strengths and sees that he is a good and strong friend.
Whilst Ralph’s relationship with jack causes him to change so does the disappointment he suffers on the island. As he spends more time on the island he realises that he has become dirty, his hair has grown and he cant do anything about it.
“You’re chief. You tell ‘em off.”
Also he realises that he has had to work to build the shelters and make a routine he also finds that he has limitations as a leader as the boys on the island start to ignore him and he becomes disillusioned.
Ralph's disappointments slowly progress into life threatening problems in the beast a lot of the littluns believe it is some kind of snake thing but some others think it is the body on top of the mountain. Jack thinks they should hunt it and kill it, but Ralph just wants to leave it alone and hope it doesn’t come down from the mountain
Ralph plays the same role in Simon’s death as most of the other boys, but I think both Ralph and piggy were truly sorry for what they had done to Simon.
The reason the boys went to castle rock was to try and talk to jack about becoming one group again, but while Ralph was talking to jack Rodger pushed a bolder off of a cliff which knocked piggy into the sea.
“the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”
I think the destruction of the conch was very symbolic as it had always been a sign of togetherness and control amongst the boys but after it was destroyed, the savages’ tribe became the only tribe.
The reason the hunt to the death began was because Ralph tried to hide after the rest of the boys had joined the tribe but jack found him and set up a line of savages to find him. Ralph's view of the island has completely changed from the view of Paradise Island to a hellish island.
When the naval officer arrives Ralph remembers the start of the island and declares himself the leader again. The naval officer asks if a war had happened not knowing just how right he was.
I have described how Ralph changes through out the novel in step-by-step parts including quotes as further evidence to how Ralph has changed. If you think about what Golding is showing in his novel it is really about how evil lies in the soul of every human being it just takes more to bring it out in some than others.
