He might have made a boxer.
He is initially chosen as leader, this is because of his more positive qualities:
But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance.
He has conflict with Jack right through the novel, Ralph wants to keep order and wants to be focused on being rescued, but Jack isn’t bothered with it, Jack says:
All the same we need an army—for hunting. Hunting pigs—
But Ralph says:
There another thing. We can help them find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.
Ralph and Piggy together represent the struggle for order and authority.
Ralph has fair hair and is very tall and thin, Golding describes Ralph as tall for his age and handsome. Ralph is calm and rational, he is also athletic:
He jumped down to the beach.
Golding makes his characters into exaggerated caricatures. An example of this is the way Golding describes Piggy as a ‘short, fat boy.’ this is all he says but we can imagine what he looks like after Golding adds that he ‘wears glasses’ and has ‘assma.’ he then gives him the name Piggy, we can understand why he is called Piggy and why he is so shy. He behaves in a way we expect from a short fat bespectacled boy. Golding describes his characters so simple, we can imagine him so easily. Golding takes time to go in to more vivid descriptions of the events and the island itself, rather than giving details about the characters. The conversations as if they were happening, for example during the conversation between Piggy and Ralph when Piggy asks him not to call him ‘Piggy’ we can almost feel sorry for the boy, he pleads:
“I don’t care what they call me,” he said confidently, “so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school.”
We can just imagine a little fat boy saying this as if he feels like it really hurts him, its so realistic.
The use of symbolism in the novel is because William Golding wrote the novel with intent to include moral behaviour. He does this by using symbolism.
In the novel the symbolism starts right at the beginning:
All around him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.
The long scar in the untouched jungle symbolises the first of mans destruction on the island. The island represents the world, the shape of the island is a boat which is the ancient symbol for civilisation, the water around the island seems to be flowing backwards, this may represent that civilisation is going backwards for the island or the people on it.
Piggy and his glasses represent ability to see clearly, intelligence; in the society they represent order. The boys use Piggy’s glasses to start the fire; it’s a fire of knowledge and hope. When they broke his glasses this represented the progressive decay of rational thought on the island.
The conch represents order and authority, in the beginning of the book the conch is pink and is quite powerful but as the story goes on the conch becomes lighter and almost transparent it represents that the power is failing, at the end, the conch gets crushed which means all the power is lost.
The beast comes to represent the evil one or the Devil, the dark side of human beings, it also represents destruction because when the boys say they’ve seen the beast they start to chant and that’s how Simon gets killed.
The symbolism in the story shows how society holds every one together, and without these conditions our ideals, values and the basics of right and wrong are lost without societies rules savagery can come to light. This is shown in the novel when the rules were broken, when they turned to Jack and started killing things, authority was lost, the power from the conch was lost and they killed the intelligence, there was nothing but savagery.
The symbolism in the novel also shows:
- That people will abuse power when it isn't earned.
- How people will single out others to become more secure, this is shown when they sing the song and kill Simon.
- You can only cover up the inner savagery so long, before it comes out, given the right circumstances, this happens when the boys join Jacks tribe.
- The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force this is also shown in the novel by the beast and the unknown of the jungle, they become scared of them and become to hunt them this is why they turned into savages.
Golding is also showing us that our morals and feelings come from our surroundings and if there is no civilisation around us, we will loose all or values.
In society Ralph represents law, order and authority, he does this by using the conch:
By the time Ralph finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded.
When Ralph blows the conch every one comes, he uses it to call the meetings and to set the rules.
Ralph wants an organised society, he wants to be organised and wants things to run smoothly. He represents moral integrity because he sticks to things that he feels are right and wrong:
‘There’s another thing. We can help them find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make a fire.’
He’s constantly making common sense rules for the boys to follow because he feels are there right. He represents civilisation in society because Ralph is the one who calls the meetings, he thinks of the smoke signal, he starts making huts. Ralph shows the boys how to begin to survive on the island. Ralph represents the perfect human, someone who does good but isn’t so out-of-touch that he can’t relate to normal human temptations.
In the human psyche Ralph represents the ego of the human personality, at the beginning of the book Ralph is confident:
‘ This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grown-ups come and fetch us we’ll have fun.’
He represents the capacity of evil in everyone. This is shown in the book when he joins in the killing of Simon.
He could also represents the understanding of the human mind, he comes to understand that mankind is not a kind creature by nature.
The structure of the novel is like the framework of the story. It is the way in which the story is organised by the author to
make an impact on the reader.
The novel opens abruptly: We are immediately on the island with the boys, straight away they have to come to terms with being on their on the island without any adults. They start to explore, the island they thought it was glamorous and beautiful.
The middle of the novel is quite long but isn’t boring, due to the duplication of scenes and the steady build up of tension, in the middle is when the boys start to become scared of the beast, they go looking for it, which is a scene which reveals their failed dreams and growing disappointment. This creates tension in the reader.
Tension is also created by the loss of civilisation, which the reader is made aware of near the beginning of the book when the boys are unable to follow rules because they want to play. In each chapter there is something to show this loss and the reader begins to worry about what will happen next. The author is a really good at creating tension.
Once the reader becomes thoroughly engrossed in the story it concludes as abruptly as it began. At the end the reader is so caught up by events that they just want to know what happens to Ralph. The ending is effective because there is no time for the reader to question or disagree. The story is over and has made its impression before we realise it.
Lord of the flies is an allegorical novel, this means the characters, events and settings represent deeper truths than what suggested by the surface story, because it is an allegory, each character represents an idea or theme on more than one level, for example:
The character piggy represents or symbolises the human capacity for intelligence in all individuals and in all our minds, he also represents the use of what society makes of it’s combined intelligence.
The character Ralph represents law and order in the society, he also represents human common sense to show how civilisation works.
The character Jack represents the destructive side of man. He also represents the desire in human mind.
The title of the book is also an allegory ‘Lord of the Flies’ it translates to Beelzebub, which means Devil. By reading the novel, Golding compels us to confront ‘the devil’ in us all.
By Lois Dean
