Ralph Flashcards
-At the start of the story, Ralph is elected leader and chief of the island.
-He represents democracy, order, civilization and fair leadership in the novel.
-It is Ralph who finds the conch shell (‘A shell’), their symbol of democracy, order and authority.
-While the other boys are obsessed with playing, play-fighting and killing pigs, Ralph thinks about ways to help and protect them all.
-He focuses on building shelters and maintaining a signal fire so they can be rescued.
-At the start, everyone accepts Ralph as the leader, as they believe that he has their best interests in mind.
-However, as the boys become more savage (obsessed with killing and power), the group begin to turn against ralph.
-They metaphorically turn against civilization as they became more savage.
-The boys turn away from Ralph and begin to follow Jack. (wilderness and violence)
-As their savage sides begin to take over, all of the boys (except for Piggy) leave Ralph’s group and join Jack’s tribe.
-Although Ralph loses control of the boys, he never fully gives in to the evil within him, but continues to follow his own beliefs.
-At the feast, where Simon is killed, he does take part in the crazed dancing and killing of the ‘pig’.
-‘Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.’
-Ralph is one of the boys who was actively fighting to get close to Robert.
-Golding did this to show that everyone, even the best of us, has evil within and that no one is perfect.
-‘Don’t you understand, Piggy? The things we did-‘
-Despite his actions, Ralph is the only boy who can openly admit that he played a role in Simon’s death.
-Ralph is one of the only boys who fights back against the Lord of the Flies as the others get swept up in the crazed dancing, feasting and hunting.
-Whilst Ralph does succumb to this at times, he is also the one who throws the pig’s head to the ground and takes the stake it was impaled upon as his own means of defence.
-By the end of the novel, Ralph is the only one left on the side of morality and civility and he is being hunted by Jack’s tribe, showing that savagery is winning.
-It is not until the end, when he is about to be murdered himself, that he finally loses all hope and grieves. ‘Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy’.
-He uses the conch to create order and control. He blows it to call meetings.
-His main goal is for the boys to be rescued (he is obsessed with signal fire).
-He is courageous and sticks up for his beliefs.
-He is the only boy who doesn’t change.
-He is hunted by Jack’s tribe of savages, showing that their civilization has broken down.
