BlOgStEr

Character Transformation: Ralph

Passages from Chapters 1-6 and Chapters 7-12

Quote from Chapter 1:

“He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood but not yet old enough for adolecence to have made him awkward.” (page 10)

Quote from Chapter 7:

“Sitting, Ralph was aware of the neat for the first time that day. He pulled distastefully at his gray shirt and wondered whether he might undertake the adventure of washing it.” (page 109)

Explanation for both Quotes:

Ralph, the first character introduced to the audience, is probably the most likable character in the entire story. Although he does not ponder such deeply like Piggy, is not as spiritual like Simon, or as energetic as Jack. He is described as being a playful, innocent child in the beginning, but towards the end he matures significantly.

Throughout the book, Ralph faces both internal and external conflicts and from those conflicts he greatly matures. Ralph always has the strong belief that all the children will be saved from the island sooner or later. He is so sure that he even insists that they should have fire at all times to signal. Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Moreover, I think Ralph is Golding’s symbolic method of democracy. Ralph seems like a leader trying, to keep unfavorable things from happening.