Lord of the flies
Daniela Vasquez The book, “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, contains many characters that each symbolize something, one of them being Ralph who symbolizes structure and government. In the beginning of the book, Ralph was leader and everything was organized. Once Ralph’s position declines and Jack’s’ position rises, the children begin to become savages. Ralph is the most important character because once structure and government is lost, humans become savages and beasts. In the beginning of the novel, Ralph naturally took the leader position. Although not the strongest person on the island, Ralph demonstrates a great understanding of humans, much better than the other boys. This understanding of humans gives him important leadership qualities. Ralph demonstrates his leadership qualities by working towards making the boys’ society better. Ralph understands that the boys need stability and order to survive on the island. To achieve this order, Ralph creates rules and a simple form of government. “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things” (pg 22). In this scene the boys are arguing about what should be done in order to survive. Ralph demonstrates his leadership skills by quieting everyone and making it known that order has to be placed if they wish to survive. After this quote the group votes Ralph to be the chief. This is also where the conch is introduced. “And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school” (pg 33).The conch represents order, where only one boy is allowed to speak so that everyone’s ideas can be heard. This rule placed on the children is to help them from becoming savages and rebels. At the meeting Ralph assigns Jack to be the hunter. While Jack is in charge of the food supply Ralph begins to build huts and thinks about ways to maximize the chance of survival for the boys. During this time the other boys are only