Lord of the Flies Ralph and Piggy's Glasses Symbolism
The novel, “Lord of the Flies”, deals immensely with characterization and symbolism. William Golding packed his story with a great deal of literary color, making it alive and vivid to the reader. Golding’s use of symbolism is obvious throughout the entire novel. The character that stood out the most in the novel was Ralph, who was excellently developed by Golding as a leader. Golding made Ralph in to a round character by using heavy descriptions of him that almost made the reader think as if he or she actually knew Ralph by the end of the story. Golding’s very first introduction of Ralph into the novel the reader could already see his sense of observation even in the first sentence that he says: "This is an island; at least I think it's an island. That's a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren't any grownups anywhere." Although this quote may not be a direct characterization of Ralph it shows the audience how observant and wise he is. Throughout the rest of the novel Golding characterizes Ralph in a deeper sense giving the audience a real feel of what kind of kid he is. For example later in the novel when the rules are being broken and the boys are turning into salvages Ralph tries to keep order. He says “So remember rocks for a lavatory. Keep fire going and smoke showing as a signal. Don’t take fire from the mountain. Take your food up there.” Golding including this passage of demonstrating how Ralph is trying to enforce rules to keep an organized civilization shows Ralph as being a true leader, and keeping his morals. This truly shows Golding’s deep descriptions of Ralph in order to form Ralph into a round character. In Golding’s description of Ralph throughout the whole book I would categorize Ralph as a dynamic character. Although Ralph’s change in the novel wasn’t as evident as the other’s, he does change. The main change I noticed in Ralph throughout the novel was the way he acts towards Piggy. In the beginning Ralph insulted him and treated him awfully.