Ralph's Alignment in Lord of the Flies Essay

ESSAY-

Is Ralph purely evil or purely good? Or does he just play a pivotal role as a character? In the novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph is a character that can be viewed as a morally ambiguous boy that loses his innocence and learns to have faith and believe in the future even when all chances are frail, throughout the novel you get a chance to experience Ralphs good qualities and bad, you get see him as a character with a pivotal role and learn how his role as an ambiguous character contributes to the novel.

In the beginning of the novel, Ralph has many conflicts, as he puts himself up, he thinks that since his smarter he needs all authority, and since all the other boys vote him as captain he feels superior, he then tries to act as if hes better then Piggy, but instead by the end his proven wrong. He then has to learn from both internal and external conflicts that occur at and make him into a better person, into a person that becomes a loyal friend, one that wants to save himself and the other boys, even though they dont want to listen to him, everything he does he wants to save them, but make them into better boys, not act like savages. In the beginning Ralph had a very big responsibility as the chief and is leader of all the boys on the island, Ralph starts out showing the boys that hes tough, he even lets himself make fun of Piggy, call him names, make him look stupid because of his weight. What Ralph doesnt know is that soon he will need his help, and Piggy is going to be the only one standing by him, and seeing the truth, that the only way to service is in peace and order.

Throughout the novel, Ralph learns to create a sable and peaceful society for the boys to live in, he tries to teach them the right thing, and that the fire is the only thing that can save them all, but Jack wants powers, and wont stop until he gets it, this all tests Ralph and puts him on the spot where he has to try to keep control of everything and not lose it in the hands of someone else, but this significantly bothers Jack because Jack knows he cant get it unless he tries something clever, Jack wants to have fun and do things that were never allowed in the civilized world. But Ralph learns to deal with the fact that Jack wont give up.

Ralph has and been born for power, born to rule it, born to accelerate in it, and when its taken away, Ralph faces a internal conflict that makes him fear for his future and the boys. Ralph tries to fight and prove the fact that they need to work as a team in order to get saved, but Jack doesnt let anyone take him off the road that he has chosen, he has let the savage inside his take over, and he wants power, and to control everything. Life for the boys was hard they were blinded by Jacks lies, and turned into savages that killed and eat pigs, they forgot what civilization was, and what their real goal was, they forgot to care about getting back.

When Ralph started out in the beginning he didnt know what was waiting for him in the end, he learns to respect others, he learns what true friends are, he identifies himself as an ambiguous character that starts out playing a pivotal role, a role of a boy that the audience and reader see as not purely good or purely bad, but he cant see himself. We seem him grow, we see his change, we see him try to take control, and take the power back into his hands and prove that help will come. This is all morally significant because its what shapes the story, pulls it all together, we as the readers can see that Ralph starts out an innocent boy but matures quickly till the end. Ralph also shows us thats hes the only person who can acknowledge the importance of a true leader, but has to identify and prove his change, as be becomes a good pivotal character, and the novel shows how Ralph acts through all the changes , he sees how Ralph loses his innocence and faces the consequences of truth, because the truth shall set you free.