What Is Ralph's Role In Lord Of The Flies

Ralph: The Boy with Fair Hair

William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who plane crash into an island during World War II where they must adapt to survive until they can be rescued by a possibly still remaining civilization. Ralph, who is one of the first boys to be mentioned in the novel, assembles the group by blowing into a conch which then brings all the boys together. While this group of boys adapt to survive they form a society, establishing different statuses among the boys, and electing Ralph their leader. Although Ralph is chosen to be leader, his actual role as the leader has some flaws which show eventually in the novel. But even with these flaws Ralph’s role as a diplomat figure shows right from the beginning.

Throughout the novel Ralph represents a

For example, Ralph takes Piggy’s advice into consideration and uses it when Piggy suggests to blow into the conch to see how many of the boys are left: “ ‘You try, Ralph. You’ll call the others’ Doubtfully, Ralph laid the small end of the shell against his mouth and blew.” (12). Ralph thinks that it will not work, and he will not be able to gather the other boys together into a group. This represents Ralph’s role as a diplomat because he is taking charge and making the assembly to see how many of the other boys are still out there which shows his initiation to take action and be a leader. Second, Ralph uses common sense to make decisions. This is shown when Ralph says this, “We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain” (37). Ralph is implying that the smoke can help them be rescued by a possibly passing ship. Ralph is using his common sense here because the smoke will act as an extra aid to show