GCSE English Literature Lord Of The Flies (2)

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Ralph

  • First Impressions
  • "mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil" - suggest attractive, Golding wants the reader to have a good first impression of him, the boys look up to him - because of appearance?
  • athletic/attractive - a "fair boy" - both in appearance and character?
  • Ralph "machine gunned Piggy" at the start - suggests childishness, playing games, or could be deeper - could be violent, but chooses not to.
  • Bullies Piggy from the start - calls him Piggy when asked not to, could show even good people can be nasty and evil.
  • Main Characteristics
  • Natural leader, politically skilful, firm leader too - to Piggy, he says "Better Piggy than Fatty with the directness of genuine leadership" - shows his strong and confident personality - makes it clear he is in charge, also shown by stopping Piggy going on first walk.
  • Belief in democracy, fairness (link with appearance?), rules - e.g in Chapter 5, "rules are the only thing we've got". 
  • The conch - represents democracy, - Ralph uses it to help him lead - "we'll have hands up - like at school" - significant that he finds it, he discovers the means of summoning others - links in with idea of him being a natural leading figure.
  • Considerate of others - '"You couldn't get a beastie, a snake thing, on an island this size" explained Ralph kindly'  - shows good leadership - tries to instil confidence in others.
  • Fails to appreciate Piggy - bullies him too - becomes confused and weak, grows weaker as time goes by, weakness of democracy? - withering away with time. 
  • Development Of Character
  • turns from being very childish and fun-loving at the start e.g. "Whizzoh", into

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