Ralph

Ralph
 When he and the others arrive on the island, the fair haired Ralph quickly becomes the chief of the group, not by any harsh, overt or physical action, but by being elected. Ralph is described as having "the directness of genuine leadership". Ralph's first big decision is that they have "got to decide if this is an island". After Ralph, Jack, and Simon discover that they are truly "on an uninhabited island", Ralph suggests that a fire be lit because "if a ship comes near the island they may not notice us". However, towards the end of the book he forgets the initial reason for maintaining the fire. This is representative of the debilitating effects corruption has even on the brightest mind. Ralph may seem to mean well, but often his obsession with being popular overcomes him and he resorts to bullying Piggy to regain his power. Still, in the midst of all the island's chaos, it should be noted that Ralph has a tendency to be polite and logical in the tensest of moments; for example, when the children are obliged to investigate Castle Rock, Ralph takes the lead despite being afraid of "the beast". Ralph is sometimes perceived as partially being a literary tool to aid the audience's realisation of inner evil throughout the duration of the novel; "Ralph wept for the end of innocence ..."

Ralph embodies good intentions in the implementation of reason, but ultimately fails to complete this. Ralph's refusal to resort to violence throughout the novel is counterpoised by Jack's love of violence.



Golding's Description
"The boy with fair hair...He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood; and not yet old enough for adolescence to make him awkward. You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil...Ralph's golden body"

Typical Gesture
Standing on his head