What happens when you leave a group of schoolboys stranded on an island, with no laws, no parents and no instructions? Will they band together and use their skills to survive or will they turn against each other, tempted by the freedom of wilderness? This is an idea that authors have been playing with since R.M Ballantyne’s The Coral Island. In his novel, a group of European boys are stranded on an island and use their good, Christian ways to conquer the wild ways of the natives on the island. However, William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, introduces a completely different idea. Golding’s characters do not conquer the wild; rather, the wild conquers them. Now, being stranded on a desert island, unsure of whether you will ever be saved or not, can greatly impact a person’s behavior; sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Therefore, we have decided to analyse how the characters develop throughout the story and …show more content…
When the boys are shocked by the sight of the dead parachutist on the mountain, Ralph manages to handle the situation with both sense and caution. He is always working vigorously to keep the boys’ focus on the hope of being rescued. Not only that, but he also took the lead alone when investigating the castle rock, even though he is fearful of the “beast”. Unfortunately, Ralph’s role of chief is short lived. As the boys lose more and more control of themselves, Ralph loses more and more control of the happenings on the island. As the boys grow more savage, Ralph eventually finds himself caught up in their frenzy and ultimately takes part in Simon’s death. Although he did kill someone, even if it was an accident, the way he dealt with it proves again that he is in control of himself and that the goodness in him will overcome. Rather than boasting about it, he and Piggy try to distance themselves from what happened as much as