Lord of the Flies Text Response - Symbols of Civilization

When faced with an unknown situation, people tend to model what they’ve been taught in order to conquer problems. Ralph, at first unkind and uncaring, proves how civilized and orderly he is. Piggy, who's name matches his physical appearance, demonstrates how intellectual he is as he helps the boys come up with many of their great ideas. Jack, who at first seemed sympathetic, turns out to be barbaric and uncivilized. These boys in Golding’s Lord of the Flies, as they form a civilization, allegorically represent different aspects of human society.

Ralph, the hero of the story, symbolizes the civilized and orderly aspects of society. He proposes they form a democracy when electing a leader .Back home in England, he must be accustomed to a democratic government so on the island he tries to recreate that and gets elected chief. Ralph models his ideas on what he’s seen others do. He borrows from his school experiences when pleading with the boys: “Another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school… We’ll have rules”. Ralph is also shown as a sympathetic and caring person, as when he compassionately apologizes when Piggy is “hurt and crushed”. Ultimately, Ralph is a good leader because “he asks the group how to govern itself. He sets up a democracy in which the boys share leadership and everyone is able to voice his opinion” . Ralph acts more as a president than an absolute monarch; he takes into account what the others think and uses that to form a just society, demonstrating that he is the more civilized out of the other boys.

Piggy, Ralph’s sidekick, portrays the intellectual part of society. Piggy is the first one to propose that they use the conch “to call the others and [h]ave a meeting”. He applies his intelligence to bring everyone together but because of his appearance he’s not taken too seriously, being mocked as a “Fatty”. Even his name is meant to be derogatory: “Piggy” . His physical