Who Is Ralph In Lord Of The Flies

In the first two chapter of Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding illustrates the character Ralph in great detail. Physical attributes of Ralph include blonde hair, mild eyes, tall stature, and an athletic build (1,10, 22). Due to his athletic build and tall stature, Ralph appears to be physically superior to the other boys. Appearance is power, the physical superiority Ralph has over others grants him automatic power; however, because of his mild eyes and fair, blonde hair the other boys are not afraid of him. Ralph’s behavior in the first two chapters displays the powerful and the young, boyish side of his personality. In Chapter One Ralph does headstands, makes fart noises with the conch, and wrestles with other boys (10,27,17). These actions reflect those of a young child without a lot of responsibility, or the actions of a child with a high level of
Golding emphasizes certain characteristics of Ralph through Ralph’s words, “‘He’s not Fatty,’ cried Ralph, ‘ his real name’s Piggy’” (21).. Ralph does not mean to really hurt Piggy’s feeling, but in his words he embarrasses, betrays, and torments Piggy. When Ralph realizes how much he hurts Piggy’s feelings he does nothing to fix it. That is what The lack of action reveals the mean, harsh, and immature side of Ralph. Differences in ages cause vast diversity in the level of maturity and knowledge on the island. At twelve years of age Ralph is one of the older boys on the island (10). The younger boys look up to Ralph because of his age, and they automatically look towards him as a leader. Ralph’s age also gives him more knowledge and experience than the younger boys. The boys vote Ralph over Jack for chief (22). Despite Jack being the obvious leader, Ralph is voted chief because the young boys are drawn to his appearance and