Comparing Ralph and Jack to Show How the Characters Change in Lord of t

Comparing Ralph and Jack to Show How the Characters Change in Lord of the Flies Golding uses many techniques to change his characters as they progress throughout the novel. The main character Ralph is a prime example of this developing character. Both of the boys arrive on the island with a certain manner. They are sensible and being from well brought up families and homes, soon start to work together in harmony on the island. The first time we encounter Ralph is at the beginning of the novel where he is described as "The boy with fair hairà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[He had] taken off his school sweater...[His] grey shirt tuck to his back and his hair was plastered to his forehead." The fact he has fair hair and also the quote "built like a boxer" suggest he could be a heroic figure. This emphasised by Golding when he clearly shows Ralph to be from a public school as he "has taken off his school sweater." We can see that Ralph is still clearly a child at this point in the novel, he "stands on his head" and uses juvenile language such as "Whacko" and "Wizard" When the voice of piggy shouts out, he stops and waits. This shows us an insight that he is willing to wait for this unknown person, but he "jerks up his stockings" Golding uses this to show us that he is impatient too. Later on in the chapter we see Ralph being "offhand" and "obviously uninterested" towardsPiggy. We feel sympathetic to Piggy as he is seen as an outcast from the very beginning. We can see that Piggy is knowledgeable as he spots the conch, and knows what it is. Although Piggy found it, Ralph is the person who swims down to the bottom of the lagoon and collects it from the reeds, showing us that he is clearly strong and fit, as he can swim. T... ...e and ape-like" and finally his painted face, hiding all innocents and his sinister side. Near the end of the novel, he feels no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, nor his attempts to kill Ralph. In the novel Jack and his tribe represent anarchy and the downward spiral of civilisation. This is most seen when the conch, which throughout the novel is the symbol of humanity and civilisation, is smashed. Both Ralph and Jack have changed throughout the novel. Golding presents both of them as young innocent children at the beginning. They are almost unrecognisable by the end. They have changed both physical and mentally. There is an intervention at the end: the Naval officer, jokes about them "having a war or something?" and this of course is exactly what is happening. The moral of the novel is with out intervention, which will win, good or evil?