The Boy Inside: Lord of the flies An Essay I wrote in 10th gr, 2 yrs ago.. Useful for those in lower grades (10 and lower)

Since the dawn of time, before man first distinguished himself as a superior being, his different personas ruled his every thought, action, and feeling. Lord of the Flies by William Golding uses the main characters to present the different aspects of the human temperament. Every boy signifies something different and presents his role in a subtle yet effective manner. Ralph epitomizes rationality, Simon symbolizes righteousness, and Piggy is one's intelligence. These boys together form a part of a complete human personality.

A tropical paradise on the outside, but to Ralph it is an unavoidable obstacle in his young life. Knowing that no one authoritative is on the uninhabited island, Ralph consciously decides that they would have to live civilly. His logical way of thinking provides the boys with a gateway to practice the lessons they learnt back home. Ralph suggests using democracy to appoint a chief to decide what to do.

English: Piggy Riddell

Lord of the Flies

English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...

As he represents the voice of reason, he naturally becomes the leader for the better part of the novel. The significance of him being leader is that in most cases, humans tend to think logically in dire situations before their primitive instincts start to govern their thinking. For example, Ralph implements a rule that the fire on top of the mountain must be lit at all times to produce smoke, so that the passing ships could see that they are there. From the beginning of the novel, Ralph's goal is to get off the island, and so he presents a mission statement to the other boys, "We want to have fun. And we want to be rescued." (36). This declaration gave the other schoolboys a chance to work together and to enjoy the fact that they were alone on a tropic island. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Ralph...