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Ralph and The Conch - Analysis
The Conch
Ralph
The Conch - Ralph and Piggy later discover a conch shell on the beach, which later stands for laws, civilization, and democracy. The shell governs the boy's meeting and holds poltical legitmacy and democratic power. Later as the story unfolds, Jack begins disobeying the laws and Ralph. After the Conch breaks, it establishs the boys descension into barbarians., this is the turning of power where everyone starts following Jack.
Ralph - Ralph serves as the protagonist in Lord of the Flies. Ralph is charismatic, diplomatic, athletic, so overall he is a natural leader. Throughout the book Ralph is the metaphorical representative of order, civilization, and democracy. but mainly civilization. We find out later, that he is faced with three conflicts, Democracy V.S. Communism, Reality V.S. Fantasy and Good V.S. Evil.
Order – Ralph and Piggy have created laws that all the boys must follow, they have also assigned jobs for all the boys, they are thinking rationally and diplomatically.
Diplomacy – All problems or tensions are solved verbally, no fighting/physical conflict (at the beginning), everyone has a the opportunity to speak anything they want.
Civilization – the boys follow rules, every action taken by the boys are justified (at the beginning), civilized, everything is under control (at the beginning).
Democracy V.S. Communism – Ralph held an assembly to determine who is leader V.S. Jack who was barged in, and tried to argue for the spot.
Good V.S. Evil – Ralph is more inclined to reach things diplomatically, he is nice and sympathetic towards the boys, he is the stereotypical protagonist in a novel V.S. Jack is trying to take control, he is also the reason their were casualties on the island, overall he’s a bully none the less.
Reality V.S. Fantasy – Ralph wants to have a constant fire going so it’ll be more likely they will get rescued V.S. Jack wants to hunt pigs, play games, and dress up in war paint (smeared blood).
Laws - Whoever is holding the Conch has the right to speak at assemblies (which was first broken by Jack because he didn't like the fact Piggy was in charge of jobs) - The fire must be going at all times, especially when their is a ship somewhere out in the ocean (Yet again also broken by Jack who was to preoccupied with pig hunting) -The bathroom is at the shore on the rocks, and not where the food is.... (broken by the littluns) -Etc
Chapter 1 - Ralph and Piggy find the conch, and then blow it to attract the kids around the island. This immediatly establishes the conch as metaphor for organization and civilization, Later Ralph exposes his positive leadership by holding a vote for leader, which he also wins. This portion shows that he is charismatic, diplomatic, and just.
Chapter 2 - After a vote was casted and Ralph won, he displays his strength in leadership by organizing and suggesting people on what to do, where to live, and how to go on about doing these things. He and the conch stand for an elite figure during this chapter because they hold everyones attention and dedication.
Chapter 3 - Ralph begins loosing power as a lot of people aren't taken their assignments seriously, he keeps reminding everyone, but hasn't taken any action yes, this is why democracy was a political system that was challenged because the government had little to no control over the actions of its people.
Relation to the authors life - Ralph and The Conch - William Golding lived through many desperate times including; WWII, Cold War, etc. William Golding was on the Democratic side of the Cold War that is why we have the conflict Good V.S. Evil, Ralph being Good and Jack being Evil, because the reality their is no good or evil in war. These desperate times exposed the worst and most primal behaviour in people, because they were just trying to survive, this a big factor of Golding's writing where he utilized the fatality of man and origin of evil.
Chapter 4 - Ralph looses his temper at the hunters for letting the fire go out while a boat was passing, he is loosing power when he sticks up for piggy when the rules were broken. This is Jack initial spark to begin a leadership of his own because he sees the weakness in Ralph's more diplomative style.
Chapter 6 - Later Jack feels he can seperate from Ralph and The Conch by challenging Ralph's leadership. Ralph shows more weakness and less power when he shows to Jack that he is willing to sacrifice himself by going up the cliffs first. Jack is angered by the thought Ralph won't move to the other side of the island. So, essentially there is a lose of power on Ralph's behalf because he is showing more weakness.
- Ralph, What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch. This quote of Ralph's is a sudden realization that everything he has done in order for thier stay on the island has been undone, everything they have achieved has been destroyed, Piggy was killed, The Conch was destroyed, the boys were lost in their own world, and all levels of civilization has descended into savagery.
Chapter 5 - Ralph finally decides to point out the flaws of everyones attitude towards being rescued. He reminds the people that if they proceed to disobey the rules they will fall apart, this portion entices Jack to begin a reign of his own. So there's a lose of power for Ralph and The Conch.
Ralph waved the conch. Shut up! Wait! Listen!" He went on in the silence, borne on in his triumph. There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." A fire! Make a fire!" At once half the boys were on their feet. Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten. This is an important exerpt where it first establishes the boys not following the rules and mainly emphasizing Jack. This also reflects the child like mentality of children and how they are use to breaking rules and disobeying their orders.
Chapter 7 - Ralph participates in his first hunt which, shows his ability for change and future stablizes his leadership. Later after the hunt Ralph trys to convince the kids that what were doing was playing and in actually not doing anything beneficial. They climb the mountain and Ralph feels a loss of care for the Hunter's safety because he is a bit irritated with Jack. They Later see what they believe is a beast.
Chapter 8 - At the beginning the kids are in an uproar of fear, after having proof of the beast (actually a parachute flopping in the wind) this is the turning point of the book where the Hunters disband camp to make their own establishment in an effort to hunt more pigs.
Chapter 9 - Ralph and Piggy attend the feast of Jack's to try and try reason with him, but end up watching the sacrificial ceremony of their dear friend Simon. This chapter portrayed the swift change of once civilized boys to primal animals, Ralph and Th e Conch have very little power and influence on the boys now and this is why many of them fled to Jack's encampment.
Chapter 10 - This Chapter Ralph looses his ability to lead the group as he is tainted by the fact that he participated in a murder. Later that night Ralph's encampment gets raided by Jack and Piggy's glasses get stolen, and so does the power to make the fire.... This is very bad because Ralph has no power and all of the others boys have either disbanded his leadership or have been thinking about it.
Chapter 11 - After Ralph's group fail attempting to try and light a fire they plead Jack's group to listen to reason. This results in Piggy's death and the destruction of The Conch, this symbolizes all loss of rational thinking, logic, and Civilization.
Chapter 12 - This is the final chapter that follows the horrific experience of Ralph's survival, he is plunged into the forest part of the island where he must hide from Jack. Jack *irrantionaly* thinking burns down the whole island in attempt to kill Ralph but doesn't realized the amount of attention it would attract. This attracts the navy, which in turn end up rescueing the boys from their mental humanity and physical situation. This is a very important concept because the boys felt that the adults can solve all the problems in the world, ironically the adults are in the same situation in the world of Lord of the Flies..
