Lord of the Flies character sketch

  Ralph is a fair looking boy who is also very responsible. He became the leader of the kids after he used a conch to collect all the kids together. He has a very clear goal, to let every kid on the island leave the island safely. He put the fire as the first place while most of the other kids seem more likely to just play around or go hunting. It is very hard on Ralph that most of the kids don’t like his rules while he only wants everyone to be safe and happy.

1.      “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” (Ch1, p17)

Explanation: Ralph knew that they should have rules to survive from the island. He is a responsible chief who keeps claiming that the rule should be followed, while Jack only thinks about having fun.

2.      “Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be--what do you want them to be?” (Ch1, p12)

Explanation: This quote shows that even Ralph is the chief, he still respect Jack and Jack’s mind, unlike Jack, who becomes a total tyrant later in the story.

3.      "Listen, Ralph. Never mind what's sense. That's gone--"

“They hate you, Ralph. They're going to do you.” (Ch12, p106)

Explanation: These are quotes near the end of the story. They show the change of Jack’s feeling towards Ralph. At the beginning of the story, they were good friends, but now, Jack can’t hold on the rules anymore and he starts to hate Ralph who always wants to keep rules.

4.      "What have I done? I liked him--and I wanted us to be rescued--" (Ch12, p106)

Explanation: Ralph doesn’t understand why the other kids don’t like him. He thinks that he did all the decisions for them, he only wants to get out the island safely with any other kids including Jack. He never thinks about what other people would like to do, he should look things in the view of Jack too.

5.      "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." (Ch1, p20)

Explanation: The motivation of Ralph is to let every kid on the island to survive, and the most important thing is to keep the fire going on.