How does Lord of the Flies Prove Boys Need Adult Guidance to Grow into Civilised Adults?

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding, suggests that without adults, children will grow up fast. Some are followers and some will rise to the occasion and become leaders. All of these children have one thing in common: they all grew afraid and lose innocence because they have now are boundaries that are set up by adults. This is best shown through the character Ralph in Lord of the Flies. The book is about a group of boys aged between six through twelve, who is trapped on a desert island because their plane was on fire.

They have to form a society with structure and order so they could survive until someone come to save them.

The main characters in the story are Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Roger. They formed two groups that represent two very different societies. Ralph is the leader of the peaceful society whose main objective is to keep the fire going so they could be rescued. Piggy is his main supporter and Piggy represent common sense with physical limitations because he is fat. Jack is the leader of the hunter tribe, and Roger is a person behind Jack that intimidates as well as pushes Jack to do things the hunter ways.

In the beginning, Ralph has been just innocent and trying to have fun and dreaming of being rescued by his dad. He was doing nothing and just relaxing while waiting for his dad to rescue him. I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets left, he’ll come and rescue us, what’s your father? (13). This quote shows that Ralph believes that they would be rescued. The quote shows that he is very young at heart and does not know what it takes and planned on how he could be rescued because of him, he was so carefree he just thought of his dad can just come and save him. Furthermore, he is still very kind to not have any adult to tell him not to do and he was pumped about his newfound freedom. He is enjoying this new freedom. Ralph was very excited about No grownups(8). He was enthusiastic and eager about all the possibilities of things he could do now. He is not worried yet about anything. To Ralph, this is still an adventure and things are still fun. The shell was interesting and pretty and a worthy plaything (16). This quote shows that he is not very worried about anything yet. He still looks at the things for it prettiness more than its usefulness. The two quotes show that Ralph is still very young and did not worry about anything yet. He still thinks that the problems will magically solve itself.

As the story progressed, Ralph learned very quickly that there are things that needed to be done to survive and be rescued. The kids started to get scared when night fell because there might be a monster out on the island. As talks of monster increased among the little kids, the older kids started to feel scared too. Slowly, fear of monster crept into the group of children. Ralph a lot learned there are a lot of things to do to survive on the island. The two main things these children need to worry about is food and shelter. Since Ralph is elected to be the leader, he needs to come up with a plan so they could survive and be rescued. He started to divide the group up into two groups to help with the chores of foods and shelter. One group is responsible for making shelters, while the other is responsible for bringing in the food. Thus this created the two group. He was disappointed because there was a boat passing by while the fire was out, so they lost the chance to be rescued.

What Ralph always held on is hope; he hopes to keep the fire going so they could be rescued; he hopes that he can talk sense to the hunter society so they can work together to benefit everyone. He turned to the twins, yearning but hopeless (113). Ralph is starting to feel other emotion too. He wants other kids to help him out, but he knows and realized it was hard for other kids to do what is necessary when there is not an adult to tell them to do it.

Ralph carried away by excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it (114). To emphasize that he is having different and more complex emotion he is feeling the excitement of the group as a whole, especially when the group is doing something exciting like celebrating a successful hunt. In the middle of the book, Ralph had complex emotions as well as character development. As he lost control of his group because the hunters felt superior to the rest of the group members that are not hunters. He started to realize that it is not easy being a leader, especially with a group of kids that do not want to follow directions is very difficult. He also learned that he cannot get respect without some kind of proof that he is worthy of it. His group is falling apart due to different opinions.

By the end of the book, Ralph never strays away from his hope of being rescued because he is trying to keep the fire burning so passing by boat can see the smokes. Jack and Roger from the hunter tribe are getting out of control; they no longer want to work with Ralph and his group. Jack’s group is living like savages, painting their faces and going out hunting, and didn’t really care about being rescued. You could have had whenever you wanted. But you didn’t. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy’s glasses(176). This quote shows that Ralph is willing to work with Jack’s group, but the other group members do not feel the same way. Ralph is angry that the other groups cannot live peacefully with each other. Ralph asked the hunters, Which is better law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up? (169). This quote shows that Ralph is more interest in law and order and being rescued. Ralph wants to have a peaceful society that focuses on getting along with each other.

Throughout the story, Ralph is growing emotionally as well as physically. He grew from an innocent, carefree boy to a worried person for his group members and then about his life. Without adults to structure and supervise, Ralph loses his carefree nature, and the children lose their innocence. They can’t distinguish between play and real anymore. The group accidentally and later on purposely killed another kid. It is like the strong group that wins and the member of the work group either follow the strong group or being hunted like an animal and eventually die.

At the beginning of the story, Ralph was swimming untroubled by thoughts of what is going to happen, then he gradually became disappointed in others, finally, he felt fear for his life when the hunter tribe tried to hunt him. Children’s always need adult supervision because without structure and boundary kids will grow up to be wild. Rhyme and reason do not work well with kids when there are no adults present.

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