Ralph’s Psychological Allegory Throughout William Golding’s novel
Lord of the Flies
, Ralph, the protagonist, displays wisdom, common sense and rationality. He has the ability to be strong, courageous and is a suitable leader for the other boys who survived the plane crash with him. In a psychological allegory aspect, Ralph is one of the more known boys on the deserted island that thinks rationally rather than indiscreetly. Due to his rational thinking, Ralph is voted as the leader on the island to keep the peace. Throughout the novel, Ralph and the antagonist, named Jack, continuously come into conflict with one another and thus multiple disagreements arise. Unlike Jack, Ralph consistently thinks of ways to survive on the island. One of Ralph’s main priorities is making a large fire at the top of the mountain and maintaining it, so it can be viewed from afar by potential rescuers.
“If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain” (37). While Ralph hopes to be rescued, he understands that they need to survive until that happens and therefore always makes conscious decisions. For example, Ralph thinks about how to shelter the group from unfavorable weather conditions, such as rain. “If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters all right…” (52). By doing this Ralph demonstrates his leadership skills and rational thinking. Ralph is the conscious mind of the group and he plays a careful balancing game
