Lord of the Flies Chap. 1

In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies, it seems like the center or main character of the story so far is Ralph. Ralph is is the boy first described as the fair haired boy in the beginning, and the narrator seems to follow him more than any other character. Ralph is shadowed by the boy named Piggy, and for some reason seems very nonchalant and almost happy about being on the island. He doesn't seem to see the bad side of the island, and has not fully realized the weight of the situation yet. He acts mostly worry free. "Ralph looked through him. Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life. Ralph's lips parted into a delighted smile..." (Golding, 13) Ralph is still a child, and doesn't see the world as a threatening place yet. He sees everything as a soft place. When Ralph and Piggy find the shell in the lagoon later on in the story, Ralph blows it to assemble the other boys on the island. Soon, boys of all ages show up around the surrounding forest and sit on the platform around in a circle with Ralph. Piggy begins to take names while Ralph continues to blow. Soon, a group led by a boy named Sam (a.k.a Merridew), calling themselves The Choir, show up from across the beach. They all assemble and make the decision of voting for a leader. At first, Sam seems to be the obvious leader. Piggy also seems like a likely candidate with his intellect standing out. But for some reason, possessively for the sole reason of being the one who assembled them, Ralph is voted as chief. "None of the boys could have found a good reason for this; what intelligence had been shown was traceable back to Piggy, while the most obvious leader was Jack. " (Golding, 21) Ralph is obviously the character to be most viewed and traced in the story, and he may not represent anything more than a average boy. We shall soon see.