In Lord of the Flies, William Golding experiments with what could happen to a group of young of boys left in new surroundings with no adults present. The main characters of this novel are quickly established and are the oldest or tallest of the boys. All the characters change and develop enormously over the period of time when they have to adjust to living on the island.

The reader is introduced to Ralph first, as the 'boy with fair hair'. Ralph enjoys standing on his head and shows how impulsive he is when he dives straight into the water. This suggests that he has little common sense and so may be irresponsible. He also appears to be a daydreamer and is convinced that his father will rescue him so does not face the reality of what has actually happened.

'how does he know were here?'...because, thought Ralph because because.'

Ralphs' father being in the navy could mean that Ralph has had a privileged upbringing which might be why he feels superior to Piggy and doesn't think much of him. This is shown when Ralph orders Piggy to 'get my clothes', and when he broke his promise by telling the boys his nickname was Piggy. Ralph had possessio

Jack associated everything he sees with hunting, for example he uses the fire for heating up meat he has hunted instead of as a way to get rescued and he doesn't believe in the beastie but likes the idea of hunting it down.. Jack mainly changes physically and mentally in chapters three and four as the following quotation show

All the characters in the story develop, in general the evil side of the character is unleashed, like in Jack or the characters become better, like Simon. Either way Golding developed each character in their own individual way so that they represented different types of people in the supposedly civilised adult world.

'his nose only a few inches from the humid earth...dog-like...bolting...he became a furtive thing, ape-like.... His hair, longer...peeling sunburn...he was naked.... eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad....the madness came into his eyes...rage...compulsion....

The first thing Ralph says as leader is 'I can't decide what to do straight of...'. He does not display authority or apply a task to anyone, so the boys have to find their own things to do, so he does not seem to have the qualities to make a good leader. However, the fact that his main priority is to get rescued and build shelters to survive, and that he tries to keep the island civilised shows that his 'common sense' is developing.

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Piggy Ralph, Ralph Jack, Piggy Golding, William Golding, Jesus Christ, Simon Golding, Ralph Piggy, Lord Flies, build shelters, main characters, leader 'i, boys simon, essential illness', golding describes, boys ralph, civilisation jack, lord flies,
Approximate Word count = 1583
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)