In The Lord of the Flies, the author, William Golding, creates a story about a boy named Ralph. Ralph must confront the deepest and darkest corners of the human heart while stranded on an island with other characters that represent facets of himself. Although Ralph begins as an average child who was never before forced to see the reality of life, he is completely transformed by the end of the novel. Every chance that Golding has, he shows the way Ralph was and the way he must become.

The first portion of Ralph's character that is present throughout most of the novel is his lack of cognitive devices. He fails to think through the fact that no one knew that they were alive and on the island. Later, he was "forced at last to believe the reality of the island." On page 11, Piggy must point out that they...