Ralph in Lord of the Flies

     Ralph, the protagonist in Lord of Flies, is a twelve-years-old English boy who is stuck on a deserted island with many other boys after the plane that is evacuating them from a war in their homeland has crushed and the pilot has gone missing. He is the oldest boy on the island and because of his “size… and attractive appearance”, he was elected as the leader of the boys on the island, even though Piggy, a boy with glasses, is clearly the more intelligent, and Jack, the chapter chorister of a choir of boys, is the most obvious leader (P19). My first impression for Ralph is a very charismatic leader. He possesses many leadership skills and is very clear on the rules that the children should obey. He tries hard to maintain orders among the boys. For example he knows when to talk and when not to, and uses the conch that has assembled the boys as an indicator of the right to speak at meetings so that the boys can only speak one at a time. But at first, Ralph is acting rather inexperienced as a leader when he encourages the boys to have fun and assures that they will be rescued very soon. When Peggy suggests that in order to get rescued, the boys should first start building shelters on the beach, Ralph ignores him and wants to make a big fire on the top of the mountains to make signals to ships passing by. All the boys favor Ralph’s idealistic assumption that the rescue is coming soon over Piggy’s harsh reality that “Nobody knows where [the boys] are”, so everyone rush up the mountain while Piggy tires uselessly to stop them (P32). Yet because the lack of organization and knowledge, the boys started a fire that burn down half the forest and kill an innocent six-years-old boy who might be playing in the forest at the time. Ralph’s character is relatable to immature politicians in our world. Some politicians are elected by people not because that they are capable but because their appearance, family background, and wealth, just as Ralph was elected by the boys for his physical attractiveness, despite his immaturity as a leader. The intension of these immature politicians might not be bad, but their lack of experience and practical knowledge often results in bad outcomes. But Ralph, unlike the incapable politicians in the real world, can easily be forgiven for his actions because the fact that he is a typical child. Different from Piggy who appears much more mature than his actual age, Ralph as a boy sees the island as a great adventure and enjoys the thrill of conquering the place. Therefore even though Ralph's unthoughtful command resulted in a disastrous conflagration, he is still a likable character to me because I feel sympathetic for the situation he is in. I personally hope that as the story progresses, Ralph will become more experienced as a leader of the group and become more practical in what he does for the group. Ralph will become a much better leader if he can adopt some of Piggy’s thoughtfulness and intelligence when considering matters. I think in order for Ralph to grow personally and mentally, he will have to accept Piggy as his friend and consider his opinion more often. Even though Ralph seems to prefer Jack to be his friend and offers Jack the to the leader of the choir, who are the hunters on the island, I feel that Jack has a very selfish and almost savagery desire for power. He is unhappy when Ralph is elected as the leader instead of him. After letting a pig ran from his hand, he cares little about the boys on the island, and all he focuses on is to kill a pig. Jack’s selfishness sharply contrasts Ralph’s wish of getting everyone rescued. I don’t think the two boys are able to be friends. In fact I think the closer they become with each other, the more conflict they will have and eventually become mutual enemies. I believe that Ralph is leader with many potential. I hope he can develop his leadership skills as the story progress and eventually be able to get all the boys rescued.

It was Beautiful

I've heard many times the witticism that our greatest enemies are ourselves, but I never really understood its meaning until I received a letter of challenge from the "other me". I was a very self-demanding person since I was a child and the reason I was able to keep my high standard was because I never had any serious failure in my life. But there was one unacceptable exception that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't master it: the piano. Reluctant to accept my failure, I silently made a vow to never play the piano ever again at the day my father sold my newly-bought piano for half its prize.

Years had passed since that day and I became a high school student. I understood that a person could not be perfect at everything and that my standards of being a perfect girl were very childish. As for the piano, I never touched on again and pretended if the instrument had never crossed roads with me. Yet it entered my life once more when I heard my friends talking about how piano examination could add bonus marks when applying to university. It was very tempting. The examination in Canada was much different than that in China; the Canadian version focused less on the technical part but more on the theoretical portion, which was my asset. But remembering my failure before and the anger on my parents' faces when I refused to play piano and they had to sell it cheaply, I didn't know how to ask or another piano.

Not long afterwards, I was shocked to hear my parents asking me for my opinion on playing the piano again for the examination. I didn't know how to reply and felt as if the annoying "other me" was pulling me away from my true wish. One part of me was holding back in fear for failing again; but the other side was dying to launch for the easy marks I could get for university. The opportunity lured me like gravity. Since I stopped playing piano, I kept myself from showing any sign of changing my mind. I was the one that decided to abandon playing piano because I didn’t want to look like a shallow and childish person who couldn’t even stick to her decision. So to avoid my parents thinking that, I put on a reluctant face and replied in a careless tone: “Sure, whatever you want.”

A couple weeks later, the piano that my father rented from Tom Lee was home. I had already prepared a piece of music and practiced on my table top, so I could continue my little lie that I didn’t give up because I couldn’t play but because I didn’t care to play. However, when I opened the piano’s shiny black lid to reveal its full mouth of black and white teeth, I felt like I was looking at a strange creature. The piano was different from what I remembered from a child’s perspective; it used to be much wider and the keys much larger. When I put my hands on the keys and tried to find the right position, my fingers felt so stiff that they couldn’t even move properly. Somewhere in my head a cursing voice kept mumbling “you can’t do it, you can’t do it…”, and both my arms started moving like mechanic arms of a clumsy robot. I realized the piece I played was so messed up with wrong notes and off- keys that it wasn’t music anymore. At that moment I hated the piano so much; it was like a monster with wide open mouth just to mock me!

Then I heard a sobbing voice from next door; it was my mother’s. I was so shocked and stopped my hands instantly. Was I that bad? I asked myself, and the feeling of guilt from the piano sale rushed back. That day my mother cried too, and I acted as if I didn’t care at all and was happy to get rid of the piano. She must have been so disappointed of me. Maybe I should just talk to my father to see if there is a way to return this piano. I couldn’t play it anyways. Just as I thought so and was ready to stand up and leave the piano, my mother’s voice came from next door: “Why stop? My dear, it was beautiful!”

I felt my eyes are suddenly flooded with hot tears. Then I realized how much I wanted to hear someone tell me that. I had been waiting for this praise, for someone to acknowledge my effort for too long. It was like the as if the only missing puzzle of my heart is filled in by these simple words. I was so satisfied and happy. I tried hard to control the tremble in my voice when I answered: “Nothing, I was just resting.” Then I put my hands back on the keyboard, took a deep breath, and started playing again. It was still filled with wrong and broken notes, still not a sing piece of complete melody existed, but I didn’t mind anymore, because my mother said it was beautiful.

My skills were improving day by day and now I think I’ll even have the confidence to play in front of my friends. To think back, the truly shallow and childish part was vowing not to play the piano ever again. But this silly little vow of a ten-years-old child grew into the greatest barrier I had ever encountered. It prevented me from touching the piano for six years, and six years I was finally able to overcome it. This simple matter of playing again created so many struggles because I ingrained the idea of rejecting the piano myself, and to be able to play again, I must face that rejecting part of myself first. This experience of overcoming the barrier set up by myself is the greatest challenge I ever had.