In Lord of the Flies how is Ralph different now from the way he was the first time he walked the beach?

Answer 1

At the beginning of the book Ralph was excited and deliriously happy to be on a real tropical island without any adults to spoil the potential to have fun and enjoy himself. The sun shone bright, there was a wonderful, warm, bathing pool and lots of boys to have as friends. Ralph stood on his head for joy and proclaimed the place to be a 'good island.' Later the reality of life had altered Ralph's view. He was cynically aware that while the boys would agree to almost anything during a meeting they lacked the motivation and will to carry any of their plans through. Even the simplest of things, such as keeping a fire lit, seemed to be beyond them. Ralph had witness the gradual disintegration of the rule of law on the island and feared, with good cause, the direction in which things were ultimately heading. Looking back at the sunshine filled days of hope he felt he was viewing those first days as a bright childhood and that the bitter realities had made him feel so much older and more cynical.

Answer 2

At the start of the book Ralph was deliriously happy to find himself on a tropical island, happy enough to stand on his head from sheer pleasure. He told the other boys that they were on a 'good island' where they could have fun while they waited to get rescued. At the end of the book Ralph wept for the loss of innocence, the darkness in men's hearts and the death of his true friend, Piggy. Ralph had learned through bitter experience that his optimistic belief in the certainty of rescue and the essential goodness of others was naive and that in reality everyone had within them the capacity for evil and violence.