2A_ralph


 * Michael C. (May 29th, 2010) -** Ralph is the main character in the novel. His guidance is toward rescue, by use of the fire. But the boys look for fun, which Jack promises and delivers, unlike Ralph, who tries to install a hope in the boys, but to no avail. Piggy sadly gets in the middle of the conflict. This song is heard by Ralph when Piggy is killed, and Ralph runs into the forest. Ralph sees Piggy as innocent and caring, but murdered in this horrible power play. The death of Piggy is the greatest tragedy, due to his direct murder. With Simon, no one wanted to hurt him, but they got carried away. Now, Ralph is on his own, with the rest of the tribe wanting to kill him, similar to Simba in the Lion King: on his own, being chased, and suffering a deep loss.

Song: "This Land", //from the Lion King//, by Hans Zimmer, from 0:00 to 1:35media type="youtube" key="BzSDJnhYmpw" height="385" width="480"


 * Vinson -** Ralph represents the people in society who need to make a decision to follow a certain ideology. On the island, Piggy represents the idea of order and democracy. His multiple suggestions to create an adult like society shows this. On the other hand, Jack represents chaos, and anarchy. He wants to create a nation of loose morals, where its members are epicurean, existing for no reason other than pleasure. Ralph at first follows Piggy's suggestions, and attempts to create a life as normal as possible. Later, when the society degrades, ralph thinks that order has been lost. However, this is not true because order had never been established before, in either the adult world nor the island. Ralph himself turns from a believer in ordered society to chaos when he sees the "beast." At this moment, Ralph has become nothing better than a second Jack. This moment is represented by the organ piece "Toccata and Fugue in d minor". the classic scary music reflects Ralph's realization that order is lost. Maybe even phantom of the opera. media type="youtube" key="ipzR9bhei_o" height="385" width="480"


 * Tracy** **(May 31, 2010)**- Despite Ralph's determination to be rescued, he holds doubts on whether or not he and his companions would ever be able to escape from the island. Since Jack left the fire unintended, there has not been another ship going near the island. As the days dragged on, Ralph realizes the filth that he and the boys have been living in and results in consulting the group to keep their headquarters more hygienic. At this moment, Ralph expresses passionately the urgency of the signal fire and keeping their area sanitary. Jack, on the other hand, doesn't care about the sanitary aspect of the island, but rather on the stock of pigs abroad to hunt and kill. When majority of the biguns followed Jack's tribe, Ralph experiences a sense of hopelessness of being chief and most importantly being rescued. This moment in time in the story can be portrayed in the song "Hopeless" by Breaking Benjamin. The whole song encompasses Ralph's emotions as most of the boys abandoned him to follow Jack.

media type="youtube" key="EHDdR9lWfUI" height="385" width="480"

Although Ralph realizes that order is lost and is plagued by the undying feeling that he and the other kids will never get rescued; I believe that he still hasn't given up all hope. The song, "A Song of Simplicity" (Something like that, I'll check later), perfectly illustrates this mood. This song gives the listener a sort of hopeful feeling while at the same time it has a very solemn tone; I think the best way to depict this song is through the analogy of a person running and falling but not giving up. When I listen to this song I can imagine a person running and stumbling, falling but not giving up, recovering and running; a sense of undying hope along with the acknowledgment of the hardships. This acknowledgment of the hardships gives it a mature feel, not some naive song a fool would listen to in total denial that misfortunes do occur. Ralph in this case reminds me of the runner as he strives to gain order and maintain it just like the runner tries to run and maintain his running posture. Also, the stumbling/tripping and falling the runner experiences can represent the troublesome characters such as Jack who tends to hinder Ralph's plans like a boulder/rock in the way or it can represent the fallbacks the kids had such as the process burning down half the forest, their failure to build shelter, or the failure to keep the fire up when it was most needed. Ralph acknowledges these problems and does not run from them, he tries to attack them head on and keep moving forward; but of course pure persistence does not always win the race, support is also a key to victory (in this case the rest of the kids).
 * Kevin** - I'll put the song up later, currently doing this at school, only available time I have.

media type="youtube" key="fELBk3ddwe4" height="385" width="480"

media type="youtube" key="OZ0HnmGKLVA" width="425" height="350"
 * Vivian (June 2, 2010)** - After the death of Simon and Piggy, Ralph realizes that everything on the island has changed drastically. The boys starts with using rules as a basic civilization in the beginning, but ends acting brutal, careless about other people's lives. As their "journey" on the island continues, they have become animal-like, transforming into the "survivors of the fittest." The lyric " I could use a dream or a genie or a wish/ To go back to a place much simpler than this/ Cause after all the partying/ The smashing and crashing/ And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion/ And after all the pandemonium and all the madness/ There comes a time when you fade to the blackness" from "Airplanes" illustrates Ralph's inner thought of how he no longer wants to stay on the island that is lack of grown-ups to control the boys. As Ralph sees conflicts within the tribe, he doubt his position as the chief and starts to ask himself what has happened to their civilized society built in the beginning. Following their death, it seems as if Ralph has developed internal conflicts within himself about all the events that had happened on the island, depicting how he does not want to face such an uncivilized society where everyone is killing each other for their own survival. At moments like this, his eagerness to be saved intensifies, hoping that he does not have to stand in such position anymore.

media type="youtube" key="_bpS-cOBK6Q" width="425" height="350"
 * Jonathan**- At the beginning of the novel Ralph is chosen leader by the rest of the children. He seemed to stand out to all the others and to them and give them hope that soon they will be rescued and return back to society. Ralph is more mature compared to all the other characters and wishes to establish some normality in their current state which is what gives him potential of becoming great leader. His strong moral compass is what keeps him from acting like all the others and the desire to be rescued and go back to live in an ordered society. He never does lose that strong connection to his homeland and tries to make this island feel like home. Ralph is able to stay strong although he is surrounded by all the childish games of the others which is why the song "Green Onions" fits in. This song comes out in the movie "The Sandlot" and it has a cheerful and playful tone to it. Like the movie, with this song I can picture Ralph and the rest of the kids trying to work but having fun as well just like the kids from the movie they played baseball without caring about anything else in the world. The guitar solo can be seen as Ralph stepping up and trying to get order when he sees other are getting too off task.


 * Amrita (June 4th, 2010) -** "The Council Chamber" (from the 300 Soundtrack) has an interesting arrangement in that it begins peaceful and starts to build up into a dramatic sequence and finally into a solemn mood. I think this reflects Ralph's progression throughout out the book as a character. At first, everyone (except Jack) likes Ralph and everything is at peace. One minute into the song, the music becomes dark, kind of like Ralph and Jack's relationship. As the music progresses it becomes darker and darker, which relates to how Ralph's situation and overall relation with the tribe becomes worse. At 1:56, the low brass sound takes the final stance of the situation, which illustrates the last and worst possible thing that could happen to Ralph, be hunted. At about 2:00, the mood becomes lighter again, as suggested by the French horn entrance, but the feeling is a mixed reaction because on one side, its peaceful and accomplished, yet its defeat. The last part of the song relates to how Ralph and the other boys did survive but at the cost of Simon and Piggy's lives, a bittersweet moment.

media type="youtube" key="32ar0R5iABw" height="385" width="480"

media type="youtube" key="XbI1FpLd4Vk" height="385" width="480"
 * Marlon (June 3 2010)-** The title "clocks" represent a running out of time situation for a person. For Ralph, being on the island, he believes in being rescued as soon as possible. So Ralph is stuck in a mind set that seems to always be in a hurry. in the song, "The lights go out and I can't be saved...Oh i beg, i beg, and plead singing". This part of the song relates to the situation of the island. As the leader, Ralph is the more hopeful for a rescue ship then the rest. This shows his desperation but also his maturity as the chosen leader. As for any leader, they can adapt to any situation. good or bad. In relation to the book, Ralph fells the need for urgency and takes action quickly. In the last stanza of the song, it repeats "Home, home where i wanted to go". this quote further explains his mindset as they try to survive in the island. His anger due to missing the ship that passed by indicates his deep desperation to go home.