Discussion Topic
What is the significance of what covers Ralph's face in the first chapter of Lord of the Flies?
Summary:
The significance of what covers Ralph's face in the first chapter of Lord of the Flies is that it symbolizes the loss of civilization and the descent into savagery. The dirt and grime reflect the boys' gradual transformation from orderly, well-behaved children to primal beings governed by their baser instincts.
In Chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies, what is on Ralph's face and why is it important?
In the passage in which the shadows "on Ralph's face are reversed with green above, bright below from the lagoon," they are as they were when he stands on his head earlier in the chapter. Thus, there is here an indication that things are reversed as
Ralph looked through him [Piggy]. Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life.
Ralph smiles as he realizes that he is in an inverted world in which the children are in charge. This is a world which he has dreamed about--the reality catches him. And, of course, the significance of this moment cannot be missed by the reader who, in retrospect, understands the foreshadowing of problems as the boys are on their own without the assistance and guidance of civilization, as represented by adults. With Ralph it is a new beginning (green) born from the sea (blue).
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