Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of boys stranded on a tropical island to illustrate the evil characters of humanity. Lord of the Flies addressed the changes that boys go through as they gradually become accustomed to freedom from the outside world. Three main characters imagined different effects on the other boys. Jack Merridew started out as a domineering and arrogant leader of a choir. The freedom of the island allowed him to further develop the dark side of his personality as the leader of a wild tribe. Ralph started out as a confident boy whose confidence came from the approval of others. He was kind because he was willing to listen to Piggy. He became more and more dependent on Piggy's wisdom and lost himself in the confusion around him. Towards the end of the story, when he was chased away by the wild boys, he was forced to live without Piggy and live alone. Piggy was a polite boy, more mature than the others, used to being picked on. His experiences on the island were a reality check of how extreme people can be with their words. Ralph was presented as a fair and nice guy. His interaction with Piggy demonstrated his kind nature as he did not call him with hateful intentions like Jack had. His good looks allowed him to be well accepted among his peers, and this gave him enough confidence. His handsome features and conch shell as a symbol of power and order set him apart from the crowd of boys and led to his being proclaimed Chief: "There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that set him apart: there was his size, and attractive looking; and more obscurely, but more powerfully, was the conch" (p. 24). From the quick decisions he made as a leader at the beginning of the novel, it could be seen that Ralph was well organized. Gradually, Ralph became confused and began to lose reality in his thoughts and speech: "Ralph was puzzled by the shutter that flickered in his brain. There was something he wanted to say; then the shutter was lowered." (p. 156) He began to feel lost when the boys, with the exception of Piggy, began to change and adapt to their freedom. He was more influenced by Piggy than by Jack.