Ralph demonstrates his empathy toward others numerous times in Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies. As the elected leader of the group, Ralph attempts to establish a civil society on the uninhabited tropical island. Ralph demonstrates empathy for others by sympathizing with the littluns and attempting to construct shelters on the beach. Ralph understands that the littluns fear the beast and believes that the shelters will make them more comfortable and ease their minds at night. Ralph also explores the island with Jack and his hunters to ensure the littluns that a beast does not exist on the island. In addition to showing empathy for the littluns, Ralph sympathizes with Piggy by continually standing up to Jack for threatening and intimidating him. After Jack and the majority of the boys establish their own tribe of savages at the other end of the island, Ralph begins showing more empathy for Piggy and Samneric. When Jack and his hunters steal Piggy's glasses, Ralph shows empathy by traveling with Piggy to Castle Rock, where they demand that Jack return his spectacles.
Empathy is undoubtedly one of Ralph's main characteristics, as well as one of his greatest strengths. His behavior is consistently empathetic towards the other boys throughout the story. For instance, he goes to some lengths to reassure the littluns that there isn't a savage beast roaming the island. Jack, on the other hand, is keen to maintain a general sense of fear; it will make him more powerful as the boys will instinctively look to him to protect them from the beast. Sometimes, however, Ralph's empathy can be a bit of a drawback as it leads him to make decisions that don't quite make sense. He treats Samneric (Sam and Eric), the identical twins, as one person when it comes to building a fire as he doesn't want to separate them; they do everything together. It takes the ever-rational Piggy to point out how unproductive this is.
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