Ralph's Song 'Keep Your Head Up'

The song “Keep Your Head Up” is an excellent representation of Ralph’s character since it’s about remaining optimistic and hopeful, even in the hard times, which is what Ralph tries to do. The lyric, “You’ll turn out fine” corresponds to Ralph’s attitude, especially during the beginning of Lord of the Flies when he says, “’This is our island. This is a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun’” (Golding 35). Ralph continuously tells the boys that they’ll be rescued and that everything will be all right. The line in the song that says, “It’s kinda hard to watch this life go by” reminds me of the beginning of chapter seven when Ralph is thinking about how much the boys’ appearances have changed. He realizes how dirty and unkempt they all look, as opposed to how clean they looked before they landed on the island. …show more content…
The verse, “Seeing all the angles, starts to get tangled/I start to compromise/My life and the purpose/Is it all worth it/Am I gonna turn out fine?” matches the part of the story a page after the last quote when Ralph sees the ocean and starts to doubt that they’ll ever be rescued. This hopeless feeling is best shown when Golding describes, “On the other side of the island, swathed by the midday with mirage, defended by the shield of the quiet lagoon, one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the ocean, one was helpless, one was condemned…”