Roger's Apology to Ralph — Letter from Lord of the Flies

Roger's Apology Letter to Ralph

Date: Monday, February 11, 2018

From: Roger

For: Ralph

Hello Ralph!

Ralph, I know it's been a while since we were rescued from the island — exactly four months. In all this time I've been thinking a lot about everything that happened on the island and all the fights you had with Jack. You know that by becoming Jack's right-hand many things changed in me. I liked abusing others too much and making them suffer; I enjoyed the idea of destroying things, but I do not know why I came to like killing animals and, in the end, even the boys.

When you return home, talk to several people, especially my parents; they made me realize all the mistakes I made. I know that everything I did on the island was wrong, and when I started to become aware of everything I had done, I started looking for you — I needed to tell you everything I felt. Joining Jack was one of the worst things I could do; thanks to his influence I became a killer. Now that this time has passed I realize that you and Piggy were very right when creating and imposing rules to survive on the island. Maybe if we had listened to you when you said that we should keep the fire to be rescued quickly, everything would have been different and nothing serious would have happened, and Piggy would still be alive.

Now that I'm back home and thinking clearly, I want to tell you that I'm very sorry to have killed your friend Piggy. Note that on the island you two became close friends, and this is why I'm writing all this to apologize to you. I know that his death caused great pain, leaving you without anyone to help you on the island, and for that I am truly sorry. You know I'm also very sorry to have broken the conch; it was a symbol of authority among all, and I crushed it when I threw that big rock on top of Piggy and everything came down. So much so that in that moment, with the whole tribe, we also wanted to kill you. I also apologize for that since we only followed Jack's orders.

I'm not going to lie to you: at that moment I felt a huge pleasure to see Piggy dead and when you started chasing me. But now, just remembering his image on the sand, dying of fear, it was the worst thing I could have done. At night I still dream of that image. I can't believe I killed a human being.

I know this does not fix everything I did or bring Piggy back, but at least it reassures me a little to know that I have apologized to you. You were a great friend of his and you do not know how much I regret having done all this.

I hope you accept my apologies. Thanks for reading this; I await your response.

Sincerely,

Roger.