preview

Essay On Ralph In Lord Of The Flies

Decent Essays

Over the course of the novel, Ralph loses his leadership qualities, becomes less confident, and becomes more sensitive which causes the boys to lose faith in him and sparks tremendous violence.
During the earlier chapters of Lord of the Flies, Ralph proved to be a strong leader, but this changes as the novel goes on. Ralph used to be an extremely powerful individual, and did not let anyone or anything get in his way. At one point, when things do not happen as Ralph had planned, he yells at the boys and says, “ I was chief, and you were going to do what I said” (70-71). Ralph did not like what was happening, and clearly communicated that this was not what he wanted. In a way, he “punished” the boys by yelling at them, and showed them that the actions they took were not acceptable. This is a valued quality of a strong leader: being able to show people the difference between right and wrong. As the novel continues on, Ralph starts to change, and does not demonstrate the qualities of being an effective leader. He becomes more of a follower, which leads the other boys to lose faith in him. When the boys go hunting, mob mentality takes a hold of Ralph. He gets caught up with the excitement and joins in on what the other boys are doing, even though it goes strictly against what he values. Ralph is not acting the way a leader should. This mob mentality was shown after the boys almost killed the pig, when “Ralph, carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and

Get Access