What makes up a leader? In the book Lord of the Flies, whose author is William Golding, this question wasn’t well thought through before a leader was chosen. Though the main characters are only little kids, they had a challenging choice they had to make; they had not the slightest idea that the choice that they would make might amount to some of them losing their lives. In the Lord of the Flies, a group of boys from an all-boys school, crash-landed on an inhabited island. Upon arriving on the island, they had to choose who would be chief. Mostly everybody chose the same kid as a chief. Though, only a handful of boys, the choir boys were loyal to their choir leader, Jack, voted him as chief. Yet the result was the same, Ralph was chief. The reason behind why the kids nominated Ralph chief was because he looked more appealing than jack and he seemed to know what to do. Like for instance, the kids were bewildered when they saw that Ralph had the conch in his hands and that he was not the “man with a trumpet.” Then they realized that Ralph was “the man with the trumpet” and perceived that he would make a fine leader. I say overall: his honesty, his ability to …show more content…
Nicole smith writes in her article, “What Ralph represents symbolically is more meaningful to the boys at this point than his actual skills,” (smith). This is true, even though the kids were not told that ralph was supposed to symbolize leadership, order, and responsibility, they saw somehow that he was made up of those things. This idea is supported in the novel where it says, “They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority,” (Golding 59). The kids see Ralph as a natural leader. He keeps order and is organized. The kids are satisfied that ralphs is responsible about doing his job as a proper
Ralph is a character whose actions make him represent democracy. In chapter 2, Ralph establishes a rule that whoever holds the conch may speak at the assembly. “That’s what this shell's called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking”(31). By establishing this rule, Ralph planted the foundation of democracy for the boys. Later in the story, even though Jack draws most of the boys into savagery, Ralph still held onto the belief
At the time, Ralph heavily influences the boys and their actions for he resembles “the men with the megaphones” (18). He attempts to create order among the boys with rules, but most of the boys would rather play than follow the rules—for there are no adults to enforce them. With the role of leadership thrust upon him, Ralph has no choice but to stop playing games. His goals are to protect the boys and increase their chances of being rescued; however, the responsibility on Ralph’s shoulders soon begins to weigh him down. As “Ralph [watches the boys], envious and resentful” (75), the obligation to care for everyone on the island is a heavy burden to bear. His role as leader has forced Ralph to forget the joys of being an innocent kid and given him the encumbrance of responsibility, which causes the start of his maturation.
This quote illustrates that the boys respect and listen to Ralph, and the possession of the conch cements the idea of Ralph keeping the boys sane. Later on, Ralph becomes extremely emotional when the boys were rescued. “Ralph, weeping for the end of innocence and the darkness of man’s heart, is weeping for all men, the officer and his crew included” (Reilly, 10). This quote supports the fact that numerous contradicting emotions go through his head, once the group is rescued. To clarify, Jack is a better leader than Ralph, but some people can argue that this is not a true statement.
Ralph possesses the leadership skill of responsibility. Responsibility is being accountable for something or someone. In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies Ralph takes on the responsibility of being the leader on the island and the responsibility of setting rules. “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there…and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” (Golding, pg.42) This quote shows how Ralph was taking on the responsibility of being the leader and of setting more rules. He establishes the rules and arranges meetings with his group to make sure everything is running smooth. Ralph also tries to make the “littluns” feel safe from the beast. Ralph tries to make sure that everyone on the island feels like they are safe
Ralph is the main protagonist in the story and he is the leader of the children on the island. Since Ralph was voted leader, he has the characteristics of leadership and he brings civilization and order to the story. Unlike the other boys, Jack and Simon, Ralph’s main focus is to get off the island instead of having fun. For example, Ralph tried constructing huts with Simon; meanwhile, the boys are playing and running off having fun. In the beginning of the story, Ralph’s power with the children was secure; however, towards the end, that power is being transferred to Jack. Ralph represents the
In society, there are often people who acquire strong leadership qualities and understand what it means to be a favorable leader. Other times, there are people who have strong qualities to lead, but they do not understand how to be a favorable leader and create a safe and comfortable environment for those following them. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the characters of Ralph and Jack arise as two different leaders who bear strong characteristics and they both seek power on the island. The boys become leaders in their own ways, creating individual environments that prioritize different matters, all while trying to work towards their rescue off the island.
In a group, there are always people who prove to have better leadership skills then others. The strongest of these people can often influence the weaker people into following them. However, the strongest person is not necessarily the best leader as it is proven in William Golding's book, The Lord of the Flies. Although Ralph is the weaker person, he is still able to show a better understanding of people than Jack who is stronger. Ralph demonstrates his excellent leadership skills throughout the book by keeping the group in line, treating everyone with respect, and staying focused on getting rescued.
He is a natural leader that tries to keep the boys focused on the end goal of rescue. When many of the boys begin to waver in their dedication to this goal, he reprimands them, saying “‘Do all of you see?...We’ve got to make smoke up there – or die.’” (Golding 81). He shows bravery when the boys are hunting the beast. When “Jack went red” (Golding 104) at the suggestion that he should confront the beast in its castle, Ralph says, “I'm chief. I'll go. Don't argue.” (Golding 104). A final example of his heroism is when he stands up for the weaker boys, such as the littluns (the younger boys) and Piggy. When Jack is angered with Ralph for trying to “Keep Piggy out of danger.” (Golding 101), Ralph says, “Have some sense. What can Piggy do with only one eye?” (Golding 101). Ralph is not afraid of becoming unpopular when he is trying to maintain order, but this may be one of his many unheroic flaws. Ralph is seemingly unable to comprehend that he must take into account what others want to do if he wants them to like him. He ignores their pleas for rest when they discover a castle-like structure and scolds them for not helping in the building of their shelters. While he may be right in the fact that they weren’t doing enough to help, he is harming his own image, contributing to the downfall of order. Additionally, Ralph is not immune to the inner evil within them all, as “Piggy and Ralph,
Ralph in one of the very first characters we meet in the book. When we meet him he seems like any 12-year old boy would be/act. Ralph is also a kid who is very mature for his age and smart. In this story the narrator shows he is a very mature kid in the beginning of the book by saying "‘Shut up,’" said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things’” (William 22). Having the author have Ralph say this shows us readers that Ralph is giving the suggestion to the boys that they
The existence of mankind on earth relies on various factors. The basic needs for us humans to survive are food, water, shelter etc. These though, are only the physical needs of man. Humans also have social and mental needs. These needs require us humans to have law and order to be able to coexist peacefully with ourselves, nature and the environment. The only way that law and order can be achieved in human society is by a higher authority, or some form of government and/or leader. William Golding tries to touch on some of these aspects of our civilization through the various characters he creates in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Leadership plays a very important role in the novel as it does in real life for us, because the characters need
At the beginning of the novel, Golding depicts Ralph as the natural leader. However his only claim to leadership is his good looks, and that he, first blew the conch. From the start of the novel Ralph is forced to take responsibility through the symbolic conch, being voted “chief”, and possessing a natural propensity for leadership as he is confident, eloquent and attractive. Additionally, on page 31 Ralph progresses to the realisation that the boys need order. ‘There aren’t any grown-ups. We shall look after ourselves…We’ll have to have ‘hands up’ like at
Ralph is regarded as a democratic and charismatic leader. He would base any decision on majority votes and he is all about getting a job done effectively and efficiently. For example, he would crack his head to build shelter and figure out ways to get themselves for being rescued. Eventually, majority of the group members become undisciplined and disobey Ralph’s commands and leave to join jack’s group. Consequently, Ralph, piggy and the twins are left on their own to be hunted by Jack’s tribe. Ralph is also a sensible leader; he only keens on being rescued rather than spending unnecessary time to go for hunting. As the novel progresses, Ralph witnesses the beating of Robert and finds it bizarre in chapter 7. Ralph is forced to hunt a boar for
Ralph begins to lose faith for his tribe as no one is following the rules and is keeping up with the civilization. In the excerpt ““When the meeting was over they’d work for five minutes, then wander off or go hunting.”” ( Golding 70) Ralph notices that the conch isn't really being treated well as no one is being involved in the civilization that everyone agreed. Since this is where everyone is starting to follow Jack, I think the kids have been doing their own thing as Jack has previously mentioned that he doesn't think that the conch is nothing to him. In Ralph’s speech, he says ““If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.”” (130) The conch symbolizes as an object at this point as he realizes that the conch has no power at this point. From this, we can say that Ralph’s dynamic about the conch as he sees the conch differently throughout the
Secondly, Ralph is not only a rational leader but also a moral person, who cleverly keeps the fairness in his group. “Ralph, looking more understanding at Piggy, saw that he was hurt and crushed. He hovered between the two courses of apology or further insult ‘Better Piggy than Fatty” (25). Ralph is sincere and considerate for other people. He apparently understand their feeling and particularly shows his sympathy for Piggy. Ralph is sensible enough to realize that everyone deserves to be respected. He believes no one should have to put up with being tormented. Ralph gently gains others’ support by treating them equally, showing his compassion and ability to empathize with them. Opposite to Ralph, Jack is immoral, violent and condescending. “He’s going to beat Wilfred” (159). He does not care or understand the natural equality of
Who showed the most effective leadership qualities in the novel and are there any leaders today who exemplifies these qualities. Also, what qualities you must show, so you can be the best leader. The book Lord of the Flies, I feel like Ralph was a bet leader than Jack was he should a better understanding of being a leader. In today’s society, there are many leaders that influence or show great leadership qualities, and I picked Pope Francis. He is the Pope/Leader of the Roman Catholic in Italy, Vatican City. Last thing what qualities do they show, so you can be a great leader and people can get the same idea to be a great leader.