Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis Essay

German journalist John Zenger once stated, “Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths”. When one is forced into a situation where a leader is necessary, a person that displays the fundamental attributes will successfully guide the society. Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island represent various aspects of leadership, characterized by differing strengths. However, the protagonist’s, Ralph, leadership undoubtedly triumph over the other boys because his attributes allow him to be a powerful leader on the island. Throughout William Golding’s novel, he clearly depicts Ralph as an effective leader through his desire for the survival of all of the boys, his adamant

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph sees himself as civilized, responsible, and a leader. Ralph sees himself as civilized because while on the island he tries to create order and rule. Ralph speaks to all of the boys, "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 here as down there" (Golding 420). Ralph tells the boys that there will be rules and that they need to follow them. Ralph's civilization kicks in at this moment by commanding rules and order. Ralph also views himself as responsible. Throughout his time on the island Ralph tries his best to make good decisions, not only for himself, but for all the boys. Even when has

“ “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the couch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things around here.” (Chapter 1, Page 22) Ralph immediately notices the boys need some leadership his natural choice is to help guide these boys. He, however, lacks this responsibility. He doesn't continue to command respect from the boys. Ralph grows up faster in the book due to Jack. Later Jack breaks the tribe apart with his appealingly savage ways. Jack ended up establishing a hunting tribe. Once the tribe breaks Ralph tries to bring it back together, but since he didn’t have solid leadership skills even though he might have developed some compassion. He tries to convince Jack that he is still in charge and has power over the boys. The changes Ralph undergoes, from self-centered to group centered, doesn't reflect the island as a whole. They are all too elated to abandon the trappings of society.

Take for instance, Roger, a character from the novel, Lord of the Flies who is a sadistic person, finding pleasure in hurting others. Do you really believe that even if he was in a group where he finds himself to be part of a dangerous situation and he is needed to save one of the other boys, say Piggy for example, that he would do it? Of course not. He has proven to us that he enjoys inflicting harm on others, especially someone like Piggy. Golding himself states in Lord of the Flies, “A full effort would send the rock thundering down to neck of land. Roger admired.” (Golding 159). What Golding is saying is that Roger wants to harm Piggy so with that in mind, he finds that the rock is the best thing to achieve what he wants. It follows then that the kind of personality that the person has will either get them to help someone out or get them to harm them as well. Someone like Ralph and Piggy, who have more sympathy towards those that get hurt would be more willing to help out than someone like Roger and Jack. Roger and Jack are more of the kind to not help others out unless it benefits them or gives them pleasure in inflicting pain upon someone else in Roger’s case, but this is where we can see every person is different. It is not just that responsibility has been unconsciously passed on to someone else. Nevertheless, it would have been beneficial in Darley’s and Latane’s case to include both external and internal contributions as to why people decided not to aid another

Evil, the act inflicting pain on others, and the desire to always want to hurt someone physically or emotionally. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are placed in strenuous circumstances that cause them to perform ruthless acts on each other. In Dr.Zimbardo’s Ted Talk he claims that when an individual is placed under the proper circumstances, he or she is competent of pursuing malevolent behavior towards someone. It is clearly demonstrated in the novel when the boys show dispositional factors (bad apples vs good apples), situational factor (bad barrels), and systemic factors (bad barrel makers).

Simons dead body moved out toward the open sea” (Golding 154). In The Lord of the Flies, Golding refers to the boys as Beelzebub, a powerful demon in the bible that was very dangerous and feared almost like a powerful savage. In one of the big plots of the story is when Jack and his hunting crew goes and murders Simon and when you are a child you are raised to not murder anyone in this world; therefore the boys lose their human nature and murder Simon. The real problem the boys experience on the island is that they succumb human nature; therefore their solutions of authority structure by a dictatorship versus the conch and ultimately they fail.

Ralph's character is progressively broken down throughout the novel, only to be rebuilt stronger, and more knowledgeable in the end. If it wasn't for Ralph being hunted by Jack's tribe, the island would never be engulfed in flames; the boys would never be rescued. Thus, he also serves as the key character to the resolution of the novel. The events of the story prove that in a typical society, evil may gain control on occasion, but ultimately—everything will be balanced

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys suddenly become stranded on an island, all alone, forced to form their own social system. Throughout the novel, William Golding reveals his main character 's strengths and weaknesses in their attempts to lead. The character Piggy demonstrates the benefits and limits of intelligence in maintaining civil order.

In a similar way, William Golding uses Ralph to explore the Philosophy of John Locke, and to further prove the notion that humanity alongside with keeping order is guaranteed basic human rights that are to be preserved and protected by society and the individuals within. Ralph begins to step into the role of leader as he decides to provide ot the boys a set of rules to keep order amongst them. Ralph then explains,”We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down there” (43-44)

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

Ralph cares for the greater good of the group of boys rather than just for himself which signifies one of the traits a leader should have.   Golding tries to show that leadership is an important part of keeping an island civilized and from keeping it stable.  Ralph’s leadership is the only hope the boy’s have to be able to survive on the island while they wait to be rescued.  Ralph's leadership starts to change as he and Jack have a power struggle because he starts to lose faith in himself as well as the boys.  In a sense, it would seem as though Ralph’s leadership was the one to cause the boys to rebel against being civilized because they didn’t want to listen to someone who would tell them what to do when they could do whatever they wanted and become savages without morals.  Ralph’s leadership helps the boy’s civilization have stability.  Leadership relates to the meaning of the work as a whole because leadership is what keeps a civilization from going into ruins, but the boys instinct to do what they want is much greater than that of living a life with rules.

The boys chose Ralph as their leader over Jack initially because of the power and strength he shows by holding the conch and using it to bring them all together. The defeat shocks Jack, but pushes him to discover ways to make the children bend to his will. William Golding’s brilliant usage of characterization in Lord of the Flies specifically focuses on Ralph’s start as a systematic yet ineffective leader and Jack’s manipulative leadership which causes their transformation from civilized and innocent boys into savage and malicious degenerates. Before the kids decided on a leader, Ralph proves himself a clear choice by using a conch to call the kids together.

Humans have a monster inside of them that is subdued by society, and if society is taken away, then that “monster” will consume them. This is true for most people, but not all humans are like that. One of the most notable humans to over come the “monster” is Simon, a character from the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. The story is set on an island in the Pacific Ocean. A plane full of British schoolboys crash lands on an island and they’re stranded there with no adults, no society, and no rules. Simon is one of the few characters that stay sensible and good throughout the story. He has a sixth sense about things happening around him, he is kindhearted, and he faints a lot which give the appearance of him being weak.

Undoubtedly this shows how Ralph is becoming stern with the boys and what duties are more important than others. Even though Ralph must act harsh it shows he cares about the boys and getting not just himself but them off the island. Clearly, Ralph has realized that he needs to become a strict leader and make sure the boys know their jobs and main priority (to get off the island). Furthermore, Ralph keeps growing as a leader but he does not lose his strength or hope on getting rescued, he makes sure that the boys don’t ether; another great leader who cared about his people was Nelson

Moliere’s saying, “A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemingly behavior is patience and moderation.”, accurately represents Piggy’s situation from Lord of the Flies. Throughout the story, Piggy, though disparaged, stays strong and keeps contributing his thoughts and ideas to the society until his death. With Piggy’s death, the intelligence of the tribe on the island comes to an end as well. When his intelligence disappears, so does the remains of their civilization. The loss of intellect in a society results in the society’s downfall. Golding recreates this idea using Piggy’s character and the situations he undergoes.