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

Although Ralph did receive the vote for chief, Ralph was not the leader of the boys because he showed he would be an excellent leader before the vote. When voted as chief "none of the boys could have found good reason for [voting for Ralph]; what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy while the most obvious leader was Jack," and yet Ralph still became chief. The reasons that Ralph was voted as leader was "his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch," not any leadership potential or ability- low exceptions in Ralph's leadership ability can be predicted. Although Ralph may have been voted as leader for all of the wrong reasons, he was not a terrible chief.

Lord of the Flies is a novel written in 1954 by William Golding. A plane carrying a group of British citizens trying to escape the nuclear war gets shot down and lands on a deserted tropical island. The only survivors are children ranging from the age of six to twelve-year-olds. The younger children are nick named “littluns” and the older children are nick named “biguns”. At first, they celebrate their freedom from the war but then they begin to realize there aren't any adults to supervise them, they don't have food, they don't have shelter, and they are stranded on a deserted tropical island. One of the characters Piggy is classified as smart but is fat chubby and has asthma so he isn't capable of much things. “ “My auntie told me not to

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).

Ralph made sure all the older kids on the island had a key job role to ensure safety and survival by setting things straight. Ralph orders the hunters to keep the fire going because it produced smoke which could signal the ships nearby securing their rescue. Ralph spotted ships and knew there shouldn’t be any fooling around because it is up to them if the fire stays lit or not. He, himself, was focused on providing everyone with shelter and was determined to do it by himself if he had to, whether the hunters did their job or not. Unlike Ralph, who is doing his job, the Jack’s choir ignores the fire and goes out hunting. When the fire goes out, the hunters aren’t really upset with the fire going out while Ralph saw that the situation could’ve been their rescue saying, “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out” (70)! If he had the same attitude as the other boys nothing would likely get done and he would remain the same as before and not care about the aftermath, but he continues to act mature and not this incident stop him from trying to seek rescue. This shows his change because of how he sees the priority of being rescued and keeping the fire lit expressing his maturity and showing his understanding of life not just about having fun like most adults

Through Ralph being the leader on the island, it shows him as a morally ambiguous character struggling with man’s innate evil. Ralph is clearly struggling to maintain calm when he says, “‘I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts--then you go off hunting and let out the fire--’” (Golding 70-71). Ralph talks about him being chief in the past tense as if he no longer is because from the ways the boys are acting, he does not feel that he is being respected. Ralph is annoyed that instead of building shelter the boys play in the water and that instead of manning the fire, the only chance for the boys to be noticed, they decide hunting is more important than being rescued. Ralph means well by these orders, he wants to see that every boy on the island survives. At the same time he is struggling to be calm and he is not doing a good job at it. Also as the leader Ralph is not the one

The author of the “Lord of the Flies”, Mr.William Golding, created a really extreme situation that those children can’t even have the basic living safeguard on the isolated island. Among those poor isolated children the main character Ralph is a great leader that is loved by the boys throughout the whole novel. Through the quote “Ralph flopped down in the sand. in the book author say, ‘we’ll have to make a new list of who’s to look after the fire.’ ”(Pg144) After they have a fight with Jack, Ralph rationally and clearly

Ralph's common sense and ability to recognize what is best for the group also shows his excellent leadership skills. His main focus throughout the book is getting rescued and tells the boys to make a fire and to keep it burning to make a signal. However, the boys do not listen and he becomes angry. "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep the fire going?" (p. 86) Ralph's determination to get rescued is not only for himself, but for everyone else

Piggy, Ralph, Jack, and Roger were all crucial characters throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding. All these characters made questionable decisions that when combined, contributed to Piggy’s necessary demise. Although some character’s decisions had a greater impact than others, they were all responsible in some way. Piggy’s stubborn behavior, Ralph’s lack of leadership, Jack’s power hungry and irresponsible behavior, and Roger’s unstable mental state all contributed towards Piggy’s passing. All this contributed to Piggy’s death and were necessary to the survival of everyone on the island.

Ralph is not only a leader, but a voice of reason within the group. Ralph’s main priority throughout the novel is to be rescued, even when it did not seem as important to the other boys in the group. Ralph creates a signal fire and consistently reminds the boys that it is imperative to their survival. Ralph explains, “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). Ralph’s scolding to the hunters is well deserved considering that they wasted a possible opportunity to be rescued after letting the signal fire go out. As time went on, Jack and his hunters become more and more consumed with hunting and order began to turn into chaos. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in” (Golding 75). Ralph refuses to join the boys and viciously murder pigs. The boys’ hygiene habits were also worsening, to the point that the boys were defecating in the wrong areas. Ralph tries to address it at a meeting, but the boys’ find their animal-like behavior amusing. Throughout the loss of civility and order, Ralph always keeps a persistent effort to keep the signal fire going and keep order within the group. Ralph’s attitude towards the entire situation drops, however he never completely lost hope.

Ralph specially cared about keeping the fire burning as a distress signal since he believed there’s no better way to help them be rescued. “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep the fire going?” (80). Ralph common sense to determine what is best for the group as a whole further demonstrates his superior leadership skills. He insisted on keeping the fire and exasperated when the boys ignored their mission. Ralph is not easily distracted person like the other boys, especially Jack when he tried to hunt the wild pig and let the fire out.

Ralph as a leader in chapter 1 through 4 has really developed in changed. From the beginning when they all initially first arrived on the island ralph was still very childish, but confident, at the same time being a bit mean / bossy. At the beginning of the book it seemed as if Ralph thought higher of himself than others on the island especially Piggy, at first he just boss him around. But throughout the few chapters Ralph's maturity and respect as a leader has grown.. He is becoming more respectful and respected, he has more where the ideas and is being an overall better more responsible leader for everyone. In chapter 2 one of his rescue oriented ideas is to build a signal fire:"' if a ship comes the island they may not notice us. So we must

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.

Ralphs power and influence over the boys are secure at the beginning of the novel. When they elected Ralph majority of the boys were happy with the decision. Ralph shouted “All this I meant to say, now I’ve said it. You voted me for chief .Now you do what I say.”