“...the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out. There was his size, and his attractive appearance. And most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch.” This quote from page 22 in Lord of the Flies begins to illustrate the early struggle for power between Ralph and Jack on the island. From the start, it was a battle between the two boys regarding who was most qualified to take charge and step up as chief. William Golding argues that power is something that comes with responsibility, and struggle. The responsibility that falls on Ralph’s shoulders is tremendous, and there is a very clear struggle for power throughout the novel, which we will later explore.
Golding uses Ralph as a symbol for power in order to show that knowledge and sensibility are needed when in a position of leadership. Ralph displays common sense when it comes to things like the signal fire, for example, knowing that the boys must have smoke to be rescued. On page 142, Ralph says, “‘The fire’s the most important thing. Without the fire we can’t be rescued. I’d like to put war paint on and become a savage. But we must keep this fire burning. The fire’s the most important thing on the island…’” Golding uses the fire to build on Ralph’s power, constantly having him point out that the boys must maintain it and keep it going as their first priority, instead of hunting all the time.
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Fire can represent knowledge and industry. I feel the relationship between Ralph and the fire conveys that Ralph is certainly a good person to be in power on the island. This is because Ralph feels it is most important to maintain the fire. On figurative terms, Ralph wants to keep the knowledge and hardwork alive, and use common sense in order to be rescued, whereas Jack just wants to take chances and
Ralph represents leadership because he is chief and is in charge of the order of the island. “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 here.”(pg. 42). This shows that Ralph is responsible for the rules about the fire and the conch. He wants to create a fire for rescue, while the conch remains to be used for meeting so
To illustrate, when Ralph is addressing the boys about the importance of the signal fire after a few boys let it die, Ralph declares, “The fire is the most important thing on the island” (80). Since the signal fire is the primary, physical symbol of civilization, Ralph clearly believes that civilization, in turn, is the most imperative concept on the island to sustain. Ralph maintains this throughout the entire novel, demonstrating that his views towards the significance of civilization are constant. Since these values towards civilization never vary throughout the novel, Ralph clearly illustrates the leadership quality of having a distinct point of view that the boys follow. Moreover, as boys begin to become scared of the “Beastie” that lurks in the forest, Ralph calls an assembly where he states, “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it” (82). Since Ralph believes that the boys must acknowledge that there is nothing to fear in the “Beastie”, he believes that the boys must ignore and stand against the savagery the concept of the “Beastie” represents. Ralph’s apparent opposition to savagery clearly represents the strong belief that the other boys follow because it strongly represents the prevention of the decline of humanity; since Ralph has these distict beliefs that boys follow, he portrays good leadership qualities. Even through the immense
Ralph was voted as leader in the early portion of the book and it becomes clear that he wants to lead others to do what is right. He becomes the voice of moral reasoning and laws on the island. Unfortunately, Ralph suffers from mental lapses later in the book as a result of the stressful encounters with both Jack and the savage tribe and the beast fighting for control in his mind. “Ralph tried indignantly to remember. There was something good about the fire… Then, at the moment of greatest passion and conviction, that curtain flapped in his head and he forgot what he had been driving at,” (163). Ralph struggles to grip what he once so firmly enforced and this is a result of his mental battle with the beast. Throughout the book, Ralph continually is the driving force to keeping a fire ablaze on the island. He was always the character who reminded everyone why the fire was a necessity, until the end of the book when he began to have mental lapses and Piggy had to take on the role to remind Ralph of the importance. The task of keeping an optimistic outlook on the chances of getting rescued, the power struggle that occurs between him and Jack, and the deaths of friends were are all key components that lead to the cause of “that curtain flapped”
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.
On the island in the famous novel, Lord of the Flies, the boys only had two options; become a leader, or become a follower. The two leadership figures, Ralph and Jack, both had two different views on how things should be ran around the island. Jack wanted to rule with an iron fist and Ralph wanted to work together as a unit to get rescued. In the novel, Ralph’s impact on the island were influenced by his natural leadership skills which helped him survive and lead the other boys. First and foremost, throughout the text, Ralph is always described as a well rounded, role model for the other survivors.
Through Ralph it shows that he is the most powerful boy on the island, despite his size. Ralph doesn't want to be in control of all the people, he just wants to find a way of the island. He is determined to create rules and follow them, and prioritizes the groups needs above his own selfish desires. For example, he builds the huts even though it isn't fun, compared to the boys who go off to play whenever instead of doing important tasks that aren't fun. Ralph symbolizes law, government and a civil society.
The Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of boys who are stranded on an island. There aren’t any adults with them because the plane they were on had crashed and the pilot died, he had been the only adult with them. That main character Ralph is elected chief of the boys and is supposed to be in charge, but finds it hard to keep control. Ralph believes the most important thing is to keep the fire going, so that if a ship passes by they can get rescued. As the story goes on dissent begins to form among the other boys. The leader of this dissent was Jack. He had wanted to have control from the beginning and was fed up with Ralph’s rules.
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
In Lord of The Flies, Ralph and Jack both serve as figures of leadership in a sort of way, but they both represent different types of power just as this is prevalent in society. Ralph, the actual elected leader of the little tribe the boys have formed has his main focus centered around building shelters and making sure everyone is accounted for and taken care of. He feels for the liitleuns and how frightened and homesick they are, so he wants to build these shelters so they feel a sense of ‘home’ and maybe transition a little easier. While Jack, though he is not the elected leader, took on a sense of power and entailment on his own after he was assigned as a designated hunter. At first, Jack thought hunting would be easy and come easily to him, though it didn't exactly happen like that.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies a group of boys flying away from war towards safety crash onto an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. With no adults around they must survive on their own. with no guarantee of rescue they must work together to survive. However as things slowly begin to unravel they find themselves fighting not only for their lives but each other as well. In the novel the fire the boys start is symbolic of three main things, hope, technology, and destruction.
Ralph tries to keep a sense of decency and hope despite the difficulties he encounters, such as the shortage of resources on the island and the growing tension among the lads. He also stays devoted to his values. He puts in a lot of effort, for instance, to maintain the signal fire burning, which represents the boys' desire for rescue. In the shadows, or in this case, in the face of misfortune, Ralph's actual nature comes to light. His genuine nature is revealed by his dedication to his morals and his willingness to always do the right thing, even in the face of difficulty.
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.
Over time, Ralph gets more mature and becomes better prepared for his role as chief. He represents a democratic society ruled by one leader. His leadership style, uses power for the prosperity of his fellow boys and law and order. Throughout the novel, Ralph tries his best to create a society based on survival and the hope of being rescued. Ralph attempts to keep the fire as the base for his group. He knows that fire and smoke is their best
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
The Lord Of The Flies, written by William Golding, is a political allegory where the island illustrates the world while Jack and Ralph both symbolize conflicting ideologies, totalitarianism and democracy because Ralph and Jack, in a power struggle, fight for control over the island, trying to spread their respective ideologies, just as it occurred during the inception of the book. Stranded on the island, the boys, haggard and bedraggled, chose Ralph as their chief. During the voting process, Ralph and his conch, the device use to talk in the tribe, are described: "There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most importantly, yet most powerful, was the conch" (22). The quote,