Ralph's Downfall

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

Meanwhile, Ralph values the group over himself, and wants everyone to have a say in any decisions made. Jack gets fed up with his lack of power, so he decides to try to become the leader. He asks if anyone wants to come with him, and says, “Hands up?’ said Jack strongly..... ‘How many think –’ His voice trailed off. The hands that held the conch shook. He cleared his throat, and spoke loudly. ‘All right then.’ …. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. ‘I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you’”(127). Jack acts like a little kid in this scene. This hunger for power demonstrated by Jack has made him corrupt, so much that he will not tolerate being with the others if he can’t be the leader. Jack tries to portray an image of manliness, but it is evident that it is not true when he starts crying. Qualities like this are why Jack is incapable of being the leader. Overall, Ralph is able to handle the power that he is given in a more mature way than Jack.

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.

It is clear that Jack is a better leader than Ralph because he is more of a demanding, manipulative person. From the time the boys landed on the island, Jack was in control of the choir. “The other boys, led by Jack, run off in disorganized excitement to light the signal fire”(Reilly, 3). This quote shows

Throughout chapter 6, Ralph becomes a more forceful leader as a result of his people become less civilized. Ralph seems desperate for his people to listen to him and as if he can’t get everyone together. For example, when everyone is saying they want to stay near the rock fort, Golding writes, “I say we’ll go on!’ shouted Ralph furiously,” (108). By Ralph “shouting furiously”, we see the weight of authority taking a toll on Ralph through the desperation in his tone. In this chapter, it becomes clear Ralph is getting tired of his responsibility as chief. When walking in a line, he let’s Jack lead the way. Golding says, “Ralph walked in the rear, thankful to have escaped responsibility for a time,” (103). Allegorically, if Ralph symbolizes civility and Jack symbolizes savagery, Ralph surrendering temporary leadership

“ “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.

Imagine a world without order. A world with no leadership—no rationality whatsoever. Take Ralph's character away from the equation and William Golding's Lord of the Flies would be just that—chaos. Being the protagonist of the novel, Ralph is the major representative of civilization, order, and productive leadership. If it weren't for Ralph's coordination, determination, and logical thinking, the boys would never be rescued, and would eventually die. As the novel progresses, Ralph's self-confidence is gradually chipped away, leaving him only enough strength to fight for the one person who should matter most—himself.

Being a leader is making sure that everything goes smoothly and knowing what's best for the group. I feel like Ralph is capable to do all of this. Ralph had everyone's best interest and not just himself. He listens to what the boys have to say and actually cares about their opinion. Leaders also have to be intelligent. Ralph is indubitably smart. We know this because he had the idea of starting a fire to get rescued for ‘The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going?’(pg. 80). The boys are really petrified and Ralph knew that the only thing that would make them maintained is if they make shelter and he proposes ‘So, we need shelters as a sort of— Home’(pg. 52) This also shows that Ralph knows what is in need of priority. He is able to make the boys all listen to him due to the conche shell. Ralph basically formed a type of orderly government to make sure that everything is going the right way ‘We’ll have to have ’Hands up’ like at school’(pg. 33). This shows that he is natural leader and knows to get things done. Ralph thinks that all the boys should be treated equally especially Piggy since he gets pick on a lot ‘Ralph, looking with more understanding at Piggy, saw that he was hurt and crushed...Better Piggy

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 the courageous leader from Lord of the Flies who is the primary representative of civilization tries his best to keep the boys in an appropriate manner. Ralph is a natural leader, and all the boys at the start of the book elect Ralph as the chief since they see him to be the most responsible person among them all. All the boys on the island face several problems throughout the novel, one of the problems was that one of the little kids thought there was a beast on the island. At that moment everyone thinks that it was just the boys imagination, and so they continue on to do their regular jobs. Ralph who believed in civilization, he too became in contact with savagery when he goes out to look for the beast with Jack, and his hunters, and they all spot a pig. during the hunt for the pig Ralphs becomes so enthusiastic in the hunt that he is eager to kill the pig, at that moment ralph doesn't realize that he was a savage. When they all reach the spot where the beast was, they all runaway since they think the beast is real, even though the beast was really just a dead parachuter. At this moment in the book the kids have been divided into two groups one was Jacks, and the other

The Lord of the Flies is a gruesome story about young boys stranded on an island, who underwent a transformation from polite British choir boys to savage hooligans. One of the main difficulties the boys face during their adventures upon the island, is their method of government, they either follow the path of Ralph, the democratic leader whose main focus is to escape the despairing island; or Jack a power-hungry monarchical leader who won't ever take no for an answer. The two boys are constantly bickering and arguing over who deserves the leader-position. We all understand Ralph wants to be leader so that he can ensure that the boys will return back home, but in Jack's case, it is a constant mystery to us about why he

Jack tries to tell the entire group that Ralph is a coward who doesn't deserve to be a leader. He asks everybody to kick him out as their leader and to accept himself as the new leader. As the boys are very scared, they do not raise their hand to agree with Jack. This makes Jack very angry and he decides that he can no longer stay with Ralph, and goes to the other end of the island. As many of the boys want meat, they slowly start leaving over time to join Jack's new group. Jack and his followers create a lot of conflict because of this new group. Jack, the self-appointed leader, is the cause of the murder of two kids in the book. Jack, the self-appointed leader, is at conflict with Ralph because he enjoys having power over others, and also because he does not like the rules that Ralph has made, and instead wants to go hunting. Jack is also at conflict with Piggy, because Jack relies on instinct to make his decisions. He does not like Piggy's logical way of thinking as he feels threatened by Piggy's knowledge and wisdom. To get rid of this threat, Jack gets Roger to kill Piggy and destroy the conch at the same time. "See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone---.".."I'm Chief." (Golding 1996, 223). Jack says this right after the murder of Piggy and the destruction of the conch. It shows that Jack really is a very savage person, who is not at al suited to be a leader.

Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph tries his best to create a society based on survival. As time progresses, it is clear that Jack's feelings are towards living life and having fun. Jack's society eventually leads to corruption, killing innocent people, while Ralph's prevails as the boys are rescued. Ralph uses a repetition of hope towards being saved while Jack's technique with no thought clearly flounders creating savages out of the once civilized boys.

Throughout the novel both characters, Ralph and Jack have a thirst for power. One may say that Jack is a stronger leader due to his persuasiveness with his need for power, but on the other hand Ralph is a great natural leader. From the beginning Ralph shows interest in getting home while leading the group of boys. Ralph may be young but he seems to have a general idea on how to get the group going in the right direction.  He has an innate ability to split the group up and give them the important tasks that need to be done to survive for several days for example: tending to the fire, and hunting which was Jack and the choirboys job. To be a good leader you must stay positive which Ralph is able to do majority of the time by persistently believing that everyone