Ralph Leadership In Lord Of The Flies Essay

In William Golding’s Novel, Lord of The Flies, a group of boys end up in a plane crash onto a deserted island. Their first instinct was to build a signal fire. This fire begins as a signal of safety and survival, but as the tides turn the symbol shifts into a meaning of fear and a lack of hope. When the boys landed upon the shore, their first instinct was to group up and find wood for a signal fire. Ralph, the second oldest boy, decided to take charge of the situation, possessing a conch shell as an image of leadership. Golding placed Ralph as the leader because Ralph was well known among the boys and was a genuine person who had confidence in his actions. With Ralph’s attitude as a push, the boys would have enough hope to push them on through the days to come, or so Ralph hoped. To designate who was the leader, Ralph possessed a conch shell. There was no argument among the boys because they believed that Ralph had the best potential of being the leader. They all believed that except for the oldest boy Jack. Jack believed that he should be the leader simply because he was the oldest of all the boys, so he …show more content…
Those who followed Ralph learned how to live off the land and use light as their way of survival. Jack had no hope of rescue, unlike Ralph, and did not like the chance of Ralph having any influence on Jack’s followers in believing that there was a chance of rescue. The boys ended up attacking Ralph and his two followers, Piggy and Simon. Ralph hid in the woods as the others took a murderous turn towards Piggy and Simon. Jack, however, did not feel like that was enough. Jack wanted Ralph to stop hiding and be exposed to the shore, so Jack and his boys lit the island on fire. This in turn led Ralph onto the shore where he was found by a policeman in the morning. This shows a little irony because the one person who wanted to win so badly, Jack, ended up losing in the long