Ralph Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Improved Essays
According to Garry Wills, a leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leader and followers. The goal can only be achieved by the power of the people, and the mutual respect shared between leader and follower. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys survive a plane crash and are stranded on an island. The limited resources, absence of authority and any sense of order causes the boys to question the status of leader. Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph does everything he can to create a society centered on survival and order. Meanwhile, Jack proves that he is trying to have fun and take advantage of the absence of authority. Jack's leadership eventually leads to savagery and the murders of innocent people, …show more content…
Good leaders demonstrate their respect for human values, character, and conscience. When the boys first crashed on the island, Ralph wasn't the strongest nor the most intelligent, however, he had something important that is more crucial in order to be a leader. Ralph demonstrated his human nature values, furthermore giving him the better leadership skills. One of the only ones who stuck on to the important foundations of human society, Ralph strived to keep the island as a societal civilization. When Ralph calls an assembly to hear his followers thoughts and say, Ralph states, “I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking(Golding33).” Although the boys needed specific needs for survival, Ralph enforced the stability and order of the island before anything else, knowing how critical it is needed to survive. Moreover, Ralph demonstrates that he respects human character by giving them power in this form of democracy he creates, and respecting that the boys are actually human and deserve to be treated like …show more content…
They do this so their selfish ambitions can be accomplished by the people. In other words, malicious leaders manipulate their followers’ values so that one’s “dirty work” can be completed. However, good leaders don’t need to give a fake purpose because they expand on the goodness that is already taught to the followers. After the savages say the beast is dead, Jack strongly says, “No! How could we kill it…..I expect the beast disguised itself(Golding160).” The beast represents the fear and the inner savagery that is released as a result of fear. In a place of terror, people often reside with those who will destroy and conquer the fear and in this case, this is Jack. Jack tries to decept the other savages into thinking the beast is real, so that they have motivation to keep on killing. Furthermore, it ensures that the savages won’t even think about looking the other way(Ralph’s side). Looking into the future, Jack knows that his supply of meat cannot last forever, and once that ends the boys will turn on him. Thus, Jack uses his position to influence the others, hopefully thinking that they will do his work in the future. When Jack and Ralph argue between the fire and the meat, Jack pleads that “We needed meat(Golding71)” multiple times. Later, Jack commands, “Eat! Damn you!(Golding74)” Jack uses meat as a scapegoat and its importance to survival well-known throughout the island. In an isolated

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    And yet we can't keep a fire going to make smoke. Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to-- ought to die before we let the fire out?” This quote shows that Ralph has one concern with being on the island and that concern is that he wants to find the quickest way off of it. For Ralph to be a good leader he needs to focus on the main goal throughout the book which is getting off of the island.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In my opinion, Ralph was an amazing leader, even though at times he had his flaws. If it wasn't for his leadership the time they spent on the island would have been way more chaotic. Though towards the end of the book his leadership started to decrease. I believe, his leadership started decreasing because all of the stress he was under, which started his flaws. But no one is perfect, everyone has their flaws, even leaders, and everyone h.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ted Bundy

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ”(Golding 51) Like stated in the previous paragraph, this compares to Ted Bundy being mad about breaking up with his girlfriend and killing young girls that reminded him of her. Jack was infuriated that he missed the pig and wasn’t going to stop hunting until he killed one but ended up killing more than one. As the story keeps going, we soon realize that Jack is no longer killing for meat but just to kill. The split up of the group of boys is bad for all of them.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    True leadership is represented by standing up for the greater good of a group without selfishness and ignorance towards others. The story The Lord of The Flies by William Golding demonstrates a constant struggle for power and leadership between Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. The malicious actions that result draw out specific aspects of leadership from each boy. Apart from Jack and his aggressive attitude toward others or Piggy with the lack of respect he receives from the others, Ralph 's rational thinking is the trait, that as a leader, trumps the others and clearly shows how his endless efforts for the greater good of the boys make him the distinct leader.…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ralph's style of leadership is much more democratic than Jack's. Early on, Ralph uses the conch to bring order to their meeting, and to give everyone a fair chance to talk. He also shows consideration to all of the boys, for both the bigguns and the littluns alike. He shows a lot of concern over the littlun's well being, worrying about their lack of sleep and general problem with nightmares. As a leader, Ralph actively follows his own rules and expectations; he expects huts to be built, so he works on the huts.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Instead of killing for food and survival, he is killing for fun. Jack is separated from Ralph's society after getting embarrassed more in front of the society. Jack made his own society with his choir and went hunting for pigs and got to a mother pig with her children and they attacked her. “Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing her downward with his knife.” (Golding-135)…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ralph, is he really a leader or just a follower? In the motion picture, Lord of the Flies directed by Harry Hook and originally written by William Golding, a group of adolescent boys are left stranded on an island after crashing by plane, and they have a choice to look for an escape or they can live in the moment and survive off of the island’s offerings. A boy named Ralph was for fleeing and stepped up into power at the initial meeting of the boys. Though, this power was quickly taken from him although he had good motives, he simply could not stand on his own and control the masses, contributing to deaths that could have been prevented.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The second of Golding’s theories that is also portrayed throughout the book declares that humans are inherently good but are corrupted by society. A model of this theory is how Ralph started off civilized and was mainly focused on leading the group. Ralph is using the conch to mimic the “hands up” practice they learned from school. Golding writes, “And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the book Lord of the Flies, one of the main characters Ralph is elected to be the leader. Throughout the course of his leadership, he demonstrates many great qualities such as self-sacrifice (sacrifice of one's interests, desires, etc., as for duty or the good of another). An example of this is in chapter 6 when the boys go to castle rock to try and find the beast. During this chapter Ralph volunteers to go in first into the cave even though he could be killed by the beast. Not only is Ralph being a good person but, he’s being a great leader by putting the safety of his group before his own…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jack appears in times of crisis, usually when Ralph cannot mend a situation, such as dealing with the beast on the island, and in times of doubt when Ralph cannot reassure the boys, such as times when boys fear the beast. First, Jack finds the perfect moment to take power. Jack makes Ralph sound like a bad leader when he observes, “‘He’s [Ralph] like Piggy. He says things like Piggy.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the Lord Of The Flies the four children are Ralph,Piggy,Jack,Simon. Ralph is sensible, fair and nice to everyone, he is also a leader. Piggy is smart, weird, but nice in a way, and unable to get into a group. Jack is tough, commanding, and has obedience. Simon is kind ,unselfish, a loner, sees beauty in things.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jack is an example of a character who doesn't have as good of a work ethic, one who does what he wants and follows a different path. The only thing he wanted to do was hunt the pigs, and he made it a point to only do that. He didn't care about any necessities unless it had to do with the pigs. He is what would be considered a bad leader, being obsessed and unable to have a fully clear mind, and his addiction to…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The conch, which was a symbol of civilization and order in Lord of the Flies, was in Ralph’s possession which made him an obvious choice for leadership. At the time, Ralph’s experience and qualifications for leadership were not relevant. The boys looked at Ralph for guidance because he was the first character to show leadership qualities through his use of the conch. Ralph managed to save the boys from the depths of the jungle by blowing the conch which was a heroic act that the boys were grateful for. Ralph’s attractive appearance assisted him in obtaining power as well.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Every civilization in history had a leader. Some were great and powerful while others were violent and controversial. Out of the many characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph stands out as the most effective leader. He always has the group’s greatest interests at heart and is willing to work and make sacrifices along side his followers for the benefit of the community.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ralph, the smart, charismatic leader who people look up to. The leader which believes that they will escape the island and will return home. The leader who represents order, civilization, and hard work on the island. The leader who thinks of the ideas. These characteristics illustrates Ralph in Lord of the Flies, the perfect leader.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays