Who Was Ralph's Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Ralph possesses the leadership skill of responsibility. Responsibility is being accountable for something or someone. In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies Ralph takes on the responsibility of being the leader on the island and the responsibility of setting rules. “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there…and 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 there.” (Golding, pg.42) This quote shows how Ralph was taking on the responsibility of being the leader and of setting more rules. He establishes the rules and arranges meetings with his group to make sure everything is running smooth. Ralph also tries to make the “littluns” feel safe from the beast. Ralph tries to make sure that everyone on the island feels like they are safe

“ “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.

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

One of the biggest forms of adversity with which the boys struggled was undoubtedly learning to cope and overcome the fear the littluns had instilled upon themselves associated with ‘the beast’. Golding does this by changing the way Ralph handles the crisis and changing his basic survival instincts back to that of the society the boys have left behind and learn to be compassionate towards the obviously scared young boys. This is obvious because throughout the book Ralph has been harsh, we can see this most in the first few chapters where he himself is obviously scared at the prospect of surviving with no adult help or guidance, we can see this through the way Golding has made Ralph speak and react to the other characters, such as his harshness to another key figure in the book, Piggy. An example of this is the fact that Ralph continuously tells Piggy to ‘Shut up’. However, when he understands the littluns fear of ‘the beast’, his tone softens and he understands that they need to be protected and looked after to feel safe, this is obvious because he made sure

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

Ralph's character is progressively broken down throughout the novel, only to be rebuilt stronger, and more knowledgeable in the end. If it wasn't for Ralph being hunted by Jack's tribe, the island would never be engulfed in flames; the boys would never be rescued. Thus, he also serves as the key character to the resolution of the novel. The events of the story prove that in a typical society, evil may gain control on occasion, but ultimately—everything will be balanced

All throughout the story Ralph shows us heroic qualities like: blowing the conch and having all the boys run to him. It shows that the boys look up to him as their hero to get them off the island. Even at at the end when all the boys chased him down trying to kill them. He still lead them all right to the naval officer. Showing us that he is the true hero of the story. At least Ralph stayed moral that meant he could live with himself without the weight of a person's death on his

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

Secondly, Ralph is not only a rational leader but also a moral person, who cleverly keeps the fairness in his group. “Ralph, looking more understanding at Piggy, saw that he was hurt and crushed. He hovered between the two courses of apology or further insult ‘Better Piggy than Fatty” (25). Ralph is sincere and considerate for other people. He apparently understand their feeling and particularly shows his sympathy for Piggy. Ralph is sensible enough to realize that everyone deserves to be respected. He believes no one should have to put up with being tormented. Ralph gently gains others’ support by treating them equally, showing his compassion and ability to empathize with them. Opposite to Ralph, Jack is immoral, violent and condescending. “He’s going to beat Wilfred” (159). He does not care or understand the natural equality of

Ralph starts out making the island seem fun, that this is a grand adventure they’re on. But he also believes that they need rules and order, so they don’t become savages and forget who they are. This is why he uses the conch to create order and a system of rules. Ralph becomes leader and starts giving people jobs and making a fire become the most important thing. He wants to be rescued and is trying to get them off the island as fast as possible. “While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island… It’s like a book.” Ralph is trying to make light of a bad situation and making the island seem like a utopia that the boys can explore. In life people do this all the time, they sugar coat the truth to make it seem like it’s better that it is or fun when in

What happens next shows that Ralph is already starting out as a weak leader. William Golding writes “The circle of boys broke into applause. Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang. Ralph looked at him, eager to offer something. ‘The choir belongs to you, of course’” (Golding 23). Directly after Ralph gains the role of chief, he already shows that he is a soft leader because he gives up some of his authority just so that Jack won’t feel bad. Even though Jack doesn’t really do anything about this, I think that in the back of his mind he knows that Ralph should not be the one leading the boys and that is why it ends so badly. Ralph should've kept total control of all the boys, so that he would not look weak. If he would’ve done this it would’ve been much harder for them to gang up against Ralph because Jack would have absolutely no power to begin with. At this point Ralph has no control over the choir, but he doesn’t realize the power he had just given up. This is the first of many mistakes that Ralph made leading up to the tragedy on the

Ralph cares for the greater good of the group of boys rather than just for himself which signifies one of the traits a leader should have.   Golding tries to show that leadership is an important part of keeping an island civilized and from keeping it stable.  Ralph’s leadership is the only hope the boy’s have to be able to survive on the island while they wait to be rescued.  Ralph's leadership starts to change as he and Jack have a power struggle because he starts to lose faith in himself as well as the boys.  In a sense, it would seem as though Ralph’s leadership was the one to cause the boys to rebel against being civilized because they didn’t want to listen to someone who would tell them what to do when they could do whatever they wanted and become savages without morals.  Ralph’s leadership helps the boy’s civilization have stability.  Leadership relates to the meaning of the work as a whole because leadership is what keeps a civilization from going into ruins, but the boys instinct to do what they want is much greater than that of living a life with rules.

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

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.

Ralph is the main protagonist in the story and he is the leader of the children on the island. Since Ralph was voted leader, he has the characteristics of leadership and he brings civilization and order to the story. Unlike the other boys, Jack and Simon, Ralph’s main focus is to get off the island instead of having fun. For example, Ralph tried constructing huts with Simon; meanwhile, the boys are playing and running off having fun. In the beginning of the story, Ralph’s power with the children was secure; however, towards the end, that power is being transferred to Jack. Ralph represents the