Democratic power can be used to control a society, as well as establish a closeness as civilians. To lose sight of this can mean the corruption of a civilization caused by the lack of order. One’s choice of independence in order to better the chances of their survival requires complete dedication and willingness to risk. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph loses his democratic power due to his failure to ensure survival and protect the boys as a leader. Ralph’s failure to lead the group is due to his initial and chronic independence and inability to compete with Jack’s followers, accounted for mainly by fear. His integrity enables a growing confidence in his ability to avoid reliance on leadership power in order to survive. Ralph’s …show more content…
Upon arriving, Ralph’s primary ambition is to get off the island safely, considering the expected immaturity in reaction to the boys’ sudden loss of authority. He manages to maintain this intention regardless of his job or worth in society among the boys. As evil challenges his capability to retain this quality by the irony of the fire, breaking of the conch, and overall destruction of civilization, demonstrates his level of mental strength considering all of the odds against his favor. Having the, “voice of someone who [knows their] own mind,” and instituting an independent attitude towards his goal, Ralph displays competence and trust in his capabilities rather than depending on that of others. As displayed in his immediate need for order, Ralph establishes a plan to get off of the island. When his leadership is overruled, it is natural for him to continue in his ambition to survive, proving his maintained integrity as a character. His use of the conch allows for him to fulfill his need for organization, but its failure to function as a representation of equal power suggests Ralph’s inability to lead. His loss of power is not seen in his actions following his loss, sensing that leadership is not a necessity, rather independence is what leads him to his success. In effect by the evolution of barbarism and shameful …show more content…
The events of original evil which ironically issued positive results prove Ralph’s success as an individual in contrast to his responsibilities as a leader. Even though he finds trouble accepting his flaws as an untrusted leader, he uses his beliefs in self-importance to overlook the negative possibilities to his selfishness. Piggy recognizes Ralph’s individuality due to his lack of attention and care toward him concerning the respect of his appearance from the other boys on the island. Ralph’s introduction to the conch open the eyes of the boys to a new way of life and hopeful survival, while Jack’s approach to culture on the island institutes the idea of corruption. It is then distinctive that Ralph, “the being that had blown [the conch][...]was set apart” from the rest of the boys (Golding 22). Ralph’s meaning of power is unique to that of Jack, Piggy, and the littluns, hence his escape from the island’s corruption despite the deaths of Piggy & Simon. His initial desire to start the fire is a representation of maintaining hope, ironically because the fire, which was created by Jack, allowed for their survival. Therefore, Jack’s attempt to defeat Ralph’s characteristic of integrity managed to only find the success of Ralph. It is evident that because of his strength, Ralph is
This is a terrible leadership quality. A third reason why Ralph’s style of leadership is better is that Ralph knew what was best for the boys overall. He was always looking for the boys best interest and had good intent, while Jack’s dictatorship consisted of Jack thriving off of the power making only himself feel good and trying to make that last. In the novel Lord of the Flies, there are various types of leaderships evident. Ralph and Jack, both showed a great sense of leadership on the island and towards
He does not take his victory lightly as he exemplifies a ruler through responsibility, determination, and courage. Ralph stands against the odds and perseveres to help the boys adjust to their new life despite the
As I described his leadership and decision-making change, and so do his priorities. At the beginning of the book, his priorities are focused on building a community and order. He does this by letting everybody voice their opinions and treating everyone equally. However these change over time, this is due to new challenges that come from being isolated on an island, they change to purely survival and rescue, and he has no need for his old properties due to his losing leadership. These changes affect Ralph drastically.
(Golding). Ralph is also able to display his charisma by having the mass support of his followers as seen on page 127 where Jake questions Ralph’s ability to be a leader and then asks the boys to follow them but to no avail due to their loyalty to Ralph. “Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t to be chief… His voice trailed off.” (Golding 127).
Ralph enjoyed the power the conch held, and his friend, Piggy, realized it. When first put into power, Ralph makes an unfair decision on who gets to explore the island. “He first chooses Jack and Simon to climb the mountain to decide whether the land is an island or not” (Hainke). This is an example of when put into power, a person can make selfish choices. Second, Ralph being in power, causes him to be unconcerned about certain situations.
According to William Golding Ralph represents leadership and believes order happens by using the conch to enforce the rules and show who has power . “ I’m chief ,” said Ralph “ because you chose me . And we were going to keep the fire going . Now you can run after food – ” (Golding 216).
Although Jack expresses strong desire to become chief, the boys elect Ralph as a leader, suggesting an air of charisma that made him worthy of his position. He believes a leader has to “think, be wise… grab at a decision”, someone who can look after others and keep the group in
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the progression of absolute power, and how ambition can take over one's mind. Stranded on an island after their plane crashed, the boys create their own democracy with one absolute ruler, just like many other governments throughout history. The boys voted Ralph as their ruler, but Jack slowly starts to take some of Ralph’s power, and eventually usurps him as their chief. Lord of the Flies suggests that absolute power is corrupt, and that humans are overly ambitious in wanting to take power from the person who has the most of it. Just like any large group of people, the boys decide that they “ought to have a chief to decide things” (Golding 22).
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph represents civilization versus savagery which teaches the theme everyone eventually turns to their innate behavior which is savagery and cruelty in the events of hopelessness. Civilization means a cultural or intellectual refinement, in his book Lord of the Flies Golding describes Ralph as a symbol of authority. Golding has Ralph state “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back;”And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school” (Golding 33).In this scenario, Ralph established a sense of order for the group of boys.
Golding uses Ralph to show a valuable lesson that in order to be a succesful leader you must lead through rules and laws rather than fear and intimidation. This is because when there are no rules people tend to act out, as while they can't be
Ralph also keeps order by creating a system and speaks up when he sees things getting out of hand when he sees Jack harassing Piggy about the conch and hears him saying that they don’t need it anymore, he keeps authority by telling him to sit down and stop talking because he doesn’t have the conch (Golding 101-102). Ralph also calls a meeting and explain that it's “ ‘not for fun. Not for laughing and falling off the log.- An assembly to put things straight’ ” (Golding 79).
Not many people understand why things are the way they are without an explanation and after Jack says this, Ralph does not try to explain why they need the conch or dare say anything but “‘you haven’t got the conch… sit down.’ ” If the boys understand they will follow them more often or try to follow them, but they do not understand, so they do not follow the rules and are slowly killing civilization. The boys’ desire for freedom, Ralph not being able to create a home like atmosphere and the fact that Ralph did not explain why the rules are important lead Ralph to his failure to maintain a sense of civilization and his overall
Being under a dictatorship can demolish any kind of sanity one has. Now Ralph has realized what power and manipulation can do to one person. He never intentionally plans on becoming a savage, and unfortunately, he misses his dignity. In response, Boyd comments, “It is rather the coming of an awareness of darkness, of the evil in man’s heart that was present in the children all along” (Boyd 27). His elaboration explains how the beast was not only in Ralph but in all of the young boys.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding attempts to compare and contrast two opposite strategies of control. Golding portrays that while Ralph and Piggy’s government may have been a morally sound solution, the boys chaos is too strong to be controlled by a democracy. It must be controlled by a feared dictator. While the idea of democracy, represented by the conch, is a pure concept and can provide an equal opportunity for all of the boys on the island, the animalistic need for power and chaos that controls the boys can only be reined in by a powerful dictatorship. Democracy on the island could have provided an equal opportunity for all the boys on the island.
Ralph is first introduced as the fair boy who is a natural born leader. He applies Piggy’s intelligence to think of a way to summon the other survivors on the island. Ralph follows through with Piggy’s idea and uses the conch which emits a loud sound that can be hear through the island. The sound eventually lures the group of boys towards them. His leader instincts are best portrayed when he’s able to side with Jack after offering to share his power: “The suffusion drained away from Jack’s face.