Ralph Leadership In Lord Of The Flies Essay

I’ll put a hook later. In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of around 30 boys get into a plane crash and end up stranded on an island. They struggle to gather food and resources, as well as building shelter. They hope to be rescued but instead of working together, they separate into groups and fight amongst themselves, even resulting in death. They fail to choose a clear leader and the boys become divided because of this. The others on the island are faced with 2 people to follow and have to make a choice; Jack, or Ralph. Ralph was originally elected to lead and Jack was assigned to lead the group of hunters. However, Jack later challenges Ralph's authority and attempts to over take him. Jack successfully convinces most of the boys and gains their support and loyalty. His ideologies consist of more aggressive practices and he

Towards the beginning of the book, when they are discussing plans for survival, Ralph mentions, “If a ship comes near the island, they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.” This is one of the first things Ralph mentions after landing on the island which shows that rescue is the main thing on his mind. He thinks logically, strategically, and has his priorities straight, making him a more effective leader. Also, when Ralph and Piggy are deciding whether or not to climb the mountain, Piggy says, “And I think I could tell you what Ralph’s going to say next. The most important thing on the island is the smoke and you can’t have no smoke without a fire.” (Golding 129). Ralph is so passionate about the importance of the fire, that Piggy can even guess what he is going to say when faced with certain dilemmas. It shows how adamant Ralph has been throughout the book about keeping the fire going in order to get rescued. Ralph makes the smoke and rescue his number one priority which will benefit all of the boys in the long