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Is ralph a leader in lord of the flies
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Savagery in Lord Of the Flies
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Ralph is one of the oldest boys on the islands, he was elected as leader at the beginning of the book. Ralph treats all the boys with respect throughout the book even when he begins to lose sanity himself. Ralph organizes all the boys in hope to keep them alive until they get saved, he makes them build shelters, keep the fire burning, and keep them all fed. Constantly throughout the book Ralph tries to keep the boys civilized whereas Jack does the opposite.
The boys could have easily chosen Jack instead of Ralph, especially given the fact that Jack had previous experience as a leader; he is first seen surrounded by a group of faithful followers, his choir group, that continue to obey him on the island. Even Piggy, who showed support towards Ralph from the beginning, is intimidated by Jack's authoritative demeanor. However, Jack is missing that key characteristic that made Ralph so appealing: the symbol of power and strength. Any sense of leadership that Jack held was overshadowed by the image of Ralph standing confidently with the conch shell in hand. Ultimately, the young boys identified Ralph as their leader based on the power they believed he symbolized.
Even though the boys chose Ralph, Golding makes it clear that Jack was “the most obvious leader” (Golding 22). This shows that social status plays a huge role in leadership, but there are other qualities to consider when selecting a leader. Although Ralph and Jack were
Piggy is very intelligent, he comes up with ideas on how to help the boys survive on the island from the moment they crashed on it. Ralph starts begins to admire him for this clear focus on their rescue off the island. “ we can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They'll come when they hear us” (Pg 16)
William Golding’s fictional, British novel, Lord of the Flies, presents a character that serves a two-part function as a “scapegoat” and a certain commentary on life. During WWII, a group of British boys are being evacuated via plane when they crash and are stranded on an island without adults. As time progresses, the innate evilness of human nature begins to overcome the savage society of young boys while Piggy, an individual representation of brains without brawn, becomes an outlier as he tries to resist this gradual descent of civilness and ends up shouldering the blame for the wrongdoings of the savage tribe. Up until his untimely death, Piggy is portrayed as the most intellectual and most civil character in the group of stranded boys. Right from the beginning, Piggy realized that “[they] got to do something,” (8) and he recognized the shell Ralph had picked up as a conch.
William Goulding develops Ralph as a very conservative character; Jack as an aggressive one. Ralph is conservative because of the way he handles his power; he handles it by being polite and just asking, developing himself as someone the boys can step all over. Nothing wrong with the way Jack is but he isn’t strict enough with the boys, he doesn’t give them an ‘if you do not do it then this will happen,” he just gives them the “hey let us do this.” Ralph does not need to be threatening to get the boys to help him and develop a society on the island, he just needs to tell them “if you help me and we get our work done correctly, there will be positive results.”
American soldier Ambrose Bierce once said, "Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding." Logical reasoning is crucial for maintaining order and making good choices. This is displayed in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, in which a group of British schoolboys is stranded on a deserted island and must learn to fend for themselves to ensure survival. Ralph uses logos to make sensible decisions that benefit all the boys while they are stranded on the island; he displays the importance of making logical decisions under challenging circumstances. Ralph's use of logos convinces the boys that they have a favorable chance of being rescued and presents
While trapped on an island full of little boys, some characters have to step up and take point while others are mere confidants who are mistreated and abused. Just like the real world, many people are left out and rejected but they still hold a place in society. Piggy, a young boy on the island, is treated poorly from the very beginning but yet he is known as the scientific, rational side of the civilization portrayed in Lord of the Flies. He quickly becomes Ralph’s confidant but serves a greater purpose in the book by giving rational insight and bright ideas on survival and also someone to pick on to increase insecurities and self power. Piggy served as Ralph’s lieutenant from the beginning to the end.
Jack has changed greatly, over the course of William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Crashing onto an island without adults and having to survive put a strain on all of the boys, but Jack’s personality altered the most due to this experience. He went from living as an ambitious choir boy, to being a vicious, brutal, beast. Many things changed Jack on the island, but most of all, he created the monster he became.
Bullies can be found anywhere in the world. They victimize, torture, and threaten others for their own benefit. Every bully has a weakness they attempt to conceal, but it is never truly hidden. This insecurity leads them to act out against seemingly inferior people to achieve a false sense of strength and security. The deep emotional struggle bullies face is evident in Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
At the beginning Jack is very agreeing with Ralph and tries to follow the rules to keep the boys civilized. One example is when he takes the takes the boys watching the fire hunting, and the fire goes out, he apologizes to Ralph for letting it go out. But as the story moves along he starts to move away from Ralph and his ideas. When Ralph and Jack are arguing and Ralph brings up the rules he seems appalled.
Jack states on page 127, “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” “Most of the boys were looking down now, at the grass or their feet. Jack cleared his throat again” “I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot- ”
As the elected leader of the boys, Ralph understands the importance of rules in order to maintain a civil society and eventually be rescued from the uninhabited island. Ralph believes that creating rules will help organize the group of boys and motivate them to complete necessary tasks that will increase their chances of rescue. Unfortunately, Jack and his hunters begin to neglect the rules and Ralph fails to properly punish them, which makes the situation worse. In chapter 5, Ralph holds an assembly to address the fact that none of the boys are completing the tasks agreed upon during the previous assemblies.
From the start Ralph’s adversary, Jack, considers the rules an abomination and would rather hunt and reform to savagery than remain civilized. During their time on the island, Ralph and Jack are at a constant state of disagreement, and their conflicting opinions escalate causing disaster. Then the boys get out of control and try to kill each other by setting fire to the
The killings of Simon and Piggy can lead to mental issues, such as PTSD. A study by Matteo Fabris and Claudio Longobord states, “Homicide offenders have a higher frequency of PTSD than violent offenders who have not committed murder.”. Ralph, who was involved in both murders, would be greatly affected mentally and possibly develop PTSD. Another feeling Ralph felt was grief. On page 158 it says, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”
