Ralph Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

LOTF Rough Draft Imagine a world without leadership and order. One that wasn’t civilized, had no control. Such a world would be classified as savage at the very least. Ralph represents this leadership and order in the boys’ new world on the island. When he loses his ability to stay sane and keep order, everything turns for worse. Golding portrays the importance in control and advantageous leadership through the protagonist, Ralph in the novel Lord of The Flies by illustrating him as a natural leader, then having him shift into an uncivilized animal whose losing control. With his obvious leadership skills, Ralph runs up against Jack for the position of chief. Ralph, with the conch in hand was elected chief and “smiled, [then] held up the conch for silence” to reassure his power (23). Even with Jacks leadership skills, the conch determined both his and Ralphs fate. New found chief has many roles to play and Ralph intended to fill every one of them. The boys, clueless on how to maintain order, listened for the sound of “Ralph… blowing the conch” (32). This conch and Ralph were a great
combo, everyone listened for the conch, then Ralph and then obeyed whatever he asked of them. To the best of his abilities, Ralph directed the boys’ closer to being rescued. Chief, a much-needed position had been filled and everything went smoothly… for now. Smooth was no longer how you could describe things were going, but rather the savagery inside them had control. Being rescued was in the back of their minds, yet hunting was all they could focus on. Ralph, the leader “was full of fright, [but took] pride” in his achievement (113). Taking pride in hunting doesn’t seem like something the chief would do. Savagery and evil within Ralph is being exposed. Ralph represents control in this society, but it seems as though he’s lost that aspect of himself. Getting “a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh” was all that Ralph could think about, not trying to get rescued, build a signal fire, keeping everyone sane, no, just the reward of this hunt (114-115). Obvious leader, more like savage animal. Sane, civilized, controlled were all adjectives that described Ralph, but he quickly flipped that switch off and turned on the ignorant, evil and harsh switch. Loss of hope, not being heard, feeling like a failure all led to Ralph flipping the switch and acting savagely. Remembrance is an amazing and difficult thing that Ralph experiences and he begins to weep about all that’s happened.
But, how could someone who turned savage weep “for the end of innocence [and] the darkness of a man’s heart” (202)? Savagery was definitely not the intent, however it happened and it took over Ralph. Realizing that all went to dust when he got sucked into his savage ways, was the worst for him. He only wanted the best for everyone and wanted to be civil. However, things didn’t go as planned and along the way he lost a “wise friend called piggy” (202). Piggy, a sweet, kind-hearted boy lost his life to everyone’s foolish and savage actions. Ralphs savage ways blocked him from realizing the affect his and the others actions had on each other. Weeping was never going to be enough to illustrate Ralphs
pain. Controlled, savage, grief; those are the three moments defining Ralphs progress, or rather regress, throughout the story. Without control and a civilized society, Ralph and the boys were unable to create a thriving society. Like many others, Ralph let his savage behavior take over. Not only did Ralph let this happen, the boys’ chief, their leader, the person they looked to for answers, had now vanished. Without a leader, they are all clueless and at a loss.