In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is portrayed as the protagonist in the story and Jack is the antagonist. Ralph starts out as the “leader” of the group of boys in the beginning of the novel before their civilization begins to collapse. By the end of the story Ralph is nothing more than prey to Jack and his hunters. Jack is the main reason that the boys commit such barbaric actions. By the end, the reader has witnessed the true lengths mans’ instincts could reach and the evil that is hidden in every person.…
Ralph believes he will get rescued, manages to keep it intact, and engages in a heavy argument with Jack and Jack’s group which effects the novel negatively. Ralph’s confidence of being rescued helps him with keeping the fire going. Ralph establishes his dominance to the other kids. Ralph and Jack gets into an argument and goes into battle with their…
In the book, Lord of the Flies by: William Golding Ralph shows the most leadership throughout the novel. Ralph is the leader because he is direct and knows his priorities. He knows what is best for the group. Ralph always makes the best decisions and plans throughout the book. That is why he is the leader in this novel.…
Throughout the novel, Ralph is aware that Jack is constantly challenging him to be the leader. At first, he is calm and reserved by letting Jack lead the hunters. In the quote “Why do you hate me?” (Golding) as said by Ralph, this is the first time that Ralph openly questions and shows distaste in how Jack is trying to obtain the leadership position. The significance is great as it starts to develop an open rivalry between the two and the boys start to take sides. Ralph also starts to lose his leadership when they go as group on a hunting expedition, and Jack is the center of attention as the leader of the hunters as well as when he gets cut by the boar and makes a big deal out of it.…
Of the many boys stuck on the island in Lord of the Flies, only one was the protagonist of the story. This boy was Ralph. In the first chapter, Ralph was the one who found the conch with Piggy and called an assembly to unite the boys and see who all was on the island. In this assembly, Ralph gets voted leader most likely because he just assumes the responsibility of the leader right off the bat and the fact that he has the conch. Ralph has several main things that are important to him that he tries to get the boys to do including building shelters and keeping the fire going. Jack has very opposing viewpoints to Ralph because Jack just wants to hunt and have fun.…
Ralph’s leadership ability is revealed from the very first time he encounters Piggy on the island, until the end when he has no one left to lead. One clear example of Ralph’s leadership occurred at the beginning of the novel when elected leader by the group. After being elected, Ralph immediately delegates power as shown in the quote “I’m chief then. The circle of boys broke into applause… The choir belongs to you of course. They could be the army or hunters” (William Golding 23). Another display of Ralph's leadership occurs when Ralph discovers the unlit fire shortly after seeing a ship pass in the distance. Realizing this lapse, Ralph uses his leadership to crack down on some of the lazy hunters and reiterates that the signal fire should be their first priority. In order to maintain order on the island, Ralph use his leadership position and ability to set up a list of rules that the boys on the island should follow, for instance bringing order to meetings by requiring all to remain quiet except for the boy holding the conch. Without the strong leadership skills shown by Ralph, the boys of the island might not have survived. David Bender talks about Ralph's leadership skills when he states “He is everything a leader should be, handsome with fair hair, good build and a natural ability to command” (David Bender 32). This quote furthers my position that Ralph exhibited…
In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys attempt to work together to increase their chance of survival on the island on which they have been stranded. During this collaboration they form a political system. The real question is, what caused the failure of the system that was formed? You could say that Controlling a group of boys is like the weather, you never know what’s going to happen. Ralph got to experience this first hand when he was on the island trying to form and control a political system. How does Ralph overcome this obstacle? Or does he accomplish anything at all?…
There are several instances in the story where Ralph, the leader, goes against the majority. Ralph tries to put thought behind the things he does, much like Piggy. Piggy showed this maturity when he said “Acting like a crowd of kids!” and “What do they think they’re going to do on that mountain?”(Golding 38). Piggy said all of this in disgust because he, much like Ralph, thinks differently than the rest of the characters. Throughout the story Ralph was found trying to appease Jack, in one situation Jack had struck Piggy to vent his anger and Ralph replied “That was dirty trick”(72) but did not punish Jack . Ralph allowed Jack to hunt with the choir, his appointed hunters. Jack failed his task of keeping the fire going and Ralph further appeased…
In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Golding emphasizes the conflict between two opposite impulses that are inside every one of us: whether to follow the rules and be in order, or to go into violence and turn into savages. Golding expresses this by using the protagonist and antagonist of the story, Ralph and Jack.…
Ralph is the elected leader of the group. He continues throughout the whole book to try to keep the order in the book. He first understands that he needs to set up a structure of rules to allow for the group of boys to remain civilized. The first great leadership skill that Ralph has is that he compromises. Ralph is a compromiser. The smartest compromises makes is that he instead of having Jack be upset about not being elected leader he makes Jack be the leader of the hunters. This would allow Jack and Ralph to have a good relationship until the middle of the book where having Jack be the head hunter would cause a split in the…
However, Ralph is the only character to acknowledge the true savage nature of Simon's death: "that was murder". This highlights the fact that he is more mature in comparison to the other boys, as a result of his additional responsibilities on the island. Ralph is willing to admit to his mistakes, unlike at the start of the novel when he tried to justify his cruelty towards Piggy. This shows that Ralph's position as 'chief' and the responsibility it brings has had a profound impact on him, making him more mature than he would have been without this position of…
Ralph reacts with an unexpected level-headedness when a boar comes charging down the path: ?Ralph found he was able to measure the distance coldly and take aim. With the boar only five yards away, he flung the foolish wooden stick that he carried, saw it hit the great snout and hang there for a moment? (123). This event suggests that Ralph may possess hunting skills that rival Jack?s, as such, it seems that Jack will attempt to show up Ralph in some other way.…
Golding emphasizes certain characteristics of Ralph through Ralph’s words, “‘He’s not Fatty,’ cried Ralph, ‘ his real name’s Piggy’” (21).. Ralph does not mean to really hurt Piggy’s feeling, but in his words he embarrasses, betrays, and torments Piggy. When Ralph realizes how much he hurts Piggy’s feelings he does nothing to fix it. That is what The lack of action reveals the mean, harsh, and immature side of Ralph. Differences in ages cause vast diversity in the level of maturity and knowledge on the island. At twelve years of age Ralph is one of the older boys on the island (10). The younger boys look up to Ralph because of his age, and they automatically look towards him as a leader. Ralph’s age also gives him more knowledge and experience than the younger boys. The boys vote Ralph over Jack for chief (22). Despite Jack being the obvious leader, Ralph is voted chief because the young boys are drawn to his appearance and…
During the pig hunt, when Ralph throws the wooden spear at the boar and hits it on the snout, he is overcome with fright, apprehension and pride. Here, Ralph reveals his savage side and he longs for more thrill and excitement. The psychological changes of Ralph when he finds the naval officer are shown after he answers some questions asked by the naval officer; he and the boys start to cry. “The tears began to flow and sobs shook him” (Golding 224). Ralph is relieved that he and the boys are going to be rescued, after a few months of being stranded because he no longer has to play as the “adult” and carry “adult” responsibilities. He can continue to live his normal life as a child. These events have caused Ralph to change…
With no near site of rescue, an absence of maturity, and a craving for blood, a civilization will decline at a rapid pace. In the Lord of the Flies it does not take much for the boys’ civilization to crash and burn. This can be concerning, as it shows how rapidly a human can become wild when in a survival mentality. Humans crave power to the extent that it can make people do anything to get it. Jack and Ralph each were turned to power hungry tyrants at the slightest taste of it of its infamous glory .…