Ralph as a Leader in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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In the famous novel named “Lord of the flies”, there are four main characters that William Golding built up to represent the typical personalities in human nature. While Jack stands for the powerfully instinct savagery, Simon represents the natural kindness and Piggy with his glasses is the symbol of wisdom, Ralph has the best conducts of a real leader as he was initially voted for chief. There are three main characteristics that mark him out as a felicitous leader: rational, moral and unflinching.

First of all, the most important trait that makes Ralph the best leader is his rational mind. I personally think that a leader should be a respectable and organized person. Ralph demonstrates his leading ability very well by the way he treats the kids. He said “We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have ‘Hands up’ like at school” (33). Apparently, Ralph has a democratic view of governing: he wants everybody to have a chance to speak out. By saying this, Ralph built a good image of himself to make others support him voluntarily. “Ralph held out the glimmering conch and Maurice took it obediently” (88). As a result, the boys truly respect Ralph like the way he respects them. Ralph was very clever in his first strategy to gradually build up his reputation and yet, the order in his authority. “We’ll have rules!” “Lots of rules!” (33) He obviously wants to keep the boys as a united community to work effectively. Ralph knows that anarchy will separate them and diminish their chance of being rescued. He inflicts the rules and regulations to maintain the order as it is the most essential basis of a community. The other point I want to mention is Ralph knows what is priority. “So we need shelters as a sort of_” “Home” (52). Ralph expr...

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...traightforwardly to Jack he is the chief, Ralph demonstrates that he would never surrender him to lose the respect of the boys. I believe that even when the boys did not come back to Ralph (may be because of Jack’s and Roger’s powerful control) they could slightly see his assertive self-affirmation. Obviously, a leader can’t be a dastard.

In conclusion, Ralph is a great combination of Piggy, Simon and Jack, which makes him the most appropriate leader of all the boys. Ralph is rational and clever in the way he creates and organizes his authority. He has the morality and sensibility to keep the justice in his group and treats them fairly. He is courageous and faithful in any situation. To compare Ralph with all three other characters, I absolutely would vote Ralph for chief if I was stranded on the island with him for his out-standing and skillful leading abilities.

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