Power In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Therefore, with the conch, Ralph was able to voice his problems with the boys, which means that the conch, at the moment, still has some power since Ralph’s opinions were heard by the boys. In addition to the conch, during chapter six, the conch loses power to order the boys. As seen in chapter 6, when they find that there is no beast, all of the boys have different things they want to do after, but Ralph commands the boys to follow him because he is the leader who has the conch. Jack gets annoyed at this and says, “‘We don’t need the conch anymore… It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us’”(Golding 101-102), Jack states, and the rest of the boys would agree because clearly, they aren’t as enthusiastic about following Ralph’s actions anymore.

The book opens with a description of Ralph, he is a fair boy, well-built, and community-minded. He is chosen as leader or “chief” because he is the one who blows the conch to gather the surviving boys. Throughout the beginning of the book Ralph's leadership is shown to be very responsible and the desire to have rules. He has good communication skills with the boy by letting them voice their opinions and always sharing his. He recognizes the importance of building shelters and always has a signal fire on.

(Golding). Ralph is also able to display his charisma by having the mass support of his followers as seen on page 127 where Jake questions Ralph’s ability to be a leader and then asks the boys to follow them but to no avail due to their loyalty to Ralph. “Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t to be chief… His voice trailed off.” (Golding 127).

By accepting that what he did was wrong, Ralph preserves his humanity while all the other boys are starting to become savages. The world around them has started to change them, yet Ralph remains unchanged. Ralph’s civility is also shown near the end of the book. In Chapter 12, a naval officer discovers the island and sees Ralph. When the officer addresses Ralph, Ralph is not relieved by being saved from being killed by Jack’s tribe.

Ralph’s power remains subtle but effective as he leads in hopes of getting law and order, not to be the best. In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Power corrupts Jack into thinking he is something he's not, which

Every child comes into this world as a selfish, manipulative, cruel and stubborn being. It is the parents and society that teaches children how to function in a civilized world, and societal laws that keeps them under control. William Golding wrote this novel in the early years of the cold war and the atomic age. In William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Jack, a young savage who looks to lead a group of stranded kids on an island with no food, no rules, and no adults. The effect freedom has on Jack has turned him into a savage because he does not have to listen to anyone since there are no adults on the island.

“How could you be safe by the little stream or on the open beach?” (183) After Ralph ran away, he was alone with no one to help him while he was injured. Ralph doesn’t feel safe anywhere since they group of savage boys could be anywhere to attack Ralph. After they group of boys decided to join Jack in his tribe, the group of boys turned into savages.

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the progression of absolute power, and how ambition can take over one's mind. Stranded on an island after their plane crashed, the boys create their own democracy with one absolute ruler, just like many other governments throughout history. The boys voted Ralph as their ruler, but Jack slowly starts to take some of Ralph’s power, and eventually usurps him as their chief. Lord of the Flies suggests that absolute power is corrupt, and that humans are overly ambitious in wanting to take power from the person who has the most of it. Just like any large group of people, the boys decide that they “ought to have a chief to decide things” (Golding 22).

Democratic power can be used to control a society, as well as establish a closeness as civilians. To lose sight of this can mean the corruption of a civilization caused by the lack of order. One’s choice of independence in order to better the chances of their survival requires complete dedication and willingness to risk. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph loses his democratic power due to his failure to ensure survival and protect the boys as a leader. Ralph’s failure to lead the group is due to his initial and chronic independence and inability to compete with Jack’s followers, accounted for mainly by fear.

Ralph usually sided with Piggy, mainly because Piggy thought logically and Jack thought about only the present and never about the future. Jack never brings up his feelings about this except to use it against Ralph during an argument, “That’s right---Go ahead and favor Piggy like you always do---” (91). Ralph earlier realized not even he knew how “a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere” (73). Eventually Jack becomes the chief of the savages.

One boy, Ralph was unwillingly thrust into power because of his attractiveness and easy-going personality, while a power hungry, cunning boy named Jack strives to rule them all. Power is an important concept in this novel as it causes most events to take place, such as it does in the world we live in. It causes wars, arguments, laws, and revolutions, but when the right

In the quote above, Ralph is attempting to hide when the boys pass by him. Jack however notices him and Ralph realizes this may be the end. Jack, along with his tribe and their spears and painted faces run down Ralph through the forest even setting it on fire. In the end Ralph ends up being saved by luck, running into an officer. If it were not for the officer, Jack’s evilness would have got the best of him, and Ralph would not have survived.

In chapters 6 and 7, there are more signs of Jack and everyone else disobeying Ralph, implying the further strain of Jack and Ralph’s relationship.    In Chapter 8, Ralph angered Jack simply by calling him and his hunters cowardly and ineffective. In response, he unsuccessfully tries to impeach Ralph then permanently runs away into the forest, with many others joining him. A small provocation from Ralph causing Jack to form his own separate group shows how volatile the tension in their relationship now is. It can also be seen that Jack now fully rejects Ralph’s leadership in favour of his own.

In addition to representing the ego, Ralph helps Golding reveal the lesson that not all man is evil. Ralph has run out of the forest trying to escape Jack’s tribe who is hunting him down. When he reaches the beach he staggers upon a naval officer. The officer jokingly asks him if there are any killed which to Ralph answers truthfully telling him that two are dead surprising the officer. When the officer tells Ralph they should have held up better than they did because they are English Ralph tries to explain that they did in the beginning but stops himself because he realizes and processes what had happened on the island.

Ralph is first introduced as the fair boy who is a natural born leader. He applies Piggy’s intelligence to think of a way to summon the other survivors on the island. Ralph follows through with Piggy’s idea and uses the conch which emits a loud sound that can be hear through the island. The sound eventually lures the group of boys towards them. His leader instincts are best portrayed when he’s able to side with Jack after offering to share his power: “The suffusion drained away from Jack’s face.