Respect Ralph example essay topic

Blood and power are intoxicants" - Fyodor Dostoevsky. In the first five chapters of The Lord of the Flies, William Golding illustrates many various efforts towards how good and evil has been portrayed through the main characters Ralph, Jack and Piggy. Throughout the novel Ralph exhibits many traits and actions that tell the read why he is not fit for his role. One is these is his incapability to command respect from the group.

To be a successful leader one must, above all else demand respect. They must be someone followers can look up to. Leaders must inspire fear in their people. Ralph lacks the ability to strike fear into his followers because they went against what he had asked of them.

Simon says this after the boys failed to listen to Ralph in helping build the shelters "You " re chief. You tell 'em off". (51) This shows that Ralph had not commanded respect from the group, because if they did respect Ralph, they would never go against him, and would fear him. Again Ralph's evident lack of respect is shown when Jack speaks out without the conch.

'The rules!" shouted Ralph, 'you " re breaking the rules!' (99). Jack replies with the quote 'Who cares?' (99) This displays Ralph's failure to act as the authority figure, the grown-up, who acquires respect from all under his authority. Jack is described by Golding as "tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness. Out of this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger".

Jack is the leading advocate of anarchy on the island. Jack is the leader of the savage tribe, which hunts the pigs. Opposed to Ralph and Piggy on almost all matters, Jack represents the id of one's personality - he supports the conception that one's desires are most important and should be followed, regardless of reason or morals. Jack is the kind of person, which Golding believed everyone would eventually become if left alone to set one's own standards and live the way one naturally wanted. Golding believed that the natural state of humans is chaos and that man is inherently evil. When reason is abandoned, only the strong survive.

Jack personifies this idea perfectly. When on this island the boys lose sight of sense and being rescued by taking up practices and adventures such as hunting and tribal dances. Take Jack for example, in our modern day society, the kind of child that Jack is would simply be labelled a 'little snot. ' He is an arrogant, power thirsting boy who craves stature and knows how to reach the top; he could be compared to a ruthless businessman of our times. His personality can be summarized to evil. In the Lord of the Flies, Jack is indeed responsible for a majority of bad events and trickery.

Whether it is stealing fire, even though it would have been given, or leading people away from the one person who wants to help them and get them saved. This to me shows a comparison to Satan and Jesus. Jack much like Satan tempted the children to join his camp through games, meat and hunting. Furthermore Ralph much like Jesus offered a stable but fulfilled life through shelters, rules and regulations. Ralph does not impose these rules to be cruel and mean, but so things run in order and everyone is benefited. When comparing Ralph to Jesus it is only in the fact that in order for people to be saved they should follow Ralph, but Jack tempts them and they leave.

Because Ralph himself although a better and fairer leader is not at all perfect and has significant weakness in his personality as well. Ralph to falls victim to the temptation of hunting and savagery and on page 188 he joins in with the murder of Simon. Jack invites everyone to his camp for a feast of meat that they gained through a bloody death of a sow. Ralph goes to have a look and is curious through this temptation and then gets caught up in the dance and murder frenzy.

In the Lord of the Flies Piggy seems to take up the role of a disabled person, he can never join in and is constantly teased for this reason of simply being different. This creates an extremely low self-esteem problem and this brings out his personality weaknesses. Piggy always has a suggestion at the assemblies and always gives his point of view, by doing this. He makes himself venerable and the others take advantage.

When Ralph made up the rules of the conch on page 43, Piggy is the first boy to take the conch out of Ralph's hand and say something. To me this shows that for Piggy to gather up confidence he needs to look outside of himself for a source of power. The island is constantly abused, through fires, stripping of the fruit trees and the little " uns even go to the toilet wherever they please in this perfect paradise of theirs. This is a perfect example of humanity finding an undisturbed place and eventually ruining it.

Finally, when society becomes corrupt the group of boys primarily falls apart because there was no consequence to their actions. We must remember that leadership is the wise use of power, and power is the potential to interpret objectives into actuality and maintain it. "Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it" - Martin Luther King Junior.

What would come of a society in the world today if it were unlawful, and our leaders did not understand how to use the power that had been rendered upon them?