A Leader Within
Nikita Sapozhnikov
Ms. Wolfe
ENG2D1-09
A Leader Within
Monday, April 15th
Max Depree once said “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” There are always people in a group, who come out with better qualities to be a leader than others. Leaders are one whom has the ability to take charge and control the rest of the group, by guiding, managing, and providing assistance. Ralph a twelve year old boy from ‘The Lord of The Flies’ by William Golding, became stuck on an unknown island and decided to take charge and blow the conch in order to call the rest of the children who survived the crash around the goal of getting rescued. He had everyone’s best interests at heart. Now as a leader, his obligations to his fellow’s members on the island, through his demonstration that he is a good leader as shown through the ability to show initiative, responsibility, and his courage and determination transforms him into the remarkable leader he is. Without Ralph’s leadership skills, the boy may not have been able to survive during their time on the island.
Ralph as the leader on the island shows a larger amount of initiative when it comes down to it. He takes a great deal of control, and is usually the first one up to the plate in a situation to benefit the safety of everyone on the island. ‘You hunters! You can laugh! But I tell you smoke more important than the pig, however often you kill one. Do all of you see?’ While he spread his arms wide and turned to the whole triangle. ‘We’ve got to make smoke up there - or die.’(Golding, 86-87). This quote demonstrates Ralph’s effort to maintain order and the civilized behaviour of everyone else. By being the first to give out orders, he tries to set goals, and create plans for the team for the slightest hope of being rescued, and by showing initiative when most of the other boys are more anxious to play, have fun, and avoid work. This expresses how Ralph has the idea, and sticks with it, for the safety of himself, and the others on the island. He’s always on the lookout for opportunities, and ideas to lead the group to safety. In chapter four Ralph, with the help of piggy step into the lead to signal a passing by ship in the distance, "There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." They tried with the light, and smoke of the fire from the top of the hill, but it was too late. ”Ralph – please! Is there a signal?” Piggy cried out to Ralph.(Golding, 67) This clearly shows Ralph taking initiative to run all the way to the top of the hill to signal the boat, making it in time or not. His one goal is to get rescued, therefore to achieve that goal he must show initiative.
As a leader, Ralph possesses the quality of responsibility a true factor to success of a leader. “The storm broke. Sit down! Shut up! Take the conch! Sod you! Shut up! Ralph shouted (Golding, 96). This quote demonstrates Ralph’s ability to take control in tough situations, to act responsibly, and create a society filled with laws to follow. All the problems the boy’s face can be easily resolved by his ability to keep them calm and protected. He also takes the responsibility to set appropriate laws on the island for all of them to obey, such as designated toilet area, making sure the signal fire never goes out, building shelter, and along with gathering an abundance of food and as well as water. At a point in the book all the boys stuck on the island refused to go by these rules and there was failure on the island due to this. Ralph also has a tendency to take responsibility for important tasks that need to be accounted for on the island, because he considers himself the leader of the pack. “I’m chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue”. Ralph holds meetings to make sure everything on the island is in running order, or close to it. Ralph also chooses to deal with the presence