Ralph Leadership In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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Ralph: Leadership and its Turmoil Ralph was just one of many young men who crash landed on a mysterious island in the heat of an air battle during World War II. The boys were called together and Ralph was elected leader. However, what Ralph never knew was the enormous emotional toll he was accepting while becoming chief. Ralph became responsible for all of the boys: their decisions, their actions, and their well-being. The stress of this important position greatly affected Ralph’s emotional state; causing short term memory loss and what could have been a mild case of PTSD. In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, a historical fiction novel, there are many internal and external struggles between characters, but the internal struggles of Ralph outweigh them all.…show more content…
For Ralph, this was a huge commitment. Taking into account that Ralph was just a child, the duties of being a leader were more than anyone could ever ask of someone that age. It was obvious that Ralph was as fit as anyone else on the island to be leader, but it was his intuitive decision to use the conch that put him above others. “The being that had blown that [the conch] , had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees; was set apart.” (Golding 22). If Ralph had not blown the conch, the boys might have never seen each other, and very possible could have died alone. It was Ralph’s life-changing decision to blow the conch that produced the story there is today. Once Ralph was elected leader, he realized how much work being a leader was. The full stress of how important his job was truly set in, and began wearing him down; until eventually, Ralph would become nearly
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