The personalities, ages and worries all differ between the boys. I think the three main characters are Ralph, Jack and Piggy. There are two other boys is the story that symbolise good and evil respectively, Simon and Roger.
Ralph is picked as leader at the start of the book, against the competition of Jack. Ralph was picked to be leader because he blew through a large shell, the other reason for them to pick Ralph was because he seemed, to the boys, to be trustworthy.
“None of the boys could have found a good reason for this… there was a stillness about Ralph that marked him out.”
When the shell created the sound, it made the boys congregate near to the edge of the island, they called the shell the conch. After Ralph was picked to be leader, he made the boys group together, as he tried to set some priorities and rules, but some people had other thoughts about his ideas.
Jack was a natural leader as he led a group of boys which he had organised as soon as they hit land. When he wasn’t picked to be leader Ralph knew he had to give him some duties, therefore he told Jack and his choir they could become the hunters. This seems to suggest that Ralph was a good leader because he was aware of the needs of the others in his group from the start. Piggy was very shy to start off with, but had many ideas, so when Ralph was appointed as the person in command Piggy could share his ideas with Ralph, and then Ralph would try to enforce them.
Ralph was a good leader in many ways. For example he could take advice from people and does not always use his own ideas and initiative.
When they find the conch Piggy says “We can use this to call the others,” Piggy realises that when all the other boys hear the conch they will gather. Ralph is also interested in taking care of all the boys because he makes a speech about getting food, water, rescue and was also concerned about their hygiene.
“ ‘Remember, rocks for a lavatory, keep the fire going… Take your food up there.’ ”
Most of time when Ralph is speaking he hears a lot of other points being shouted at him, but he tries to not let them speak over him.
“ ‘I haven’t finished yet.’
‘But you’ve talked and talked!’ Jack sat down, grumbling.”
The last point I am going to make to propose the idea that Ralph is a good chief, is that when Ralph is being chased by the hunters, they have fire so they can set the forest alight to smoke him out, yet Ralph is thinking about what the group are going to eat tomorrow if the fruit in the trees is burned.
“ ‘The fools! The fire must be almost at the fruit trees – what would they eat tomorrow?’ ” This shows Ralph is a good leader because he is always thinking about his group, hardly ever about himself. In conclusion to these main points, I would say Ralph is a very thoughtful, caring and responsible chief.
Although Ralph has many good points he also has several bad points to his leadership.
The first bad point is that he can be quite unrealistic about being rescued.
“ ‘A ship will put in here. It might be daddy’s ship.’ ” Here Ralph is talking to Simon, really hoping they will be rescued, this contributes to being a bad leader because he isn’t thinking practically.
At the start of the book when Ralph has just been made leader he makes fun of Piggy.
“ ‘They used to call me ‘Piggy’.
Ralph shrieked with laughter. ‘Piggy! Piggy.’ … ‘He’s not Fatty, his real name Piggy!’ ” In my opinion this made him less of a good leader because he isn’t respecting Piggy’s feelings.
Sometimes Ralph used his power to order people about.
“ ‘Got any water?’ … ‘I said have you got any water? I’m thirsty.’ … Oh, hullo. Water?!’ ” Here he is complaining to the twins about being thirsty, and is ordering them about when he could go and get it himself.
Ralph also joined in with the gang when they needed something to ignite the fire, they grab Piggy’s glasses without asking then Ralph just elbow’s him away when Piggy tries to get them back.
“ ‘Use them as burning glasses’ … Ralph elbowed him to one side.”
There is clearly room for debate over whether Ralph is “a proper chief” ’. I think that Ralph is worthy of being leader because I think he is very loyal to his ‘community’, mostly because when he was being chased by the hunters he was still thinking about his group, not about himself. I think, in comparison to Jack being leader, Ralph is a brilliant leader. I say this because after Jack had let the first pig away, all he wanted to do was hunt or kill a pig, whereas Ralph was always trying to think about other people. I think, in comparison to Piggy being leader, Ralph is still the better leader because if Piggy was to try to talk to the group about his ideas they wouldn’t take him seriously because some of the group would be prejudice against him being fat. When Ralph did do bad things to the group he was always just getting caught up in a moment with all the peer group pressure because he was finding being a leader very demanding, as he is only twelve. I think Ralph is a very good leader and there is no one else who could do a better job on the island.