Ralph's Moral Power in 'Lord of the Flies'

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, "I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right, and that is good,” and a character from "Lord of the Flies" applies to this, and his name is Ralph. He symbolizes civilization within William Golding's allegory. First off, he brought up the idea of designated chief to lead the survivors, rather than anarchy. Also, being elected by most of the survivors and they trusted him to help them. Concerning the idea of being rescued, he constantly enforces the idea of the fire. The idea is for someone not on the island see the boat and to leave the island. Due to that, Ralph places a rule of having a fire constantly on. This rule, along with the many others …show more content…

First of all, was when the idea of having a chief was brought forth in the first meeting, the narrator stated that Jack arrogantly nominated himself. Speaking of designating chief, when the idea of voting for a chief was brought forth he protested it. This presented his true intentions of being a leader, self-fulfillment and pride. Moreover, Jack was quite inconsiderate. According to the text, when Jack wanted to continue to move to find the supposed beast, Ralph told him to wait for the younger children. He replied with, "Sucks to the littluns!" How can one be a leader of he/she does not care about the welfare of others, especially those weaker than him? Nonetheless, in seek for the thrill of power Jack actually preyed on them; for example, everyone got a piece of meat from Jack's first hunt, except for Piggy, the hunter wanted to leave the younger child in doubt. He does this to intimidate and flaunt his power. In addition, he would do anything to gain it. In the eighth chapter, Jack twisted Ralph's words about the hunters, attempting to sway them on his side, rather than the actual chief. Also, he attempted a coup and forming an alternate group. Plus, when confronted by Ralph in the eleventh chapter, he stabbed him and eventually tried to hunt him down wishing to kill him, attempting to affirm himself as the "true" leader. Moreover, when Jack was chief, he could never be questioned; people solely followed him due to fear. When

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