Temperaments In Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding's, “Lord of the Flies”, all the young boys depict one of the Kiersey Temperaments as they conform to what they believe are the islands expectations. There are four different personality types: the Guardian, Idealist, Rationalist, and Artisian. Ralph is the young boy in this novel that portrays a Guardian the uttermost, through his responsibility, common sense and charisma.
Ralphs responsibility is the first characteristic we notice about him after the boys have crashed on the island. On a website about the four temperaments, it was able to explain Guardian’s roles to me when it stated, “Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services” (Keirsey.com). Ralph’s talent is thus shown from start

to finish of arriving on the island. He has proclaimed himself the leader of the group of kids, which in my opinion was the smartest choice they could have made at this time.. After having just met the termagant boys, Ralph invites them over to Piggy and his area, “We are having a meeting. Come and join in” (Golding 20). At this point in the novel, only twenty pages in, Ralph has set up order among everyone. He is a mere, responsible manager of the group, leading me to believe that with his help, the young boys could possibly have a chance of being rescued off the island. Ralph makes sure to try as best as he can to get the whole group’s priorities straight, “ How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper” (Golding 45). He knows that the Littluns will be little to no help is the process of rescue and Jack has a mindset focused on hunting. Ralph, alongside Piggy and Simon, are the only ones that give the whole group the slightest chance of redemption.
Guardians are often to know what is best for the group and they prove it by taking charge.

Throughout the novel when Ralph notices some of the boys have started to turn into savages, he tries to put an end to it as soon as possible. Ralph wants the young boys to remain as close to their old selves as much as they can, rather than transforming into unrecognizable people. Once the boys have gotten somewhat settled in on the island, they forget to watch after the most important job, as seen in Ralph’s eyes, “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there might be a ship out there” (Golding 42). The majority of the group has turned to having fun rather than getting rescued. Ralph is one of the only people that has common sense and seems to know their correct priorities. We can see that choosing Ralph to be the leader may lead to benefiting them all. In chapter 11, Jack and his group have bombarded Ralph’s group and stolen Piggy’s glasses, so when Piggy asks what they are going to do, Ralph responds with, “Supposing we go, looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed- after all we aren’t savages really and being rescued isn’t a game--” (Golding 170). Ralph ends up handling this given situation like an adult. He can see quite clearly that the thought of salvation and maturity has no meaning to everyone in Jack's’ group. They have been treating their whole situation like it is just a game, but Ralph knows at this point that rescue is

far from a game.
A Supervisor, a subcategory under a Guardian, seems to match Ralph’s personality traits and description a great deal.

On the Keirsey Temperament’s website, it listed some personality traits of a Supervisor, “Supervisors like to take charge of groups and are comfortable issuing orders” (Keirsey.com). Ralph has been able to establish the meeting spot, the huts and the fire with little to no help from anybody else. His main goal is to keep the boys focused on the hope of rescue and he will work vigilantly to do so. After the whole group was chaotically speaking over one another, Ralph established another rule when he said, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (Golding 33). Once Ralph says this, the boys begin to get very excited over the thought of rules, “Whee-oh!..Wacco!..Bong!..Doink!” (Golding 33). Everybody, even Jack at this point, have accepted Ralph as the trusting leader and they look up to him as a diplomat. Though, later on in the novel, he begins to lose his power to Jack. Yet, this occasion does not stop Ralph from the goal of rescue because he then demonstrates his skills of a conceptual thinker when in a group by himself. After nearly avoiding death by savages, Ralph ends up running into a naval officer who asks, “Who’s boss here?” (Golding 201), when Ralph proudly responds, “I am” (Golding 201). The fact that three people have been killed under his watch and his whole group have turned into wild

animals, does not stop Ralph from keeping his original title as “Chief”. Jack and his group were not the only ones at fault for all the blunders made, and Ralph finally acknowledges this fact.
Ralph is a classic Guardian because of his portrayal of a natural leader and rule follower. For the majority of the novel, Ralph was the one all the young boys looked up to and followed. This then helped everyone in working together and maintaining a somewhat civilized society. For the young boy with the fair hair, being a Guardian has many benefits, but it can also hurt you, as seen in, “Lord of the Flies”. There may be Artisian’s, like Jack, who try to go against you and constantly act as if things will go their way. Though the most important thing to take away from this novel is that you should always stay true to who you were made to be and never feel pressured to conform to society's new expectations.