The Cause of Disorder in "Lord of the Flies".
Essay Topic Statement: The breakdown of order on the island is mainly caused by Ralph's inability or unwillingness to exercise power effectively.
I disagree with this statement. Ralph is not an effective leader not because he chooses not to be one but because his fellow islanders do not cooperate with him 100% and/or go against him in search of their own form of amusement and lust for savagery. .
Ralph is a wise leader in the fact that he knew that the most important thing on the island was the fire and the smoke it created. In a meeting he's quoted as to saying, "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going? ." (Page 80) .
Firstly, Ralph is not an effective leader due to the oppression placed on him by Jack in his search for power. In an ill-fated move by Ralph, Jack was given power over his choir and they were to become the group's hunters. Quoted simply, "The choir (hunters) belongs to you- by Ralph to Jack (Page 23). Jack also places pressure on Ralph's leadership by trying to change the goals that the islanders should achieve. He spends all his time (and his hunters" time) on hunting pigs when they should be in charge of keeping the fire running. The running of the fire is quoted by Jack, "Ralph, I"ll split up the choir - my hunters, that is - into groups, and we"ll be responsible for keeping the fire going-" (Page 43). Unfortunately, Jack's priorities are inadequate and lead to the fire being put out at a moment in the book when a boat passes by the island, misses them (by not seeing the fire) and causes the boys to lose an opportunity to be rescued at an early stage on the island. .
The conflict between Jack and Ralph causes the extreme ending of Ralph's power on the island after Jack uses his bullish aggressive tactics to influence the islanders to his side.
