If we look at the setting of the story, Ralph is in what seems to be a forest and the rain is pouring down. Instead of hiding from the rain or staying still in one place waiting for help to come to him, he searched for himself to see if there were any exits to the problem he was in, this shows he is independent and rather help himself than let others help him. Ralph was a fair looking boy with a scar on his face who is exploring through the woods bravely and along the way meets other boys like himself. At some point he developed strong feelings of superiority and these feelings were way before he wanted to become an official leader to the other boys like the passage stated: “but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him” Such feelings can remind us of the song sang by Jose Jose entitled “Preso” which states: “I am mad but I do not runaway from you...” in this case Ralph has become mad with want for superiority but he does not runaway from these feelings. Instead, he harbors them. The same song also said: “Instead of beseeching and rejecting you I desire you...” Ralph does not beseech these feelings of superiority and instead finds some sort of comfort in harboring them. Jose Jose mentions: “How can you be free from me when I have become your prisoner?” This is a fact from life, any feelings and emotions which are harmful may become attached to our personality and can start to control us, in a way we become prisoner to the negative feeling or emotion.
Ralph is expressed as a boy who is determined and not afraid of obstacles that may come his way. This is clearly shown since the beginning of the passage where it states that “(he) lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon”. We can see in this part of the passage that he is a boy that is ongoing, doesn’t let a challenge such as a river stop him from crossing the other side, and is unafraid of what he will discover. Ralph’s personality of being ongoing and moving foreword shows direct signs of being an independent person and an authentic leader.
The program “Charisma on Command” mentions that a good leader “Listens, is not afraid to express actions and opinions, is assertive, and knows how to handle social like situations, and is not afraid to help others” We can definitely see situations in the passage where Ralph demonstrates he’s a good person who has an authentic leader like charm. For example: when the chubby boy questioned Ralph, Ralph answered back to all of his questions, like the passage states:
“What’s your name?”
“Ralph.”
“I expect there’s a lot more of us scattered about. You haven’t seen any others, have you?”
Ralph shook his head
Another way Ralph shows he’s a good leader is when he is decided to help the chubby boy he met. Like the passage states: “He bent down, removed the thorns carefully, and turned around. He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles.”
Ralph is also seen as a realistic person when he started conversation with the chubby boy and said: “This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. That’s a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere.” Ralph was realistic of the situation and knew he and the chubby boy were stranded and that there were possibly no grown ups. Ralph also said: “He must have flown off after he dropped us. He couldn’t land here. Not in a place with wheels.” Ralph knew that the air pilot was unable to land in a place with so many trees and was aware that if the plane came landing in an isolated area filled with trees it would probably crash and the pilot would get hurt.
