Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

1191 Words3 Pages

Leadership is required in order for a group to succeed. In the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of British boys are left stranded on a tropical island. They are faced with many difficulties as the young boys must discover a way to survive until they are rescued. The boys quickly forget about social norms and disregard rules that their parents have taught them. Then a charismatic boy named, Ralph, is elected leader of the group and rules with a conch shell that he uses to call meetings. However, this presents a problem as the choirboys already have a leader named Jack. Jack feels as if he is more qualified to be leader and ultimately, Jack splits from Ralph's group. The two groups quarrel throughout the novel, but Ralph is …show more content…

Jack supplies the only source of meat for the boys on the island and is determined to kill a pig after his first attempt fizzled. He sets out on a hunt and “[he] cut the pig’s throat” (Golding 69). Jack and the choir boys are successful this time at hunting the pig, they march down the mountain fruitfully and carry the dead pig on a stake. However, this is a perfect example of how Jack makes feeble minded decisions as he chooses hunting the pig over tending the fire. Jack doesn’t focus on the long term goals of being rescued, and instead focuses his priorities on insignificant tasks. Ralph confronts Jack and says, “there was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out” (Golding 118). This irrational choice that Jack makes delays the rescue of the boys and entitles them to remain on the island until another form of rescue arrives. Another example of why Jack may be considered a better leader, is that he has more control of the boys and is able to get them to do the things he wants. When Ralph and Samneric go to “castle rock” to retrieve Piggy’s specs, they are confronted by Jack returning from the forest with another slain pig. Jack orders them to leave, but they do not listen so he orders his members to “tie [Samneric] up,” (Golding 179). Jack then turns to Ralph and speaks between his teeth, “see? They do what I want” (Golding 179). Jack has absolute power over his tribe members and they obey every command that he gives them, even if it means going against their former leader. Nevertheless, even if he has absolute power over his group members, his rule is dictatorial and gives his members no rights. Instead, Ralph has implemented a democratic system in which all the boys can be heard. During meetings Ralph establishes that “[they] can’t have everybody

Open Document