The need for a leader is natural human behavior, yet quite often it turns out that those who hold influence have a rather distasteful idea of what is truly important. William Golding’s literary fiction, Lord of the Flies, is the story of around a dozen British boys, all under the age of thirteen, who are stranded on a desert island after their plane crashes and washes out to sea. The novel documents the progression of the conflicts that arise on the island between Jack and the elected chief, Ralph. Conflict begins to arise when Jack pulls a group of boys away from their assigned responsibilities. This conflict further develops when Jack and a group of biguns, having already separated from Ralph’s group, steal the glasses of a boy named Piggy. …show more content…
In the final chapter of the novel, Jack reveals how he has begun to value the savage lifestyle of the island over the life of a human being through his actions. Ralph, having been exiled by Jack, is deemed an enemy of the Jack’s tribe, which consists of nearly every boy on the island at this point. This leads to a full on hunt of Ralph. “’He meant he’d hide in there?’ ’Yes-yes-oh-!’ Silver laughter scattered among the trees,” (Golding 192). Not only does Jack orchestrated an inhumane hunt of another human being, but he also shows joy towards pursuing Ralph. The way that Jack lets out a laugh upon discovering Ralph’s covert is evidence of this joy. This joy is also expressed when Jack and his followers cheer after dropping a boulder on top of Ralph’s covert location. “’Heave! Heave! Heave!’ A shrill, prolonged cheer. Something boomed up on the red rock, then the earth jumped and began to shake steadily, while the noise as steadily increased,” (Golding 194). This joy at the thought of ending someone’s life is enough to prove how disfigured Jack’s priorities are, yet none of the boys attempt to enact any mutiny against Jack. The boys continue to build Jack’s wicked influence because they are unaware of the contorted morals and ideals of their
In “Lord of the Flies” Ralph has the goal of getting himself and the rest of the tribe off the island. His plan to execute it is by making a signal fire that a passing ship or boat will see to rescue them. Ralph realizes that maintaining order within their tribe is crucial to their survival and chance of being saved. As chief of their group, he assigns Jack the leader of the hunters. He then puts them in charge of keeping the signal fire lit. During this process, Jack and his boys get distracted from keeping it lit as they attempt to kill a pig. After a couple of hunts, Jack and his boys finally kill a pig and return in cheers. As they get back, Ralph gets mad at Jack saying “You and your blood Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home” (70). Ralph is angry with Jack because he realizes as leader that he has to make sure everyone understands their main goal, and are able to focus on that by blocking out distractions. These actions that Ralph show display why he is successful as a leader and why they accomplish the goal of getting
That’s why if I had to pick between Ralph and Jack it would be Ralph because he is a caring person. Ralph overall really tried his best to be together as a team and a family. So the point of this is to tell you that Ralphs motivation was to find help to get off the island he wanted to keep people safe so that they would all help and comfort each other. The tragedies were hard but Ralph did contribute even when he was upset he still showed effort. Oh and all the deaths Ralph was speechless he could not have prevented it even if he wanted to and we know he really wanted to.
According to Peter Drucker, he claims, “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” Leadership is a commitment that is meant to be kept and done accurately. Leading a group or a society can lead to dreadful obstacles, but it’s your responsibility to have a solution to end. Ralph and Jack as a leader cause a majority of downhill for the boys. Affecting themselves and their surroundings to abruptly fall into pieces. Which lead to a mass destruction of the island, Lord of the Flies. The devastating events on this island lead to the massive chaos of Lord of the Flies, blaming Ralph and Jack for denial, lack of cooperation and inefficient leadership.
The Lord of the Flies is a gruesome story about young boys stranded on an island, who underwent a transformation from polite British choir boys to savage hooligans. One of the main difficulties the boys face during their adventures upon the island, is their method of government, they either follow the path of Ralph, the democratic leader whose main focus is to escape the despairing island; or Jack a power-hungry monarchical leader who won't ever take no for an answer. The two boys are constantly bickering and arguing over who deserves the leader-position. We all understand Ralph wants to be leader so that he can ensure that the boys will return back home, but in Jack's case, it is a constant mystery to us about why he wants power over the other children. But we do get much small hints from the author, William Golding, that Jack's biggest fear among the other children on the island is public humiliation. This becomes more and more evident the farther on into the book, and his fear seems to be what persuades him to reach for a powerful position.
Jack, William Golding’s antagonist in Lord of the Flies, reveals through his experience on the island that it is an individual’s assertiveness, manipulative abilities, and charisma which dictate who commandeers power and privilege over others, and that possessing these traits often negatively impacts the lives of the people leaders seek to control.
There is an unknown perfect science to being a leader. Some say that this is something you can attain over time with training or guidance, and others say it's a talent you must be born with. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, one of the main characters Ralph, is elected the leader. The reason he is elected the leader isn't boldly laid out for the reader, but what is noticed, is that Ralph carries the true essence of a leader. Ralph can be seen as a great leader by the way he has everyone's best interest in mind, by the way he sets certain rules to maintain a civil society, and how he calls assemblies to address the issues that he has become most concerned with.
In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, leadership is one of the main important qualities. If I had to choose between Jack and Ralph to follow in the story, I would choose Ralph. Although he ended up struggling near the end of the story, I still found him to be a good leader.
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
For years, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, has been a staple in college, high school, and even middle school classes. The eloquent story follows a group of young boys stranded on a jungle island. They are left thousands of miles away from civilization and are left to survive by themselves. Throughout the story, many insights in leadership are seen through the power struggle between Ralph and Jack. Both have extremely different styles of leadership with varying levels of success. Lord of the Flies teaches me about leadership in the initial selection of the leader, how they solve problems, and how they motivate others.
William Golding, in his fictional novel Lord of the Flies, has created one of the most stunningly elaborate, captivating works of American literature. It is a straightforward story of a few shipwrecked schoolboys that dramatically turns into a multifaceted tale of endless deceit, trickery and all out jealousy. It is in this story that three boys, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack, come to play the pivotal parts of leaders to a group of children who are fighting for the right of survival.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about human nature and the functions of society. One of the main characters in this novel is Ralph, who is chosen to be the leader of a group of boys. He assigns tasks to the boys and tries to keep them accountable for it. However, the boys begin to slack because they can no longer see the point of these tasks and rules. As a result of the constant slacking the boys soon turned into savages. Ralph’s struggle to maintain order amongst the boys shows how without rules it is human nature to descend into savagery due to the avoidance of authority.
After being marooned on an unknown, uninhabited island and desperate to survive, the characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies are pushed to the limits of their humanity, and no one is safe from the atrocities from within, not even the seemingly innocent littluns. In an environment where civilization does not exist, the boys of the story attempt to form a society among themselves. Among the group of boys is a young boy who stands out from the rest. Jack Merridew, the leader of the choir boys, strives to take the role of leader of the boys, and he appears to be completely competent. In the beginning, Jack seems to be innocent and civilized. Jack is the cultured leader of the boys’ choir. Although the reader’s first impression of Jack Merridew may be one of an innocent leader eager to be rescued, his true, truculent nature manifests with the development of the novel, and the reader is gripped by Jack’s true schismatic, belligerent, and iconoclastic nature.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others” (Welch). Leadership is inspiring others to learn more, do more, and become more. Ineffective fail to possess certain characteristics which effective leaders do. Willingness to help others, selflessness, and strictness; these are the qualities of a both good and effective leader. Without these qualities, leadership would fail and being a leader would mean nothing.
There are always people who, in a group, come out with better qualities to be a leader than others. The strongest people however, become the greater influences which the others decide to follow. However, sometimes the strongest person is not the best choice. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person to give an understanding of the different powers that people can posses over others.