Lord Of The Flies Leadership Essay

The Intertwining of Leadership and Morals in Lord of the Flies by William Golding through Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
Leadership; Leadership is a manner of persuasion in which rulers prompt others to shadow his or her objectives or intentions. In order to be a great leader one must possess certain attributes and qualities. Throughout the course of the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Simon, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack all exhibit certain attributes of a leader as the story progresses. Each of the characters morals affects their actions and behaviors. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development classifies people into three diverse levels of moral reasoning with two sub stages. Golding incorporates Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

In the story the boys are stranded on an island after their plane had crashed. A boy known as Jack challenges Ralph from the beginning and throughout the entire novel. Jack proclaims “I ought to be chief because I’m chorister and head boy” (Golding 22). Tensions are very high and Jack is displeased about not being elected as their chief. Ralph still offers Jack to be the leader of the hunters group. This later proves to bring even more tension. “Listen all of you…Me and my hunters, we’re living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribe come and see us. Perhaps I’ll let you join. Perhaps not” (Golding 140). Jack thinks like a child and has poor morals. He thinks rashly alike to the littleuns. All he thinks about is killing and power. He does not think about what is best for all the boys as a whole. Golding wants to show how Jack is operating at the lower level of Kohlberg’s theory. Jack proves to be Level One, Stage Two which is Instrumental Exchange in Kohlberg’s theory. This is described as “right behavior means acting in one's own best interests” (Barger 1). Level One justly defines Jack because Jack sees the boys as a weapon and he does not tolerate softness. He only does things for his own good. The pig can represent Jack pig is all the Jack craves. Jack desires killing and control. The small amount of

“You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil”(Golding 10). Ralph was born a leader and thus is why he is elected. Throughout the novel, Ralph endures and endeavors for society that abides by the rules and laws. He urges, “We need an assembly. Not for fun. Not for laughing or falling off the log, not for making jokes, or for cleverness. Not for these things. But to put things straight” (Golding 79). Ralph has good morals and worthy intentions in being that he wants to help for the good of society. This law abiding mentality categorizes Ralph within Kohlberg’s Level Two, Stage Three of Developmental Stages. In this level of Kohlberg’s theory, a person is “oriented to abiding by the law and responding to the obligations of duty.” According to literary critic S.J. Boyd, “One of Ralph's problems as chief is that the boys fail to abide by the rule” (Boyd). This is true because even though rules are needed for a functioning society a good leader should be able to control his people. Ralph represents the conch in the story because the conch is what brought the boys together and Ralph symbolizes law, order, and authority” (Barger 1). Ralph is a noble leader and tries his best to help all the boys as a whole unlike Jack. Ralph had morals, but he emphasized