Is Ralph or Jack a Better Leader in The Lord of the Flies by William Golding?

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Recommended: Courage and the responsibilities of leadership

Leaders. What are they classified by? Is it their good looks, their IQ, or their fitness? Partially, but good leaders are classified by their morals, their qualities, and their actions. Characteristics of a good leader are honesty, commitment, intuition, confidence, the ability to delegate, good communication, and fearlessness, just to name a few. The boys on the island needed a leader that could help them survive, stay healthy, and ultimately take them back to safety and civilization. In the story, Ralph is a better leader than Jack is, as he possess more qualities of a good leader, and is better fit to lead the boys on the island to society. These qualities include responsibility, leading by example, unpretentious sincerity, interactive and dynamic communication, and determination to find a way off the island. Jack, on the other hand, retains qualities like unaccountability, leadership by force, dishonesty, brute and degrading communication, and intention of staying on the island.
To begin with, Ralph is one of the most, if not the most, responsible and hardworking person on the island. He relentlessly works on the task at hand until it is completed, regardless of the weather, the immensity of the task, or the amount of assistance he is receiving. An example of his perseverance and commitment is demonstrated in chapter 3, when Ralph and Jack are arguing over the work being done on the island. Ralph started by saying, “You remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished?” Jack responded, “Except me and my hunters”, followed by Ralph’s rebut, “All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else.” (51) Ralph has been rigorously working on building the shelters with Simon, which will be usef...

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... peace, while Ralph is a civilized and orderly character, who constantly tries to create peace.

Sources for character essay: Ralph VS. Jack
Leading by example: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_60.htm Leadership quality: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-examples-of-excellent-business-leadership-2010-2?op=1 http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/03/good.leader.traits.cb/
Quotes:
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2766512-lord-of-the-flies
Sample Essays: http://samplepapersonline.blogspot.ca/2009/07/lord-of-flies-essay.html History: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1919/wilson-bio.html Essay Transitions: http://hs.houstonisd.org/ReaganHS/Organizations/Resources/Essay%20Transitions.htm https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/135/transw.html http://www.virtualsalt.com/transits.htm Dictionary/ Thesaurus: http://thesaurus.com http://dictionary.com

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