Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Through out history, leadership has been a very important part in civilization. Leaders help organize others into systems that are beneficial to the whole of society. The group of people, or society, need leaders to help guide them to a better way of living life. Also, even though it may seem strange, leaders need the people in the society. Without people to lead, a leader cannot lead. This can be shown in the novel The Lord of the Flies. The main characters, Jack and Ralph, both are natural leaders but have different ideas of running their society. As the novel progresses the leader changes because the boys choose to follow Jack and abandon Ralph. By observing each of the main characters leadership characteristics, the boys choose the leader

He has fair hair, is thin, and seems like the perfect person to be a chief. When Ralph brought all the boys together by blowing into a conch, he showed himself as a leader to the other boys. Also, he reassures the boys that they will be rescued by saying, “My father’s in the Navy. He said there are not any unknown islands left. He says the queen has a big room full of maps and all the islands in the world are drawn there, So the Queen’s got a picture of this island” (Golding 37). Here the reader can infer that Ralph has some leadership because his father is in the navy. Ralph also stays positive throughout the novel. This positivity makes him more friendly and more like a natural leader than Jack. When Ralph states that the boys are not on an unknown island, the boys smile because they have hope that they might be found soon. The characteristics that Ralph shows as chief, are great leadership

Piggy’s bad characteristic is being too dependent. Piggy, as the reader knows well, is Ralph’s second in command. Piggy gives his ideas to Ralph, but will not do anything unless is given the “okay” by Ralph. The following quotation is an example of this. “Piggy touched Ralph’s wrist. ‘Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat’ ”(Golding 151). Here the reader can see that Piggy is advising Ralph to leave the discussion that Ralph is having with Jack. Ralph does not listen to Piggy, who is the voice of reason. Piggy understands that the discussion will soon lead to a fight and someone will be harmed, but Piggy will not leave if Ralph will not leave. This is a grave mistake because right after their discussion, all of the boys accidentally kill Simon. Piggy, who knew something bad was going to happen, did not leave because he is dependent on Ralph. Another example of his dependency is when Jack takes Piggy’s glasses. Piggy only goes to retrieve his specs if Ralph goes with him. Even though it is good to be sometimes dependent on others, a good leader should mostly rely on his skills and characteristics. They should be mostly independent for others are dependent of