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how does leadership go with the novel, lord of the flies
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In the book the Lord of the Flies, there are many people which embody the persona of the best leader. However, the person who best embodies the quality is Ralph. This can be proven because of 3 reasons. In the duration of the story, he shows many defining characteristics that reveal his great leadership qualities. However there are 3 qualities that stand out and are the qualities which will be talked about in depth. These three qualities are the following. First, is Ralph’s ability to figure out compromises and keep order among his subjects. Second is Ralph’s quality of keeping his goal set and have laser sharp focus on achieving it without giving up. Finally, Third is Ralph’s compassion toward the littluns and his ability to take into account …show more content…
He figures out compromises and does what’s best for himself and the group. He figures out the best solutions for the situations at hand. Ralph does try and bring order to chaos on the island. His primary goal is rescue, so the boys can get back to civilization. In chapter two, "Fire on the Mountain," Ralph sets down rules for the boys about keeping rules, getting rescued, and using the conch."[I]f we have a signal going, they'll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down here” This is very mature and reasonable thinking, and by having the conch, it prevents the chaos of everyone talking at once. He's trying to do his best for the people. Ralph's excellent common sense and ability to realize what is best for the group further shows his impeccable leadership skills. Ralph keeps the boys in line and prevents them from becoming uncivilized savages. In Jack's control, the boys become exactly that. They have little self-restraint. Ralph, however, keeps the boys under control by holding meetings. At these meetings a sense of order is implanted because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. When Ralph says, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (Golding …show more content…
While Jack considers himself above everyone else, Ralph treats the boys as equals. Ralph's compassionate qualities are shown in his constant defence of Piggy. Piggy is the weakest link of the group and is therefore treated poorly most of the time. When Jack hits Piggy and breaks his glasses, Ralph calls it "A dirty trick." (Golding 78) This shows Jack's negligence for a fellow stranded person on the island; while at the same time reflects Ralph's humaneness and ability to sympathize with others reflecting his comprehension of fellow human beings. Jack treats all the boys, especially Piggy, less than him. When Jack gets meat from hunting, he gives everyone a little except for Piggy. When Piggy asks for some, Jack says, "You didn't hunt." (Golding 80) Ralph and many of the littluns did not hunt, yet only this discriminatory behaviour is made toward Piggy. Jack's indignity for Piggy shows his inability to comprehend people, as a good leader would take care of all of his underlings. Ralph has this knowledge and is ultimately a greater leader because of
Ralph has several positive characteristics but he also has several crucial weaknesses that prevent him from being the perfect leader. In chapter one the boys decide who they want to be leader. The boys decide on Ralph, “”Vote for a chief!”…every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air.” (Golding 18-19). From the very beginning Ralph is seen as the leader. He becomes the one the boys look up to and depend on to make decisions in their best interest. Ralph has natural leadership skills. Landing on the island with no adults to take control, the boys chose to follow the one boy who seems to be doing something productive, Ralph. An example of Ralph being purposeful and productive is when he blows the conch to get the attention of all the boys on the island and bring them together for a meeting. When Jack and his choir find the other boys gathered he asks where the man with the trumpet is, Ralph replies, “There’s no man with a trumpet. We’re having a meeting. Want to join?” (Golding 16). Ralph asks Jack and the choir boys to join the meeting because he wants all the boys to work together so they can be rescued as soon as possible. Other than his leadership and purposeful qualities, Ralph is also hard working. When tasks are given out to the boys, such as building shelters, hunting, gathering food, the hard work of most boys turns into play and exploration leaving Ralph to do most of the work by himself with little help from others. When the other boys gave up on their tasks Ralph continued working, this proves his hard work. Leadership, purposeful, and hard working are all positive qualities that helped Ralph succeed in the novel, but Ralph also had some majo...
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.
Society is based off of hierarchy which is the basis for the change people have in society. Sometimes it’s good and other times…. Well it’s not so good. In most respects, leadership defines the outcome of a certain society. A good leader with good intentions, leading society in good directions is bound to be beneficial and maintain an ethos that will carry with them for the rest of their lives. But then there are others that are too ignorant and become less and less what they had hoped to be. Lord of the flies by William Golding is a great example of this. Golding argues that where there is a gain in power with bad leadership, that there is a loss of identity. In Lord of the Flies, A few boys arrive on a plane after it had crashed because of a war that was taken place at the time of the plane crashing. The basic synopsis is that they are trying to be rescued. The boys recollect after being separated. There are no adults on the island either. During the period they were on the island, Lots of the boys had changed. Particularly Jack… He is a choir boy who wanted to be leader. His drastic change from choir boy to savage sets the stage for loss of identity. Rogers’s morals to his change in identity are drastic when he throws rocks at the littleuns. Finally we have Percival who’s Innocence and lack of understanding in the cruel world is destroying him mentally.
He blows the conch and summons the deserted children together” (Li & Wu 1). While all the boys are interested mainly in playing and setting out to satisfy their own needs, Ralph is focused on building shelter and keeping a fire going to facilitate their rescue. As one can see, Ralph is “the representative of civilization and democracy, lives by rules, acts peacefully, and follows moral commands and values the good of the group, who dramatically reveals the condition of civilization and democracy in Golding’s time” (Li & Wu
At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch. He knows that the boys “can’t have everybody talking at once.” (31) This is something that Ralph establishes very early in the novel in order to avoid chaos and remain civilized. So to make communication during a meeting easier he announces that they will “have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school” which he will follow up with handing the person the conch. (31) Ralph is able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. Ralph doesn’t fear about others acknowledging his leadership in the same way as Jack. While Jack continuously strikes fear in others to keep his power, Ralph only confrontates when someone is going against what is good for the community. One such example is when the fire goes out and Piggy calls Jack out on failing to tend to the fire, Jack becomes enraged and punches Piggy and breaks his glasses. When this happens, Ralph stands up and scolds Jack for his behaviour, and later, his apology, saying that it was “a dirty trick.” (76) After Jack leaves their group and war breaks out, Jack attacks Piggy and takes his glasses. Ralph goes up to Jack and offers him that they both could have used Piggy’s glasses for fire. Ralph still attempts to take responsibility for everyone and is still trying to get everyone rescued. He attempts to sort out this problem with Jack by negotiating in a civilized manner rather than resorting to savage violence. Only Ralph and Piggy know the need for rescue. Ralph struggles to keep a shaky peace and prevent violence. His meeting with the Lord of the Flies teaches him about the darkness in a human’s heart, which he finally comes to understand when he is rescued by a naval
The very first time Ralph is introduced to the reader, one can see his sense of observation even in the first sentence that he says: "This is an island, at least I think it's an island. That's a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren't any grownups anywhere." As everyone knows, a good sense of observation is essential for a leader. He was chosen as a leader by the other boys, which shows the civilized instinct with humans. Ralph represents order and discipline in this chaotic world without grownups, which is shown by his character and composure during the first meeting. He almost defines himself with his first speech, "Listen everybody. I've got to have time to think things out. I can't decide what to do straight off. If this isn't an island, we might be rescued straight away. So we've got to decide if this is an island or not. Everybody must stay around here and wait and not go away. Three of us-if we take more, we'd get all mixed, and lose each other-three of us will go on an expedition and find out. I'll go, and Jack, and, and...." (p.23-24) Ralph wastes no time in bringing order to the group. He shows intelligence and self-control by not jumping into conclusions and by wanting "time to think things out." That displays to the reader he is cautious . Surely the other boys recognized this also, for he had earned the title, chief.
Ralph defends Piggy, one of the boys, which is good administration. “‘You’re talking too much,” said Jack Merridew. Shut up, Fatty.’ Laughter Rose. ‘He's not Fatty,’ cried Ralph, ‘his real name's Piggy’” (Golding 21). This is a good characteristic to have because he is preventing harassment toward his people. He needs everyone to work together to leave the island. Later in the story, Ralph strengthens his ability to be leader by managing the group once again. “‘I'm chief. We've got to make certain. Can't you see the mountain? There's no signal showing. There may be a ship out there’” (Golding 108). The boys were silent after and listened to the chief as they followed Jack across the bridge. Ralph incessantly needs to yell at them to listen to him so they can work together. As expressed, Ralph shows the ability to be a leader continuously throughout the
It is seen in the beginning of the book when they first are stranded on the island that Ralph is the one who is appointed leader of the group by the boys because he sets things in place right for them to be rescued. Ralph right away sets things into place for the boys to be rescued by calling for an assembly, and setting orders for himself and the boys. one wise thing Ralph does is he appoints Jack who has desire for power, and he makes him the leader of the hunters, knowing that if jack is the leader of something there won’t be as much tension, because Jack wants to be the leader overall. In the book Lord of the flies Ralph… Another great thing is he lets piggy be in charge of knowing who all the boys are and keeping intact of where they are. Ralph knows that piggy is the smartest of them all, and he is at best of keeping track of those types of
Throughout the novel when Ralph notices some of the boys have started to turn into savages, he tries to put an end to it as soon as possible. Ralph wants the young boys to remain as close to their old selves as much as they can, rather than transforming into unrecognizable people. Once the boys have gotten somewhat settled in on the island, they forget to watch after the most important job, as seen in Ralph’s eyes, “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there might be a ship out there” (Golding 42). The majority of the group has turned to having fun rather than getting rescued. Ralph is one of the only people that has common sense and seems to know their correct priorities. We can see that choosing Ralph to be the leader may lead to benefiting them all. In chapter 11, Jack and his group have bombarded Ralph’s group and stolen Piggy’s glasses, so when Piggy asks what they are going to do, Ralph responds with, “Supposing we go, looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed- after all we aren’t savages really and being rescued isn’t a game--” (Golding 170). Ralph ends up handling this given situation like an adult. He can see quite clearly that the thought of salvation and maturity has no meaning to everyone in Jack's’ group. They have been treating their whole situation like it is just a game, but Ralph knows at this point that rescue is
While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got there. However, Ralph was able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch shell. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (p. 31) By making this rule, he gains respect from the boys and becomes for confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to tries to make the boys better people. He shows his by building them shelters. "They talk and scream. The littuns. Even some of the others." (p. 53) Ralph is saying that the boys need the shelters because they are afraid and the shelters will help the boys feel more secure. This shows he has better knowledge of people making him a better leader than Jack who does not understand this. Jack does not realize that the boys need to feel secure and need someone in control.
He is never one to make the group decision by himself, he always speaks with the group before he makes any decision. This is when his way of democracy is most important because he gets everyones’ opinions on all topics that are being discussed. He also says, “We've got to talk about this fear and decide there's nothing to it. I'm frightened myself sometimes; only, that's nonsense.” This quote shows his humility and his ability of being able to put himself on the same level as the other boys. Once the other boys know that Ralph is scared, but he knows that he should not be scared, they man up and gain confidence in themselves to be strong and not give up.
At the beginning of the novel, Ralph appears as one of the only characters who has a rational state. Due to his confidence and ability to provide logical solutions and offer hope, the boys unanimously elect him as Chief of the group. From the onset, Ralph asserts himself and begins to come up with a plan for survival. This is evident when he says, “Listen, everybody must stay round here and wait and not go away. Three of us... will go on an expedition and find out“ (Golding, 23-24). This quote clarifies that Ralph is fit to lead the group as he cares the most about the wellbeing of others. Additionally, at this point in the novel Ralph is completely civilized and provides hope that they will be rescued.
Two objects come to symbolize Ralph and Jack and their different leadership styles: the conch and the painted masks. Ralph and Piggy first find the conch in Chapter 1 entitled “The Sound of the Shell” and it soon becomes a defining trait of Ralph’s leadership style. He gives it more purpose than just a sound machine. He says, “ ‘We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us –’ ” (Golding 12). This illustrates Ralph’s organized frame of mind. Even before he is elected chief, he comes up with the idea of summoning the boys in order to decide their next course of action. He realizes the importance of upholding the rules of their British civilization, especially when there is no adult presence on the island to govern them. When the time comes to choose between Ralph and Jack, the majority of the boys support Ralph as their leader. The conch imbues him with power in the other boys’ eyes and makes him more appealing to them (at least at first). They are swayed by the conch’s symbolic power. Using this powerful instrument, Ralph implements law and order on the island. He realizes the boys’ need for a higher governing authority and quickly rushes to provide it for them. This stresses Ralph’s effectiveness as a leader. Similarly, the painted masks soon become a defining trait of Jack’s leadership style, just like the
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.
Under Jack's rule, the boys become uncivilized savages. They have no discipline. Ralph, however, keeps the boys under order through the meetings which he holds. At these meetings a sense of order is instilled because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. When Ralph says, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (Golding 36) he enforces his role of leader by making rules and gives the boys the stability of an authority figure, mainly himself. By doing this he wins the boys respect and confidence in his leadership abilities. Ralph uses his authority to try to improve the boys' society. By building shelters he demonstrates his knowledge of the boys' needs. When he says to Jack, "They talk and scream. The littluns.