The Way to Lead in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

The Way to Lead in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding, concerns a

group of British boys who are stranded on a deserted island after

their plane is shot down during the war. The boys have to survive

using only the island's resources. A leader is needed to control the

boys, and Ralph is voted leader though Jack thinks he is better than

Ralph. However, Ralph is a better leader than Jack. Ralph focuses on

being rescued and being able to survive for a long time, whereas Jack

is only concerned about daily survival. Ralph is more of a democratic

leader, listening to other people's ideas and suggestions, and

distributing work evenly among the boys, while Jack only cares about

himself and wants to do things his own way. Lastly, Ralph sets down

rules they must follow in order to keep them civilized, unlike Jack,

who wants everyone to follow him and do whatever he wants to do, which

eventually leads them to savagery.

In the early chapters of the novel, Ralph directs the group's focus on

the hope for rescue. He feels it is necessary to keep a fire burning

in case a ship or a plane is passing by. Ralph explains that the

purpose of the fire was to let the smoke being emitted from it lure

the ship or plane to the island and allow the boys to be rescued,

"There's another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes

near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top

of the mountain. We must make a fire" (37). Ralph knows that they are

going to be on the island for quite some time, and that the fire is

not the only thing they had to attend to. He encourages the boys to

build huts for their shelter, and he assigns the choir to watch over

the fire and hunt for meat for all the boys.

Jack, on the other hand, is convinced that the most important thing to