The Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that people values in the society. In a small group of people, the strongest person would seem ideal to be the leader, but that maybe not always the best choice. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a bunch of British boys is stranded on an island and two boys by the name of Ralph and Jack are ideal contenders for the leader position. Although it looks like Jack is a better leader since he’s stronger, Ralph is better due to the fact that he understands the boys, he has better common sense, he tries to create a simple government to have order, and he has a better understanding of true human nature. As a result, intelligence and understanding could be more important than strength. Ralph shows that he has more common sense than Jack. In the story, all Jack wanted to do was to hunt and to feed everybody, but Ralph knew that shelter and being rescued is more important. As a result, Ralph decides to light a fire to signal nearby ships and to build three shelters to protect the boys from nature’s harm. Another thing that Ralph does that sets him apart from Jack is the founding of a simple government with a few rules. On the contrast, Jack is a boy with no rule in his mind and he’s basically a dictator in his tribe since he’ll torture those who disobey his rules. It was stated that “and another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down there” (Golding
This quote illustrates that the boys respect and listen to Ralph, and the possession of the conch cements the idea of Ralph keeping the boys sane. Later on, Ralph becomes extremely emotional when the boys were rescued. “Ralph, weeping for the end of innocence and the darkness of man’s heart, is weeping for all men, the officer and his crew included” (Reilly, 10). This quote supports the fact that numerous contradicting emotions go through his head, once the group is rescued. To clarify, Jack is a better leader than Ralph, but some people can argue that this is not a true statement.
Ralph teaches us a lesson that Jack cannot. Keeping a democracy in civilization is crucial for survival. He also teaches that children need guidance and discipline. Ralph makes it clear that without the establishment of rules many problems would be caused, as shown in the novel when all the boys act out. A similarity between Jack and Ralph is that their rivalry caused society and civilization to be torn, without that the community will not function properly. Another point to compare and contrast between Jack and Ralph is their relationships between each other, and the other boys as well. From the get go Jack is by far more confident in himself and his ability to talk to others. He knows what he wants and he is not afraid to get it, even if that means being rude to others along the way. Unlike Ralph who immediately comes off as timid and uninterested when he first starts talking to Piggy and a few other boys. A similarity between Jack and Ralph is that they create a small liking to each other in the beggining, caused by agreement in sharing different roles in leadership, shown in this quote, “Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking. The rest
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln. Once you give a man power, it all goes downhill from there. In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there is one group of boys on an island. The boys elect one chief, Ralph, but another bigun thinks he’s a better chief. So the other boy, Jack, leaves and forms a new tribe with most of the boys. After a little bit of time, the groups begin to fight resulting in a couple of tragic deaths. Why would people follow a corrupt leader like Jack? They follow them because they feel like the new leader can help them better than the old one; they think that the leader or ruler can provide for them and it doesn’t matter who that leader is, they will follow them because there’s no one else to follow.
A true leader is a person who takes initiative and does what is needed to lead a group of people. If they need to, they will make any sacrifices, take the ability to take control and charge of a group. Ralph displays initiative and leadership in the book, “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, by leading the innocent group of kids to survival.
Over time there have been many leaders of countries, groups and societies that are believed to be the “best” or what someone could only dream of. However what if a perfect leader doesn’t exist? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Ralph’s sense of leadership declines throughout the novel. So what if he doesn’t actually possess the skills the boys had hoped he for.
In society, there are often people who acquire strong leadership qualities and understand what it means to be a favorable leader. Other times, there are people who have strong qualities to lead, but they do not understand how to be a favorable leader and create a safe and comfortable environment for those following them. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the characters of Ralph and Jack arise as two different leaders who bear strong characteristics and they both seek power on the island. The boys become leaders in their own ways, creating individual environments that prioritize different matters, all while trying to work towards their rescue off the island.
Ralph and Jack are very different leaders in many different ways regarding themselves as people and as leaders on the island. Both leaders display very different versions of a human act in this book. Ralph is a person who acts more with ego, which is the most controlled part of human actions like being more civilized and organized with decisions regarding the island. He does this by assigning different roles to the littluns like the ones that are responsible for shelter, the hunters, and fire keepers. Jack, on the other hand, acts more with the ID, the animal part of a human, with his decisions as a leader. Jack favors, food over the shelter, which is the total opposite of Ralph, in fact, that is what he promises his people when the split of the two “tribes”. He told all the littluns that he promises feasts of meat every night and a lot of fun. In chapter five of Lord of the Flies gives a great idea of how Ralph is like as a leader. When he calls the littluns with the conch shell and has to remind the littluns about the rules he says, “‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’” (Golding 108). In this event, Piggy was holding the conch and the others weren’t respecting
Humans are a sophisticated and advanced race, one which possess the ability to affect their environment, and one another, in significant and often destructive ways. War is a catastrophic event created by humans, who upon creating it neglect to comprehend its far-reaching effects. The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, places a group of prepubescent males into one of these situations. After an evacuation aircraft crash-lands, the boys are left upon a deserted island to manage and fend for themselves. As Golding details the trials and tribulations of the young men on the island, it becomes increasingly apparent that the children respect authority and require an organized leadership. The failure to manifest such a system will result in a de-evolution into savagery.
Since 1910 The Boy Scouts of America have been teaching boys how to grow their leadership qualities. These qualities have been said to be learned through scouts. Learning that there are many different ways to lead people is a gem scouts teaches young adults. Although the three characters in Lord of the Flies and Beowulf all have different approaches to the way that they lead, all of them have major flaws that diture followers.
Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel by William Golding and published in 1951, shortly after the end of World War II. The novel follows the ventures of a group of British boys stranded on an island and seeks to address the root cause of the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph represents order and civilized society, while Jack represents Hitler and his fascist regime. Ralph’s shortfall lies in his myopic point of view, developed by his father’s influence. His lack of foresight in his leadership role results in the neglect of critical responsibilities, poor decision-making and a weak society, which then allows for the rise of Jack’s fascist regime.
In the Lord of the Flies, the boys are challenged when their plane crashes and they have to survive on a deserted island. To survive the boy’s find it necessary to establish a leader in the beginning. The boys face many of challenges throughout the whole book because of their lack of respect for their leader. Ralph, the stories leader, struggles to lead because of Jack, who opposes Ralph’s view of what needs to be in order to survive. Jack in turn, reverts to savagery and only wants to hunt and have fun. Whether the leader is good or evil, he or she needs to be assertive, be able to take action, and think about the “long-term”.
“‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’ ‘Who cares?’ Ralph summoned his wits: ‘Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!’” (91). In Lord of the Flies, Ralph says this to Jack at one of their assemblies, after having berated the boys for neglecting the shelter building and the signal fires. Ralph’s leadership is built on these rules, and Jack’s breaking of them causes an ideological conflict between them which eventually leads to Ralph’s loss of power among the group. He tries to create a just and orderly society to fulfill their needs and allow them to be rescued, but the boys eventually find Jack’s churlish lethargy and excess to be more desirable. Desirable, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, can be
As one can see from the start, Jack's tribe changes their lifestyles to a primitive state, while Ralph's seeks the future in life. Ralph thus thinks on a more matured level by learning from past mistakes, while Jack only seeks the fun out of life. This is the main reason why Ralph's group, even though lonesome, still prevails. Ralph and Jack indeed set different rules under each other's turf. The two leaders follow different beliefs, and thus have different lives to live, and groups to lead.
What is more important in a leader is doing what is right for the people, and not what the people want which is shown in the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Ralph does what is honorable for everyone and shows it with his priorities. The power starts to shift over to Jack. Jack shows his “leadership” with his only priority.
The theme of leadership is uncovered by the symbol of the conch. As the connection grows between the protagonist and the conch, outer forces break the bond in attempt to take the position as leader. Ralph along with other boys in Lord of the Flies by William Golding are trapped on an island due to the crash of their airplane. With no adults on the island to discipline the boys, one must step up and take on this role. The discovery of the conch encourages Ralph to become chief, Ralph has the ability to use the conch to enforce his rules, but the unfortunate shattering of the conch breaks Ralphs hold on to leadership.