Leadership: Lord of the Flies

German journalist John Zenger once stated, “Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths”. When one is forced into a situation where a leader is necessary, a person that displays the fundamental attributes will successfully guide the society. Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island represent various aspects of leadership, characterized by differing strengths. However, the protagonist’s, Ralph, leadership undoubtedly triumph over the other boys because his attributes allow him to be a powerful leader on the island. Throughout William Golding’s novel, he clearly depicts Ralph as an effective leader through his desire for the survival of all of the boys, his adamant

Jack respects Ralph as a leader and another alpha, however deems himself the higher qualified to lead the group; bringing forth a vote for a chief. However, the choir boy followers weren’t strong enough in numbers to counter the seemingly endless supply of little kids that voted for Ralph. After this unexpected result, Jack develops an instant grudge towards his only competition for power. Ralph begins to form a democratic society solely focused on rescue; yet jack has other plans in agenda. Under Ralph’s seemingly boring command, Jack develops other outputs for his primal necessity of dominance. Jack begins focusing on the task of hunting animals and finding weaker beings to prey on. Jack even blatantly leaves the rescue fire to chase after a pig; had he not have done so, the group could have possibly been rescued by the boat passing by during the fire’s absence. Once Jack finally has enough of going in circles with Ralph, he makes the decision to shake off Ralph’s influence and create his own niche. Within Jack’s tribe, lifestyle is greatly different to that of one designed by Ralph. Jack and his followers seemingly devolve into primal beings, as Jack gets his fill of power. Control over others was all that Jack longed for, with a crazed and burning

177).” Getting what he wants, Jack gets the revote, but Ralph still wins. Most of the boys could see through the lies and exaggerations of Jack. They realized that everything he does is for the betterment of himself, not everyone else. He wants the power so he can be in control and do what is right for himself, not the others. Realizing that, they know he is not and will never fit to be the leader or chief of anything.

Jack is trying to help but he somehow makes a mess of what he is doing as shown here, “A fire! Make a fire! At once half the boys were on their feet, Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten. Come on! Follow me! The space under the palm trees was full of noise and movement. Ralph was on his feet too, shouting for quiet, but none heard him. All at once the crowd swayed toward the island and was gone-following Jack.”(Golding, 17) Whenever Jack feels like he has something to do, he gets too anxious and tries to complete it without giving it a full thought while Ralph on the other hand is always giving it another thought so what they do won’t kill any of them. Jack acts very childish in this quote which makes full sense of why he was not leader and Ralph is. Jack shows very childish behavior which does not make him a good leader for society in this quote, "I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance, "because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp." (Golding, 16) Jack shows arrogance while trying to be chief which shows that Jack can easily ruin the society with quick and easy remarks that are not thought through. Jack is proving that he is not worthy of becoming a leader to the tribe. As shown by the quotes, Jack is going to ruin society with his arrogance and Ralph is just going to make things more civilized so they can keep civilization inside of them instead of

In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, the detriments of an unrefined civilization, such as one without leadership and indulgent citizens who are amoral, can be catastrophic, causing extreme repercussions to society. A lack of solid leadership, such as the arbitrary leader Ralph, can cause confusion, apprehension, and chaos. Jack and other children often indulge their impulses which clouds their judgement causing them to undermine their society. By not reinforcing the difference between savagery and humanity, many people begin to die. Ralph clearly is not well-equipped to lead a group of young men.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author, William Golding, portrays a story about children that are stranded on an island with no adults to take charge and leadership; therefore, the children have to create their own system of government so they can survive. Throughout the story, there is a development of characters and each character represents various personalities and specific aspects of philosophies. Jack, Simon, and Ralph are the main focus throughout the book and their way of thinking is quite different from one another resulting in constant arguments.

“ “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the couch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things around here.” (Chapter 1, Page 22) Ralph immediately notices the boys need some leadership his natural choice is to help guide these boys. He, however, lacks this responsibility. He doesn't continue to command respect from the boys. Ralph grows up faster in the book due to Jack. Later Jack breaks the tribe apart with his appealingly savage ways. Jack ended up establishing a hunting tribe. Once the tribe breaks Ralph tries to bring it back together, but since he didn’t have solid leadership skills even though he might have developed some compassion. He tries to convince Jack that he is still in charge and has power over the boys. The changes Ralph undergoes, from self-centered to group centered, doesn't reflect the island as a whole. They are all too elated to abandon the trappings of society.

Jack also gains power over Ralph in that he can supply meat. He gets more followers by enticing the boys with the promise of meat. Due to this, most of Ralph’s “followers” desert him and flock to Jack and his food. As their leader, Jack acts very immaturely, saying that they will hunt, and won’t do anything to try to get off the island. The other boys quite like this, as they are also immature and do not want to work, they just want

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.

In a group, there are always people who prove to have better leadership skills then others. The strongest of these people can often influence the weaker people into following them. However, the strongest person is not necessarily the best leader as it is proven in William Golding's book, The Lord of the Flies. Although Ralph is the weaker person, he is still able to show a better understanding of people than Jack who is stronger. Ralph demonstrates his excellent leadership skills throughout the book by keeping the group in line, treating everyone with respect, and staying focused on getting rescued.

Jack is the perfect representation of a Tyrant, who uses his power to control his teammates, which always causes a Fray between Ralph and himself. Ralph’s character is the perfect image the boys need to follow since he unlike the others, avoids playtime to

Jack and Ralph first meet and the beach and establish their leadership roles among the boys. The boys feel as though they need a chief and have a vote, Ralph wins the vote and after seeing Jack's

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.

The boys are rescued because of the large fire at the end of the book. Even though Jack creates the large fire, he did not intend the smoke from the fire to be for rescue. He intends the fire to force Ralph into a spot where it would be easier to hunt and kill him. Ralph preaches rescue as a top priority, from the beginning to the end of the book. “‘We saw your smoke. And you don’t know how many of there are?’ ‘No, sir’ ‘I should have thought,’ said the officer [...]” (Golding 201). In other words, the naval officer saw the large

After the survivors establish there are truly no adults to give guidance, the general consensus is to place someone as leader of the group. Thus the first conflict is introduced as two boys, Ralph and Jack, are both obvious yet very different candidates for leadership. Eventually Ralph is chosen for his levelheaded appearance and this creates an