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Ralph And Jack In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Decent Essays

The main characters of The Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack, emerge as potential leaders of a group of stranded boys. The boys are working to establish a democracy and there will be a vote deciding who will rise as the leader of their new society. Jack and Ralph have contrasting leadership qualities. Even though they are very different, there is one important way that Ralph and Jack are similar. One significant way that Jack and Ralph are similar is that they both so desperately want to be the leader. This shows that they both have a determined mindset. Ralph was chosen as the leader and Jack took on tasks to show that he would be a better leader. Although Ralph is leader, he put Jack in charge of his choir. Jack does not think of how …show more content…

On one occasion Jack stabs a tree with a knife (24). Ralph would have dealt with his anger in a more mature and safer way. After Jack stabbed the tree, Ralph got really angry with piggy who was trying to follow him while Ralph was exploring the island instead of taking care of the fire, which was his job. Ralph and Piggy started to argue, with Piggy saying, “I’ll come, I’ll come…” “You’re no good on a job like this” “We’re all the same-” “We don’t want you!... You can’t come!’. Instead of doing something violent, Ralph just walked away to calm down before reacting. The further example of how Ralph and Jack are different leaders is their ideas of how the island should be managed. Ralph is more intelligent that Jack, and he seems like he has more of an idea of how a democracy works, Ralph states “Let’s have a vote!” (22). Jack is more convinced that the island should be based on fairness. Ralph does not think that this is a very good idea because no matter how many people think something is fair, there is always one person who thinks the opposite. In conclusion, Ralph is the more intelligent, responsible, and better leader. Even though Jack has some skills that qualify as a good leader, he would not know how to lead a

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