Lack Of Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

The negative traits of human nature often are the reason a society fails. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys try forming a society. However, the boys with strong morals, Simon and Piggy, are unable to win over the other boys to become the leaders. The naturally born leaders on the island with uncivilized morals, Ralph and Jack, end up leading the boys. Both Simon and Piggy show they have the morals of civilized humans, but their lack of leadership results in the boys attempt to form a society failing. Piggy is a boy on the island who is shown to have civilized morals but his lack of leadership skills prevent him from winning over the other boys on the island. For example, Piggy is shown as having no …show more content…
Golding shows this through how often Simon distances himself from the other boys on the island. When Simon finds a peaceful oasis on the island, he “looked over his shoulder… to confirm that he was utterly alone” (Golding 56). Simon enjoys physically separating himself from the other boys on the island. This shows that he does not want to be associated with the savage boys. Since Simon separates himself often, the boys do not want him as their leader which is bad for the formation of the society. Simon being a weak leader for the other boys is also displayed through his views on the so called “beast” who lives in the imagination of the boys on the island. While Simon thinks of the beast, “there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick,” (Golding 103). Simon’s thoughts contradict the other boys thoughts on the island. Simon thinks of the beast as the evilness in humans while the other less civilized boys on the island only think of the beast as a monster. This major difference in thought separates Simon from the other boys. Since Simon is unable to connect with the boys, his leadership is diminished and yet again the chance of a society forming under the leadership of a civilized boy