Lord of the Flies
What makes an effective leader? Is it their strength, power, or authority? Or is it their intelligence, realism, and fairness? In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, each character does not possess the qualities needed to be an effective leader. They need Piggy’s strengths, Jack’s strengths, and Ralph’s strengths.
They need Piggy 's strengths. Firstly, Piggy is intelligent and wise. Piggy 's intelligence and wisdom are shown when he said, “I 'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he 's speaking” (31). Piggy was the person who first discovered the conch and came up with the idea that whenever a person wants to speak he will hold the conch. The conch is an important symbol for …show more content…
Firstly, one of Jack 's strengths is that he is listened to. One example is when the choir “with dreary obedience ... raised their hands” (19) when voting for Jack. This shows the choir 's obedience to Jack because they had a choice and they chose Jack over Ralph. A second example is later on in the novel when Jack orders his tribe to go into the forest to hunt for the kill to give to the beast. Jack leaves without the tribe and the boys in the tribe show their obedience to Jack by following Jack into the forest. The boys in the tribe could have decided not to listen to Jack or to leave his tribe, but they stuck by Jack obediently. Secondly, Jack understands what the boys want and enjoy; for example hunting. This is shown when Ralph was wondering where Bill and Roger went and Piggy said, “I seen them stealing off when we were gathering wood. They went that way. The same way he went himself” (144). This shows that Jack understands what the boys want because they left Ralph 's group for Jack 's tribe. This may seem like a negative aspect of Jack, but if balanced with Ralph and Piggy 's values, it would make a very effective government. Lastly, Jack strongly believes in authority. Jack 's belief in authority is shown at the beginning of the novel when he said, “we 'll have lots of rules! Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks them” (32). This shows that Jack 's belief in authority because from the beginning of the novel he stated that they needed …show more content…
Firstly, Ralph has charisma. Ralph 's charisma is shown at the beginning of the novel when the boys were choosing who to elect for chief. When the boys looked at him they saw, “...a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (19). This shows Ralph 's charisma because the boys voted for him even though they knew nothing about him. Secondly, Ralph is productive and knows what the boys need such as rescue and shelter. At the beginning of the novel Ralph makes one of his priorities clear by saying, “...we must make some smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire” (37). This shows that Ralph is productive because from the very beginning of the novel he addressed his priorities and what he believes is important. The difference between Ralph and Jack is that Jack understands what the boys want, not what is mandatory and necessary. If Ralph 's values and Jack 's values were put together and balanced out, they could form an effective government because the boys would have fun while, doing everything necessary to get themselves rescued. Another example is when Ralph was talking about rescue and he said, “we want to be rescued; and of course we shall be rescued” (36). This continues to show that Ralph is being productive because he is addressing his priorities and showing the boys that he is confident that they will get rescued.
What makes an effective leader? Is it their strength, power, or authority? Or is it their intelligence, realism, and fairness? In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, each character does not possess the qualities needed to be an effective leader. They need Piggy’s strengths, Jack’s strengths, and Ralph’s strengths.
They need Piggy 's strengths. Firstly, Piggy is intelligent and wise. Piggy 's intelligence and wisdom are shown when he said, “I 'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he 's speaking” (31). Piggy was the person who first discovered the conch and came up with the idea that whenever a person wants to speak he will hold the conch. The conch is an important symbol for …show more content…
Firstly, one of Jack 's strengths is that he is listened to. One example is when the choir “with dreary obedience ... raised their hands” (19) when voting for Jack. This shows the choir 's obedience to Jack because they had a choice and they chose Jack over Ralph. A second example is later on in the novel when Jack orders his tribe to go into the forest to hunt for the kill to give to the beast. Jack leaves without the tribe and the boys in the tribe show their obedience to Jack by following Jack into the forest. The boys in the tribe could have decided not to listen to Jack or to leave his tribe, but they stuck by Jack obediently. Secondly, Jack understands what the boys want and enjoy; for example hunting. This is shown when Ralph was wondering where Bill and Roger went and Piggy said, “I seen them stealing off when we were gathering wood. They went that way. The same way he went himself” (144). This shows that Jack understands what the boys want because they left Ralph 's group for Jack 's tribe. This may seem like a negative aspect of Jack, but if balanced with Ralph and Piggy 's values, it would make a very effective government. Lastly, Jack strongly believes in authority. Jack 's belief in authority is shown at the beginning of the novel when he said, “we 'll have lots of rules! Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks them” (32). This shows that Jack 's belief in authority because from the beginning of the novel he stated that they needed …show more content…
Firstly, Ralph has charisma. Ralph 's charisma is shown at the beginning of the novel when the boys were choosing who to elect for chief. When the boys looked at him they saw, “...a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (19). This shows Ralph 's charisma because the boys voted for him even though they knew nothing about him. Secondly, Ralph is productive and knows what the boys need such as rescue and shelter. At the beginning of the novel Ralph makes one of his priorities clear by saying, “...we must make some smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire” (37). This shows that Ralph is productive because from the very beginning of the novel he addressed his priorities and what he believes is important. The difference between Ralph and Jack is that Jack understands what the boys want, not what is mandatory and necessary. If Ralph 's values and Jack 's values were put together and balanced out, they could form an effective government because the boys would have fun while, doing everything necessary to get themselves rescued. Another example is when Ralph was talking about rescue and he said, “we want to be rescued; and of course we shall be rescued” (36). This continues to show that Ralph is being productive because he is addressing his priorities and showing the boys that he is confident that they will get rescued.