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Power And Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

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In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, it explores the ideas of power and leadership. During the novel, Golding uses the characters Jack and Ralph to portray the fact that humans have a desire for both power and leadership. In the novel, Jack represents the need for power and Ralph symbolises leadership.

The terms of power and leadership are far different from each other, “power” is defined as ‘the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.’ Jack begins to try change the boys into what he would like however, this is not the correct influence or direction the young boys should be taking. As the group of boys were founded Jack said “I ought to be the chief.” (Page 29) “Leadership” …show more content…

Ralph blows the conch shell, as he blew the shell the guards tell them to leave and began to throw rocks. Jack’s group suddenly appeared from the forest carrying a dead pig along the sand. This again shows how Jacks group have turned to savagery. Ralph has now demanded that Jack give piggy’s glasses back. Doing this Jack begins to fight Ralph. As the boys fight as total savages a rock is pushed off the mountain and strikes Piggy and destroys the conch shell. As the conch was the only direct remainder of civilisation it was unlikely that after this civilisation would remain. As Piggy dies Jack throws a spear towards Ralph. The other boys join in on this attempt to kill Ralph as well. By this time in the novel all signs of civilisation are now gone. Jack was the new leader and most powerful boy on the island however, did Jack deserve the respect he was being shown?

Although Jack had turned into a complete savage, Ralph had not. Even though Ralph was not completely civilised as he was when he first landed on the island, he kept some of the morals and standards that he had when he first arrived. Jack’s morals had not remained nor did his civility. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel which portrays how the desire for leadership and power is shown through Golding’s use of literacy techniques and the characters of Jack and

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