The famous 17th century poet Jean de la Fontaine once said “Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.” When the children in Lord of the Flies find themselves stranded on a distant island with no adults to be found, they encounter many forms of power, hence encountering many forms of abuse of power as well. This power abuse can be organized by the two leaders who each ruled the island during their own periods. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes these leaders, Ralph and Jack, to illustrate how people in positions of power will abuse their power for personal gain when given the opportunity.
Democratic power can be used to control a society, as well as establish a closeness as civilians. To lose sight of this can mean the corruption of a civilization caused by the lack of order. One’s choice of independence in order to better the chances of their survival requires complete dedication and willingness to risk. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph loses his democratic power due to his failure to ensure survival and protect the boys as a leader. Ralph’s failure to lead the group is due to his initial and chronic independence and inability to compete with Jack’s followers, accounted for mainly by fear. His integrity enables a growing confidence in his ability to avoid reliance on leadership power in order to survive. Ralph’s
Power is regularly a wellspring of savagery in Lord of the Flies. The longing for it separates the limits set by guidelines and request, causes conflict and rivalry, and oversees the activities of large portions of the boys on the island. Once accomplished, power can either enhance or degenerate its holder. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the characters Ralph, Jack, and Piggy have influenced the group, some more than others. Their influences are both negative and positive; some even changed the others personality or perspectives entirely. Ralph has influenced the group more than the others overall.
"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent”(Commentary: Leadership in Quotations). In the book Lord of the Flies one of the main characters is named Ralph. Ralph is a born leader who tries to lead the boys to get back home from a deserted island. Although throughout the book that changes. With no adults around and losing authority Ralph changes everything they know about civilization. Now the boys turn on Ralph to the point where the boys on Jack’s side want to kill him. This decivilization leads to chaos and trouble.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there are many possible leaders. Ralph’s adversary on the Island had been Jack, who had been pushing to take over as leader. This caused a lot of controversy among the common people on who is the more powerful leader, rather than the most effective. Throughout the book Ralph has proven to be the better leader in two ways; he’s civilized and organized.
In the introduction of Lord of the Flies the characters are described in different ways. Ralph is described as,”He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence to have made him awkward. You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil” (Golding 10). This quote reflects Ralph in a positive light by saying that he is not awkward, mild, and not devil like. Jack however, is described as,”...tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness” (Golding 20). This description reflects Jack in a negative light. These descriptions set up Ralph to be
Unfortunately, leadership became a complication, which caused the boys’ civilization to end. Jack is too interested in hunting; he is engaged in “the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill” (Golding, 71), and the thought of meat. He attempts to take over the chief position; though, Ralph fights against Jack, ruining their society. Piggy often tries to share his words of wisdom; although, Jack ignorantly tells him to “shut up” (21). Jack brought an attitude of distaste onto the island, which eventually spread into the society in a decaying
Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys divided themselves according to who they feel is a better leader between Jack or Ralph. One of the groups consisted of Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, and is based on survival and hopefully being rescued,meanwhile the other group which consisted of Jack, Rodger, and the choir boys, who like to hunt and have fun and have no intention or care to be rescued. Due to the differences between Ralph and Jack and the forms of government the propose many conflicts occurred around who was really in charge. While each boy had different goals as a leader, they go by different methods of gaining control. While Ralph roughly demonstrates a democracy, the boys find Jack resembling an autocratic form of government.
To be an ideal leader takes a lot of work and is nearly impossible. Ralph was elected leader in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding and in the novel, Ralph’s continuing struggles result in failure. Ralph could not maintain a sense of civilization, could not keep the boys working together, nor could he keep his position as chief, which results in his overall failure.
“The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.” This quote was said by Philip Zimbardo during his ‘Psychology of Evil’ TED talk. Zimbardo explains in his presentation what defines humans as good or evil. He goes into depth on the negative impact of the external environment of a person. He follows by saying his ideology of evil came from the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding. In Lord of The Flies, Golding uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in order to create a story about a group of boys who crashed on a desert island and are forced to adapt to the primitive environment. …
Humans are known to make mistakes every once in awhile, but they can choose to learn from their mistakes or repeat them. In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, and a multitude of other young boys are deserted on an uninhabited island of paradise. They argued and fought each other, while not taking their situation as seriously as it was. Corruption formed between the opposing figures of authority, Jack and Ralph, and it resulted in most of the boys becoming brutal and relentless savages. With that ending, it is apparent that the boys made many mistakes along with the inevitable hardships the lack of civilization brought. Golding makes
On one hand, Jack is right on certain decisions. He uses his authority to lead people into the direction he wants to go, therefore making him a great leader. Being the leader of the choir boys shows that he has experience of leading others. On page 51 for example, “He (Jack) tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up” which shows Jack’s transformation from a civilized kid, into a boy who is obsessed with hunting (Golding 51). Even so, Jack is one to set goals for himself and the group. He wants to kill a pig because the group needs something to eat to survive. By him setting this goal, he saves the group from starvation. Even though Jack wants to kill the pig as much as Ralph wants to get rescued,
In the book Lord of The Flies by William Golding, we realize that Ralph is not the stronger person but he does understand people more than what Jack does. Ralph uses his good qualities to help their society survive on the island. We all know that young kids like the boys need good leadership and stability so they have a better chance of living longer till they get saved. If they get saved. Ralph then goes and creates rules that all the boys need to follow by in order to keep everything under control. Meanwhile Jack doesn’t treat everyone fairly like Ralph does. This makes the boy listen to Ralph and what he has to say and not Jack. Ralph takes the time to listen to all the boys especially piggy and his thoughts on how everyone should be treated
Leadership―an ability characterized by a person's capability to command, organize a plan of action, and recruit followers who will undertake these tasks. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, author William Golding illustrates this trait using two distinct characters with starkly different approaches to leadership: Ralph and Jack. When a plane crashed onto the island, a group of school-aged boys were found stranded, amid the destruction of war above. At first, there is a sense of concordance on how the island was to be run, as the wielder of the conch, Ralph was democratically elected. Ralph executes his orders with the objective of survival; he puts the boys on the island to work, making huts, scavenging the new territory, and hunting for food.
Though Jack was a successful leader, Jack’s style of leadership and his ideals as a leader are “wrong”. Keep in mind that “right” and “wrong” is subjective. Jack leads as a dictator which limits the rights of his members and as a group of boys striving to survive on the island, the members of the group should be part in the decision making. Jack’s main goal on the island is to sustain a living on the island and not to survive which is “wrong”. Though “wrong” as mentioned before, is subjective, Ralph’s goal is the most appropriate as it is part of the human instinct. The cause of the fall of Ralph’s tribe was because the littleuns found Jack’s group fun but it is mainly because of the fear of the beast as the littleuns believed that Jack could protect