Good and Evil Leaders In Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack both take on the role of a leader to the group.

Zaich

Pilar Zaich

Mrs. Roza

English 9 H

November 27, 2001

Good and Evil Leaders

In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack both take on the role of a leader to the group. Ralph represents a worthy leader with good leadership skills while Jack represents an evil leader with poor leadership skills. Throughout the entire story their different styles of leadership are viewed in different actions they do. In the beginning Ralph is the leader and tries to obtain mature outlook on the situation they’ve been dealt with. In time, Jack takes over and turns majority of the boys to his sinful side of the island. Jack’s leaderships skills were poor because he had egotistic morals. His actions were purely based on what would please the crowd that would then provide him with more power and control over them. Ralph has formalistic morals. Ralph does what he believes is in the best interest for everyone on the island. Ralph keeps his strict regimen. When the tribe denies his orders he continues to reinforce them which proves him to be a righteous leader. Golding is wrong to show an analogy of society being empowered by evil for majority of the time. What is right will always be identified fully.

Ralph has great leadership skills that show true sincerity and maturity. At the beginning of the novel Ralph is rightly voted to be chief. As the boys were adapting to their new environment Ralph set up a plan (inspired by Piggy) to keep order amongst the tribe. Ralph insists that shelters be made and that coconuts must be filled with water. Ralph is such a considerate leader that he even cares about each individual person in his tribe. For example when Ralph sees Jack’s sorrow that is due to his loss of election of chief Ralph lets Jack be the “leader” of the hunters. As the tribe gets more comfortable on the island the boys start to put their priorities aside. Ralph calls a meeting and demands that these chores be done. Ralph’s respect seems to diminish as the boys row fond of pig hunts and chants. The leader of the hunters disrespects his chief and tells everyone to leave Ralph’s tribe and join his. He expresses envy towards Ralph by saying things to make himself feel higher then Ralph . Jack shows his selfish character by saying “He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat! He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives us orders and expects people to obey for nothing. All this talk-” (Golding, 126).

Jack’s selfishness takes place in his leadership skills as he makes orders for his own benefits to gain power. At the time no one follows Jack, but gradually the biguns set off to follow him. Ralph continues to be a formalistic leader and continues to reinforce order and civilized actions, but only a few tribe members remain by his side. As the tribe turns to Jack they fall deeper into their sadistic rituals and they lose the order that Ralph had provided.

During the story when piggy’s glasses are stolen Ralph tries to control the boys and asks ...

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During the story when piggy’s glasses are stolen Ralph tries to control the boys and asks for them back. Ralph tries to look more cleansed and civilized to show a good role model to the boys. This doesn’t go well and Ralph and Jack end up in a fist fight. The boys are then easily seen as enemies and that the fight is now good against evil. Jack has become a dictator to the boys. For example Jack beats Wilfred as he speaks of something that displeases Jack. Jack has no just to this act, but feels no need for explanation to his actions due to the fact that he is now the chief he had set out to be. They’ve all lost the value of human life and Jack’s tribe sets flames to the forest in search of their new prey-Ralph. Ralph find s himself rescued at shore due to the fire that was set to lead to his death. Jack isn’t a responsible chief because all he wanted was to have all the boys bow to him. Jack would do anything to be the leader and he wanted control and power so much that he didn’t let anything get in his way.

Jack’s leadership skills are poor because he doesn’t try to set up order and discipline. He wants fun and excitement. He doesn’t think with logic. Jack leads the pig hunts and they kill female pigs when they shouldn’t kill the females so the pig population will grow-leaving food for the future. This represents poor decision-making. Jack doesn’t represent a good role model because he turns into a sadistic savage. Jack tells the boys to chant and dance. He teaches them to express their sadistic and evil sides. He brings out the evil that is within them all. Jack is also a bad leader because he has egotistical morals. He makes choices that are only for his personal best interest and decisions that make the tribe like him more example, Jack tells the liluns their is nothing to worry about because if there is a beast he’ll kill it. He felt that if the illuns share this fear and that he can act like he will protect them. The trust of the boys will make him more powerful. Jack is a horrible leader because he encourages uncivilized actions. For example, Jack leads on a chant, demanding to them “Do our dance! Come on! Dance!” (Golding, 51)

The way Jack went about power also took part in his manners as a leader Jack would receive power for the leading of the hunts and the starting of the chants. The hunts lead to sadistic manners and cruel killings that were more then what is needed for survival. As this became exhilarating to the boys, Jack would gain power because he enjoyed lead the tribe in these actions. The feast and chant were provided by Jack and he gained power and respect by these actions because the boys enjoyed them. Jack used his power to control the boys. He used his title as the “chief” to have the highest say and overrule everyone else on the island. His leadership turned into a dictatorship. Jack was selfish and inconsiderate yet Ralph was considerate and looked for the tribes best interest.

Ralph has good leadership skills and cares about his tribe. He is the only mature boy on the island shows responsibility. Ralph has a plan to keep order and discipline that is much needed. Ralph wants to survive and be rescued, so his ideas reflect the entire tribes best interest. Ralph enjoys a civilized life which also contributes to his demeanor as the leader. Ralph represents sincerity and hope. Ralph wasn’t perfect but he had the best survival plan and was the most suitable for a leader. The two strongest points Ralph about his character were not only his maturity, but also his ability to withstand correct decisions even though they didn’t please the crowd. When Ralph insisted that the tribe focus on their chores the tribe members refused to follow these rules but. regardless of be favored, he stood strong and reinforced these duties to the boys continuously.

Ralph doesn’t use his power for his own benefit. He doesn’t demand chores to be done without doing them himself. He does what he says and doesn’t expect the boys to bow to him. Ralph goes about his power with a dignified behavior. Ralph uses his power to help keep the tribe organized and civilized. An example of Ralph’s honorable personality is expressed when Ralph told Jack, “so we need shelters as a sort of-Home. That’s right.”

(Golding, 52) Then he later goes on to say “The best thing we can do is get ourselves rescued.” When Ralph says “rescue” Jack has to think for a moment to remember that being rescued would be a good thing. Through this situation you can see that Ralph’s outlook is positive about their situation and that he would have lead the tribe into an environment where there would still have been connection with

civilization. Ralph had his priorities straight. Ralph and Jack both had priorities it’s only that Ralph’s first priority was survival and Jack’s first priority was to enjoy himself.

Ralph and Jack could only compare in the one way which is that they were both leader figures and had natural born leadership instincts. Ralph had common sense and reasoning while Jack had control and confidence. They compared in the solemn reason that they were respected by their peers as a leader figure. Their priorities and skills were quite the opposite. even though majority of the story Jack was the leader, Ralph was the leader at the end. At the end, the naval officer asked, “Who’s the boss here? I am, Said Ralph loudly.” Jack is described as, “A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and who carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist,” (Golding, 201) Jack steps forward, but then decides not to. This shows that Golding believes that the greatest leader with true qualities will shine through and remain the most respected in the end. This shows that good in society will over power evil by the comparison and contrast that Golding used in his characters. As far a leaders, Ralph and Jacks were the conscientious verses the barbaric.