Jack is another older English boy who tries to use his leadership style to become chief on the island. Unlike Ralph, Jack uses fear as he rises to the role as chief. Jack puts fear into the littluns, who are the youngest of the boys on the island, by making the “beast” seem real. He does this in the hope that the littluns will turn to him for help. Jack yells at the littluns at the second meeting, “You littluns started all this, with the fear talk . . . of course we’re frightened sometimes but we put up with . . . And as for the fear- you’ll have to put up with that like the rest of us” (82). Jack’s main goal is to become chief. He tries to gain power by scaring everyone and thriving on the fear. After all but four boys have joined Jack’s tribe, he uses fear to get the last four boys to come to his tribe. Jack wants Sam, another older boy though a year or so younger than Jack, to join his tribe and to tell him where Ralph is hiding so that he can kill Ralph. Sam refuses to tell Jack where Ralph is, so Jack’s reaction is to “ . . . snatched one of the few spears that were left and poked Sam in the ribs” (182). Towards the end of the novel, Jack becomes very forceful and violent in order to reach his goal of becoming chief.
After the plane crashes on the island, both Ralph and Jack display similar leadership qualities. Ralph and Jack want to try and make the best of the situation that they are in. Ralph pulls Jack to the side and has a private conversation. Ralph says to Jack, “If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters all right” (52). Ralph wants to shelter/ protect the littluns from the unfamiliar things on the island. As chief, Ralph makes Jack the leader of the hunters. As the leader of the hunters, Jack goes out and examines the island to see who or what is on the island. Jack lets the other boys know about what is on the island, “There’s pigs. There’s food; and bathing water in that little stream along there-“ (35). Despite the fact that Jack is not chief, he still helps out and takes on some chief roles. After the plane crashes, both Ralph and Jack want to be rescued from the island. After the boys have spent sometime on the island, Ralph starts to reiterate the fact that they need to be rescued. Ralph states “Hasn’t anyone got any sense? We’ve got to relight that fire” (102). Ralph remembers that his goal is to get off the island and to do so they must have a signal fire going. In the meantime, Jack is not the official chief but he still helps out on the island. When all the boys meet after the plane crashes, Jack is the first one to say anything about being rescued. Jack spoke, “We’ve got to decide about being rescued” (22). Jack and Ralph show a common interest in being rescued and not being stranded on the island for forever.
Both Ralph and Jack are goal oriented but their goals differ from one another. While Jack, Ralph, and some other boys are looking for the beast, Jack starts to notice that Ralph only cares about the signal fire and not having any fun. Jack says to Ralph “You were looking . . .” Ralph responds “There’s no signal now . . .” Jack answers “You’re nuts on the signal”, Ralph explains “That’s all we’ve got” (107). Ralph wants to get everyone off the island and he thinks that if the signal fire goes out for one second that they will never be rescued. On the other hand, Jack likes to hunt, have fun all day, and he forgets about having rules. Piggy, a soft-spoken intelligent boy, begins to see that Jack is gaining support as chief. Piggy expresses, “If Jack was chief he’d have all hunting and no fire. We’d be here till we died” (93). The way in which Ralph and Jack wish to achieve their unlike goals is carried out by ruling in different styles. Ralph rules in a democratic way. He allows everyone to speak but they must do so in an orderly way. Ralph expresses to the group “We can’t have everybody talking at once . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak . . .” (33). Ralph likes to have things done in an orderly fashion. That’s so everyone can speak and contribute to the group. On the other hand, Jack uses dictatorship when he becomes chief. Once Jack has formed his own tribe, he barks orders at his tribe members when he wants something done. Jack stands up and shouts “Take them some meat . . . Give me a drink . . . All sit down . . . I’m chief . . .” (149-150). Though Jack is more forceful in the way he acts as a leader, he does get more things done and in a faster time than that of Ralph.
Ralph and Jack both show similar yet different leadership styles. They use their roles as leaders to obtain their goals. Ralph and Jack’s goals differ from one another. Ralph uses his leadership style to maintain order and he tries to have the boys rescued by keeping a signal fire going. On the other hand, Jack’s leadership style is to have fun all the time, hunt, and to forget abut having rules. They both succeed in gaining their goal but ultimately fail as leaders on the island.
