Who is the Better Leader?
In a group, there are always people who prove to have better leadership skills then others. The strongest of these people can often influence the weaker people into following them. However, the strongest person is not necessarily the best leader as it is proven in William Golding's book, The Lord of the Flies. Although Ralph is the weaker person, he is still able to show a better understanding of people than Jack who is stronger. Ralph demonstrates his excellent leadership skills throughout the book by keeping the group in line, treating everyone with respect, and staying focused on getting rescued. While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got
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When Jack slaps Piggy and purposely breaks his glasses, Ralph calls it "A dirty trick." (p. 76) This shows Jack's selfishness and his failure to respect other people, while at the same time Ralph's concern is understand others. Ralph manages to treat each boy equally with his own form of control while Jack treats the boys, especially Piggy lower. After hunting, the group sits down to eat and Jack gives everyone a share except for Piggy. When Piggy asks for some, Jack says, "You didn't hunt." (p. 78) Neither Ralph or many of the littluns hunted but they still got their portion of meat. This was only being directed to Piggy. Jack's behavior towards Piggy shows that he is unable to understand other people. A good leader would have taken care of all his/her group. Ralph understands that he must treat everyone equal or he will not be respected and is a better leader than Jack because of this knowledge.
Ralph's common sense and ability to recognize what is best for the group also shows his excellent leadership skills. His main focus throughout the book is getting rescued and tells the boys to make a fire and to keep it burning to make a signal. However, the boys do not listen and he becomes angry. "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep the fire going?" (p. 86) Ralph's determination to get rescued is not only for himself, but for everyone else
In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, I would have followed Ralph because he’s the best person to be the leader. Ralph is the best person to be leader because he isn’t just thinking about himself, he’s also doing all he can to keep everyone on the island safe as possible. While Jack is worried about killing a pig for food to eat, Ralph could care less about eating, he would rather get everyone off the deserted island by making a fire as a signal for help. Ralph has the best leadership skills. He shows these skills many times throughout the novel, and these qualities are what made me want to follow him. He showed his true leadership ability through his determination, intellect, and generosity.
The boys on the island in Lord of the Flies had two different leaders over the course of their time spent on the island, Ralph and Jack. Both of the twelve year old boys had some considerable leadership qualities but also made some bad choices during their time as leader. Ralph was a nice person who was favored over Jack in the beginning. Jack was awful person, but could lead a group of boys better than anyone on the island. He was able to get respect from all the boys at one point in the book. You can be a terrible person, but become a wonderful leader based on the way you lead.
Ralph’s clear ability to focus on being rescued is one of his strongest traits. As defined by Peter Economy in “The Nine Traits that Define Great Leadership”, leaders consider their options when planning and choose the idea that lead to success. Ralph’s ability to focus and plan, helps him gain followers. The tasks that Ralph focusses on accomplishing are all targeted to getting rescued. Ralph states, “We want to be rescued, and of course we shall be rescued” (Golding 37). Ralph is able to provide the needed guidance in which the children need. His behavior, mimicking an adult, helps brings a calm unity. The children believe Ralph is able to help them get off the island because he is able to focus on their
A strong society is built through a good-hearted leadership, not through brute force. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies proves this statement true through the individual yet intertwining stories of Jack and Ralph. At some point during their adventure of being stranded without adults, both of these little boys gain a leadership role on the island, having some amount of control over the other boys. On numerous occasions, Ralph demonstrates good qualities that make him a kind and fair leader, and that also initially make him popular with the other boys. Jack is the opposite, seizing his power through force and violent means. Ralph’s good intentions and strong morales show that he is a better leader than Jack.
Ralph as a leader in chapter 1 through 4 has really developed in changed. From the beginning when they all initially first arrived on the island ralph was still very childish, but confident, at the same time being a bit mean / bossy. At the beginning of the book it seemed as if Ralph thought higher of himself than others on the island especially Piggy, at first he just boss him around. But throughout the few chapters Ralph's maturity and respect as a leader has grown.. He is becoming more respectful and respected, he has more where the ideas and is being an overall better more responsible leader for everyone. In chapter 2 one of his rescue oriented ideas is to build a signal fire:"' if a ship comes the island they may not notice us. So we must
In the film Jack is Ralph’s antagonist by fighting against him, though in the beginning he sides with Ralph. However as time wears on he becomes agitated by Ralph’s micromanaging and decides to leave the group and begin his own group. Eventually he is leading all the boys except Ralph and Piggy.
A leader is needed on the island. Although Ralph is practical and keeps the fire alive. He focuses on the signal fire and safety even when other try to corrupt him. I will give my opinion on Ralph who could be known as not the best leader in this novel.
Have you ever been a leader of a group full of young kids on a stranded island? This is the challenge that the character Ralph faces in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Ralph is a young 12 year old boy who gets stranded on an island with many other boys that are the same age as him, or even younger. This book describes the group’s journey throughout the island, how they learn to live and survive, and how they grow and change throughout the story. Ralph is, and has to be a passionate, courageous, and strong leader for the group because they are depending on him to survive, and if he becomes a bad leader, the other kids on the island could die under his leadership, which could affect the novel in a bad way.
The change is also shown through their dialogues, which expresses their attitudes towards each of the boys on the island and their conflict that represents their strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the novel, Ralph and Jack have different characteristics which shows how each of the boys treat the others and also whom they favour. Jack mainly favours his hunters and Ralph favours the littluns, Piggy, Simon, and Samneric. Jack needed piggy’s glasses for starting the fire, so instead of asking politely, Jack stole his glasses. “‘I say! You voted for me for chief. Didn't you hear the conch? You played a dirty trick- we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it-’”(Golding 195-196). This passage shows the support Ralph gives for piggy and his
In the very beginning, after Ralph is first elected chief, he makes a smart decision when he tells the tribe that, “If this isn't an island we might be rescued straight away. So we've got to decide if this is an island” (Golding 23). If he did not check the entire island, they would not have known that they were alone or that the fire was their only way off the island. Later, when the tribe has forgotten the need to escape, Ralph confronts them and tells them that, “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going?” (Golding 80). With this confrontation, the tribe gets their act together and works to escape again under his firm guidance. Both of these situations show how Ralph is a logical leader, and does not succumb to the primal urges that take Jack. Even though he may not have been a logical choice, he was the one that kept a level headed approach to the danger of not being rescued and destroying the little they
This demonstrates his strong moral character that allows him to see the greater good of the group and know how to act during important situations. Ralph as the nominated chief shows much initiative. His intelligence and ability to notice what is best for the group of boys as a whole demonstrates his leadership skills. This is displayed as he puts emphasis on the idea of a signal fire. Ralph is usually one of the first to step into a situation to assure the boys are safe.
There are two young boys, Ralph and Jack who want to be the leader of a group of young boys that landed on an island when they were forced to leave their homes from war. Based on the content of Lord of the Flies, I believe that Ralph would be the best choice for being leader because he listens to what others have to say, he likes to plan ahead, and he cares about the safety of others.
One of the main characters of my book is Ralph the novel's protagonist, the twelve-year-old, blonde and charismatic, British boy who is elected leader of the group of boys trapped on the island. Ralph tries to control the boys' efforts to build a small civilization on the island until they can be rescued. Ralph is extremely authoritative, seeing as when the other boys are concerned with playing and avoiding work, Ralph wants to build huts and think of ways to get off the island. His problem is the boy's playfulness and how gradually through the book the boys become more and more comfortable with savage ways until everyone leaves Ralph and he is hunted by Jack's tribe. Ralph’s commitment to civilization and morality is strong, and his wish is
The strongest however, become the greater influences, which others tend to follow. However, the strongest character may not be the best choice. Throughout “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, there are many instances that show that the more seemingly stronger character, Jack, is not fit to be the best leader. Despite the fact that Ralph may not be very assertive, he is the best choice for leader because he cares for the well being of the group.
Over the course of the novel, Ralph loses his leadership qualities, becomes less confident, and becomes more sensitive which causes the boys to lose faith in him and sparks tremendous violence.