Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Vacant and windswept, the island sees various displays of leadership as the marooned boys attempt to create a civilization. Predictably, the boys began setting up their own form of government as soon as possible; humanity has an essential need for civilization. Two characters in particular exhibit instances of leadership while constructing a state and after. For example, Jack is controlling and does not consider the opinions of others; the boy is a paradigm autocratic leader. When starting his own tribe, Jack pronounces, “I’m going to be chief” (Golding 133), and doesn’t care what the others have to say. In contrast, Ralph promotes voting from the start, and continues to be a democratic leader until society falls apart. Even though Ralph seems

to be the epitome of an apt leader, the boys fall in with Jack the usurper. In short, Jack’s totalitarian methods supersede Ralph’s egalitarian system because the best form of leadership depends on the situation and the followers.

Seldom will one hear the same answer twice when asking a group what characteristics the individuals find important in a leader. Perhaps a few similar adjectives will arise, but the final results will include a plethora of ideas; leadership is, after all, a complex topic. While investigating public opinion on the matter, my group took a class poll. Intentionally, our group limited the word choices available to our peers, as to glean a concise understanding of certain views. Our goal was to find the one characteristic most desired by the class in a leader. Surprisingly, no one picked appearance as the most important characteristic; in fact, the top vote was ideology. Maturely, the tenth graders polled picked an important trait to look for in a leader. After all, a potential leader’s philosophy matters when one is deciding whether to follow them.