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Critical analysis of William Golding's Lord of the Flies
Commentary on lord of the flies
Commentary on lord of the flies
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According to Peter Drucker, he claims, “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” Leadership is a commitment that is meant to be kept and done accurately. Leading a group or a society can lead to dreadful obstacles, but it’s your responsibility to have a solution to end. Ralph and Jack as a leader cause a majority of downhill for the boys. Affecting themselves and their surroundings to abruptly fall into pieces. Which lead to a mass destruction of the island, Lord of the Flies. The devastating events on this island lead to the massive chaos of Lord of the Flies, blaming Ralph and Jack for denial, lack of cooperation and inefficient leadership.
For instance, the denial from Ralph and Jack leads the boys to make decisions that caused havoc to their society on this island. As they; Ralph, Jack and the boys engrossed the island, they simultaneously lost hope. Such as, Simon says to Ralph, “You’ll get back to where you came from” (111). Ralph tries telling the boys they are going to get rescued. But as days pass and how long they have been on the island, he is undetermined. Jack, on the other hand, does not believe that being rescued will ever occur. He tells the boys it is hopeless of them to think they can get out of the island. Furthermore, not only did they deny being rescued, but Ralph and Jack do not acknowledge the deaths of Simon and Piggy. For example, as stated in the book. “The breaking of the conch and the deaths of Piggy and Simon lay over the island like a vapor” (184). However, Ralph does acknowledge a bit of Simon’s and Piggy’s death, but afterwards he forgot due to Jack and his tribe willing to go after him. As to Jack, he was neglectful about th...
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...ccurring, Piggy stated, “Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill” (180)? This call of assembly is inefficient, because Ralph and Jack could be a leader for a different purpose. However, this shows that both Ralph and Jack are not doing what they were positioned to be, if one asked who is a better leader.
Eventually, due to Ralph’s and Jack’s abilities of being a leader, it has conducted a failure on society. According to Drucker, leadership should not be imprudent, but taken solemnly. Being a leader is tough; you face many challenges as you go through your way to success. With that being said, leadership depends on integrity and can result as a success and failure. Lastly, facing society with major conflicts can trigger your anger and stress, but if you do not listen to the voices of your group or be as unite, that concludes the end of society.
Ralph is a good leader because he likes to make sure things have order. He is the one who finds the conch and puts as rule that you must hold the conch in order to speak. (page 33). No Jack would not be a better leader that Ralph because he doesn’t want to get rescued his mentality is to hunt in order to survive.
Leadership is a trait that many people have naturally and others try to obtain. Many people consider themselves a good leader when they fail to carry out the characteristics leadership require. In the book, “Lord of the Flies”, Ralph is a better leader than Jack because of the traits he possesses. That is why certain skills are necessary to be considered a successful leader.
Society is based off of hierarchy which is the basis for the change people have in society. Sometimes it’s good and other times…. Well it’s not so good. In most respects, leadership defines the outcome of a certain society. A good leader with good intentions, leading society in good directions is bound to be beneficial and maintain an ethos that will carry with them for the rest of their lives. But then there are others that are too ignorant and become less and less what they had hoped to be. Lord of the flies by William Golding is a great example of this. Golding argues that where there is a gain in power with bad leadership, that there is a loss of identity. In Lord of the Flies, A few boys arrive on a plane after it had crashed because of a war that was taken place at the time of the plane crashing. The basic synopsis is that they are trying to be rescued. The boys recollect after being separated. There are no adults on the island either. During the period they were on the island, Lots of the boys had changed. Particularly Jack… He is a choir boy who wanted to be leader. His drastic change from choir boy to savage sets the stage for loss of identity. Rogers’s morals to his change in identity are drastic when he throws rocks at the littleuns. Finally we have Percival who’s Innocence and lack of understanding in the cruel world is destroying him mentally.
All throughout the novel the boys revert to child like playfulness therefore denying to themselves that they are actually in a dire situation. Even in the very beginning of the story when the boys first get to the island, they don’t think that much about rescue or their future living on the island. For instance, when Ralph is first voted chief he reports, “’While we are waiting we can have a good time on this island’ he gestured widely…’This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grownups come and fetch us we’ll have fun.’”(Ralph 35). This illustrates their mindset that there is no real danger or struggle to survive. The boys feel they can just hang out and have fun until they
Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look to the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader. He has a better understanding for the boys. He also has more common sense and treats the boys better than Jack.
Although, Piggy and Jack have some leadership qualities, Ralph is the best leader. This is shown all throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, by Williams Golding. Piggy is portrayed as the wisest of them all and understands priorities; however he lacks confidence from time to time. This makes him a good leader but not the best. Jack on the other hand, is egotistic but has his good qualities as well, such as knowledge and courage. This makes him a potential leader like Piggy, but not the best. Ralph however shows the most positive qualities of being a leader. He is optimistic, committed and knows his priorities, thus making him the best leader on the island. From the day we were born, we were governed by a set of rules that influenced our behaviour. Would the story have been different if civilization was maintained on the island?
In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies Ralph though not the stronger person, demonstrates a better understanding of people than Jack which gives him better leadership qualities. Ralph displays these useful human qualities as a leader by working towards the betterment of the boys' society. He knows the boys need stability and order if they are to survive on the island. He creates rules and a simple form of government to achieve this order. Jack does not treat the boys with dignity as Ralph does. Ralph understands that the boys, particularly Piggy, have to be given respect and must be treated as equals. This makes Ralph a better leader as he is able to acknowledge that he was not superior to any of the other boys. Ralph's wisdom and ability to look to the future also make him a superior leader. Ralph has the sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. He insists on keeping the fire burning as a distress signal. Ralph's leadership provides peace and order to the island while Jack's leadership makes chaos.
In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the way two of the main characters, Jack and Ralph, choose to lead plays critical role in the plot of novel. While Jack chooses to rule with an iron fist, Ralph takes a more logical, democratic path. Between Ralph and Jack, Ralph is the better leader in the book because I fully agree with this, but I don’t think that this argument is a good defense of Jack’s leadership skill because just because someone is good at getting people riled up doesn’t mean that they’re good at actually leading. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Jack continually gets people excited with his talk of hunting and eventually painting war paint on peoples’ faces. At the end of chapter 9, on page 136, this excitement is pushed over the edge when all the boys dance a tribal dance, chanting “Kill the Beast!
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.
Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief. He carries this position until Jack and his fellow hunters break away from the group. Ralph makes it his job to set out the rules to organize a society. Ralph always thinks of what is best for everyone and how they will all benefit from his decisions. Rules and standards are set when Ralph is the chief. He orders the group to build the basic necessities of civilization, shelters, and most importantly to keep the fire going, in hope that they will be rescued and return to humanity. "But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (Golding 75). Jack, on the other hand, takes on the idea of every man for himself. He does not care about making homes, only about hunting. When Jack is the leader, evil takes over and all good is destroyed. Under Jack's power both Simon and Piggy are killed.
Groupthink is an idea which can be exhibited in all of today’s society and is relevant in any group of persons. It is defined as, “a group people influences the behavior of individuals in usually a negative way.” This idea is displayed in the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, through young boys in their early teens, stranded together on an increasingly chaotic island. In order to survive, the boys became bloodthirsty savages, turning against one another and performing violent and perverted actions. As a result of groupthink, the boys behavior rapidly changed negatively which led to progressively more animalistic bloodthirsty, and lustful interaction.
Leadership is a quality that is very rare and something not everyone has. In the novel, Lord of Flies, the idea of leadership is brought up many times. On one side of the Leadership spectrum, you have Ralph, who is very devoted and dedicated to not only himself, but to his people. The other side of the spectrum, you have Jack, who thinks leadership is about personal gain, and what he wants. Ralph is superior to Jack in many ways when it comes to leadership in his ability to make the right calls, prioritize and be a helpful selfless person.
Ralph was able to give everyone a job while still being a fair leader. Ralph told the boys that wanted to help build shelter could help him and those who wanted to hunt could go with Jack. Ralph asked the boys if, “You wouldn’t care to help with shelters, I suppose?” (Golding, 51) and those who did not want to help with shelters could go hunt instead. By allowing the boys to pick the task to complete Ralph was able to get more done than if he forced the boys to do jobs they did not want to
In the novel Lord of the flies the theme of leadership is consistent and the characters jack and Ralph are consistently used to highlight each other weaknesses and strengths. Golding uses other symbols such as the conch to showcase Ralph's future role as leader. Furthermore golding uses the other characters to be the catalyst of Ralph's gradual devolvement and doubtful thoughts.
The need for a leader is natural human behavior, yet quite often it turns out that those who hold influence have a rather distasteful idea of what is truly important. William Golding’s literary fiction, Lord of the Flies, is the story of around a dozen British boys, all under the age of thirteen, who are stranded on a desert island after their plane crashes and washes out to sea. The novel documents the progression of the conflicts that arise on the island between Jack and the elected chief, Ralph. Conflict begins to arise when Jack pulls a group of boys away from their assigned responsibilities. This conflict further develops when Jack and a group of biguns, having already separated from Ralph’s group, steal the glasses of a boy named Piggy.