Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Character growth essay
Essays about character growth
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Character growth essay
Likeability and rationality. In The Lord of the Flies, Piggy is the most rational and is picked on by those around him, while Jack is power-hungry and has all of the attention. From my perspective of having read the book, being rational is definitely the direction I would have gone. “An individual cannot maintain power if he is not well-liked.” This statement has truth. Yes? While being well-liked can help you jump over some small bumps in the road, intelligence and good survival skills used by a disliked leader, is better in the long run. Would you rather be saved and live to see another day with someone rational, or die because someone likeable is power-hungry and focused on themselves? “A leader must be willing to sacrifice likeability in order to make decisions that are for the good of the people.” This is entirely true. When someone is a leader, their job is to watch out for the people and make the right decisions. Not every decision will be favored, but it’s most likely the best. A leader will understand that. …show more content…
“Being well-liked and being rational are not exclusive of each other.” This is another example of a statement with truth.
A leader who makes rational decisions and has followers that see the rationality, should have loyal followers. But, it is also true that a well-liked leader will have the loyalty of the people because they have the power to woo people’s decisions. Because they’re the leader they’re always right...right? In my opinion, I feel as if being rational is more beneficial than being likeable. I feel this way because if people can see the rationality, they should be smart enough to be on that side. But like war, there are always two sides and it cannot be stopped. Everyone has their own decisions and both can be proven with good evidence. Even though being rational could be better in the end, being likeable can also have it’s
benefits.
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding created an island, which represented a microcosm of the world. The characters in the book had unique and different personalities to simulate the real world. Every kid on the island was different. Each character fell under the artisan, rational, idealist, or guardian temperament. The characters' personalities helped determine their temperament. Two specific characters were Jack and Piggy. Piggy exhibits aspects of the artisan temperament, whereas Jack exhibits aspects of the rational temperament.
Ralph, the first character introduced to the audience, is probably the most likable character in the entire story. Although he does not ponder such deeply like Piggy, is not as spiritual like Simon, or as energetic as Jack, there is something in him that attracts the audience. Ralph serves as the protagonist of the story. He is described as being a playful, innocent child in the beginning, but towards the end he matures significantly. In the first chapter where he takes his clothes off and goes swimming like any child would do, he seems to be Adam in the Garden of Eden, a child left to play with the nature.
One may wonder exactly what it is that qualities a strong leader possesses. A strong leader is determined, and strong willed. They must be of good judgment, and without bias. They cannot easily be persuaded, and they are firm, yet at the same time, a good lead must also empathize with his subordinates, and have the best interest at heart for said subordinates, at all times. However, with that being said, a good leader cannot be afraid to discipline his subordinates when necessary. Unmistakably, being a leader is a very difficult feat – one which not everyone can accomplish. A leader must be an authority, a friend and a counsellor, all at once. They must be responsible, and always take into account the disadvantages of a situation. Not everyone is suitable to be a leader, whereas, just about anybody can be a good role model.
Piggy's intellectual balance to the emotional leaders proved to be his downfall, as the new social order formed by the boys valued physical qualities over intellectual attributes. If this large, asthmatic, and generally unattractive boy would have been more charismatic and emotional, would he would have undoubtedly been the island's sole leader? Would there have been less death and destruction due to Piggy's logicality, rationality, and intelligence? Golding's creative symbolism using Piggy to represent intellectuals who are usually ignored by political hopefuls, and the comparison with Prometheus, ensures Piggy will be well remembered character in the William Golding's masterpiece Lord of the Flies.
As Warren Bennis, a scholar on the subject of leadership, once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” This statement certainly holds true no matter what type of leader you look at. From cruel dictators such as Joseph Stalin, who fought and killed to stay in power, to peaceful leaders like Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolent tactics to emancipate India from the United Kingdom, to Jesus Christ, who started a religion and spread his message of love and forgiveness far across the globe, they all had a vision of how they wanted to change the world, for the better, or for the worse.
There are many aspects that determine how humans behave around one another. This is shown throughout William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. This book is about a group of British boys that are stranded on an island without any adults due to a plane crash. At first, all goes well; the boys cooperate in attempting to maintain the fire signal, gather food and making shelters. However, human nature takes over and their democracy that they have created fails. This leads to the majority of the boys becoming complete savages when the evil within them takes over. Different qualities help determine whether a person is a good or a bad leader. Although, Piggy and Jack have some leadership qualities, Ralph is the best leader.
Characters are used in literature as symbols to represent mankind's different “faces”. Everyone in both fictional and real societies have civil orderly sides, as well as an instinctual hunger for power. Both of these traits together make us human, but imbalance of these traits in some people can alter our being. These traits are necessary for our survival, but too much can create toxic environments. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to tell the reader more about human traits and provides a platform that shows the interactions between people with different balances of traits; Golding then shows the possible outcome of the conflict these traits create. Three main characters that stand out and represent the civility and hunger for power of humans are Piggy, Jack, and Ralph. Each can be seen as a symbol for different behaviors and traits that humans show, as well as the different mixes of civil and instinctual. The characters symbolize the different traits, instinctual power and calming civil nature, and how the different balances can affect a persons actions, behaviors, and interactions with others.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding is able to exemplify intelligence, violence, and leadership, through the behaviors, responses, and actions of Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, respectively. Golding provides insight into the delicate touch-and-go basis of human nature, something that to this day has yet to be fully understood.
The most effective leaders know better than to try to be someone they are not. They should always be searching for opportunities to reinvest in their strengths. Leaders need to stay true to who they are and make sure they have the right people around them. The book says those who surround themselves with similar personalities are at a disadvantage to those who are secure enough to be surrounded by people who strengths will compliment theirs.
"The leader must understand that he leads us, that he guides us, by convincing us so that we will follow him or follow his direction. He must not get it into his head that it is his business to drive us or rule us. His business is to manage the government for us."-- Theodore Roosevelt
In order for a leader to be a leader he/she must begin with the assumption that you are the one who matters most. As a leader you have to possess that level of confidence in yourself that you are capable of leading yourself “before you can lead others”. And when you develop this belief then you are better able of affirmative influence “on others”.
Piggy’s courage at the beginning of the book was horrible, and he didn’t know how to stand up for himself. At the end of the book Piggy had more confidence and could stand up to the other boys, and didn’t let the other boys walk all over him. There are a ton of examples on how Piggy stands up for himself, and shows how confident that he is. Ralph had great courage at the beginning of the book, and at the end he started being mean and the other boys stopped talking to him. Ralph took on the responsibility of being the adult, and being a leader so he had to show courage. Ralph started losing courage because all of his tribe joined Jack left him behind. Jack could offer the tribal meat to eat, so the wanted to join him. Ralph also got food for them but it was just berries, and fruit. Ralph was confident that when Jack left he would come back, and try to make things right again. That’s when the boys started to leave one by one to join Jack’s tribe. In conclusion to this story it just shows that you never know when you will need certain things to survive. Piggy and Ralph are alike and different in so many ways. By seeing how different the two characters are make me realize how different people can really be. In the Lord of the Flies it shows dedication, courage, and strength. It also shows how they can work together and get things taken care of even when times are tough. Ralph and Piggy display a variety of similarities and
The next character I will discuss is Piggy. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Piggy is the type of character who is considered to be smart, loyal, and caring. He is clearly the brains behind the bronze. Piggy is the morals we have. The decision of right between wrong. Piggy’s symbolization is what makes us think twice about doing something wrong or doing something right. He makes us think before we do something. Piggy is the type of character in the modern world who would be a “model” citizen whom everyone can look up to and
Throughout history, there have been leaders who are considered as admirable due to positive influences over other individuals. For example, in my opinion, Abraham Lincoln was able to influence the masses of people because he chose to think and behave differently from other leaders before him. When a person is considered as a leader, there are several responsibilities and qualities that will attract others to follow after the teachings that are demonstrated. Leadership can be described as the process for “guiding individuals, groups, and entire organizations in establishing goals and sustaining action to support goals (Shockley-Zalabak, 2015, p. 220). Additionally, each leader will usually have a distinctive
To be a good leader requires a lot of attention and focus as well as the ability to say what nobody wants to hear. Not only this, but the ability to speak well in front of large demanding crowds of people and to be able to hold their attention for prolonged amounts of time. "For certainly no one can deny