The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about the darker side of life that the boys face on the island. The boys in the book have absolutely no control over the circumstances that occur. Lord of the Flies is a book portraying the series of disasters that occur during the stay of a group of boys on a deserted island. The leader, Ralph faces a couple of problems. This paper is aimed to research the leadership that occurred on the island by giving examples from the novel.
Ralph, one of the boys at the island often regulated things at the island. Ralph also looks at any problems presented and makes sure to analyze them and suggest a possible solution for the problem. He believes that there is a great need for a leader and suggests that, “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” ( Golding,12) That said, he believes that the island can only be run effectively by a leader since he will be able to delegate the activities that each one of the boys does. The boy will not be forced to look for water and shelter since the leader will be given the authority to do so and they will, therefore, be controllable.
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"Leadership in The Lord of the Flies".
Moreover, Ralph is a leader because he tries his best to bring peace to the island by making Jack agree with him through the way he talks to him. Ralph says that Jack should eventually be left in charge of the choir and asks him of what role he would want the choir members to take (Wilson,150). He suggests that they should be hunters and both Jack and Ralph agree. This method of buying over Jack brings his support and the support of the boys who support him.
“If we have a signal going, they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” (Golding, 42) This section of the Lord of the Flies shows Ralph’s ability to demonstrate order in the island. He believed that by using a conch the island boys would know what to do and therefore would not keep on arguing.
A leader should be able to show sacrifice. He should also perform his duty when need is regardless of the circumstances that face him. The quote below shows this aspect of a leader.
“His mouth was tight and pale. He put back his hair very slowly…..He forced his feet to move until they carried him out on to the neck of the land” (Golding, 130)
Ralph in this section is affected mentally but sacrifices and puts himself together to look for the monster that has been terrorizing the boys (Wilson,147). He goes to areas that the boys have not come across on the island to be able to try and look for the monster there. By doing this, he shows that he has taken the leadership role personally by going to look for the monster even if he is not feeling well.
A leader should be intelligent and analyze the suggestions those that surround he gives him. By listening to this, he will be able to prevent disasters from occurring. However, when Ralph is advice by his friend Piggy to go away, he refuses(Wilson,148). This action leads to the death of his friend Piggy who had warned him to leave. Had he left the island, his friend may have still been alive.
In conclusion, Ralph shows great leadership qualities from the examples given. Ralph being a 12-year-old boy does not stop him from taking over his responsibility for the boys.
