Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

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What combination of traits merge to form the perfect and most effective leader? Is such a feat even conceivable? William Golding provides his opinions of leadership, the roles it can play, and the fundamentals of civilized democratic leadership gone wrong in his novel Lord of the Flies. Three boys with unique personalities provide a platform from which Golding explores the fundamentals of power and leadership. Ralph, Jack, and Piggy are potential leaders for the island, but some of their characteristics provide more of an advantage than others. Common sense combined with charisma takes a leader further than intelligence alone as shown through Ralph and Piggy, however Piggy often times served as an assistant to Ralph. “Only, decided Ralph as he faced the chief’s seat, I can’t think. Not like Piggy…. Piggy could think…. only Piggy was no chief. But Piggy, for all his…show more content…
He shows that though Piggy has the brains, he does not have the charisma, and where Ralph has the charisma, Jack supersedes that by using the boys’ own fear against them. Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, nine years after the second world war, just before the cold war, and in the heat of the beginning of the atomic age. With Jack, Golding shows how it is human nature that in times of fear we choose someone to lead us who is strong and will get things done, many times this person is a dictator. There may be many more reliable leaders, such as the intellect, or the man who is loved by most all, but with fear comes the need for security. As morbid as the novel may seem, Golding shows that in the end children are really no better than adults in these circumstances. That when it boils down to it, no politician on your TV screen reading preprepared words knows no more of how to act than a child stranded on a deserted island. No one can be the perfect leader when thrown into unknown

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