Island Leadership Essay Gabe Gomez ELA 8-1
Leadership is a commonplace factor in the world, represented constantly throughout literature. Lord of the Flies(LOTF) characters, by William Golding, have defined leadership styles that we see develop on the island. These boys are Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. After having their plane crash, the boys get stuck on an isolated island. While the boys are stuck on the island, the society they attempt to develop devolves into chaos.
Jack is an authoritarian(autocratic) leader. From the moment he is first introduced, it is clear to see Jack’s rash and aggressive nature. Jack is dependent on rising to power and having control over others. Jack pushes his group to their limits as
…show more content…
He’s not as much of a thinker as Piggy and he lets others go about their days without fulfilling their workload(even though they had declared him the leader). Ralph is a Delegative Leader. A delegative leader lets “workers set their own schedule and make decisions… sometimes lack control over their teams”(FCLS). This is exactly what Ralph did after he became leader and started building shelters. Ralph set goals with the group to create shelters and to bring water from the river. Ralph has trouble motivating them to complete their goals, and after the first shelter was built, the little ones wandered off and stopped helping. This leads Ralph into an argument with Jack about the workload, “‘And they keep running off. You remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished.”(LOTF 60). Ralph was angered by the lack of hard work being done by the others but rather than doing anything, he fights with Jack. This is why Ralph isn’t entirely a delegative leader. Ralph is also a Transactional leader(managerial) as he does not want to permit laziness and still strives for the “order and system” of British Society and the structure of his common life. Ralph was the first to “set targets… outline the rewards and penalties''(FCLS), this can be seen when Ralph calls an assembly to relay the goals for the kids and to keep order amongst the group “The rocks for a lavatory. Keep the fire going and smoke showing as a signal. Don’t take fire from the mountain take your food up there.”(LOTF 97). This is Ralph showing his true leadership by demanding and taking control over the group, whether or not he can do it again, is up to