Leadership Abuse In Lord Of The Flies

Leadership Abuse in Lord of the Flies The famous 17th century poet Jean de la Fontaine once said “Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.” When the children in Lord of the Flies find themselves stranded on a distant island with no adults to be found, they encounter many forms of power, hence encountering many forms of abuse of power as well. This power abuse can be organized by the two leaders who each ruled the island during their own periods. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes these leaders, Ralph and Jack, to illustrate how people in positions of power will abuse their power for personal gain when given the opportunity.

After the boys catch their first glimpse at what they imagined was the beast, Jack calls his own assembly to address the issue. As Jack leads his own meeting instead of Ralph, he immediately exerts this new authority in an attempt to overthrow Ralph as chief, exclaiming, “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn 't a proper chief,” (Golding 92). Jack’s influence among the boys has been gradually growing, and calling his own meeting grants him with more immediate power than he has ever had before. Jack instantly abuses this power by unjustly criticizing Ralph and challenging his authority, demonstrating that no one on the island can hold a position of power without quickly abusing it. Shortly after, Jack forms his own band of hunters, giving him even more power to toy around with, and it doesn’t take long for him to begin to abuse it. For what appears to be no reason, Jack decides that he’s “Going to beat Wilfred…. He got angry and made [the other boys] tie Wilfred up.” (Golding 116). It is barely over a day since he made his own clan, and he is already abusing his authority, and in a considerably more vicious manner than Ralph. At the start of his little campaign, Jack promised that his tribe would just go hunting and have fun all day. As soon he is in a position of power, however, Jack becomes a different person, ferociously beating Wilfred for no reason other than to assert his