Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Leadership in Lord of the Flies

Leadership is defined as the process in which one person can rely on and organize a group of people in order to accomplish a certain task. Along with this, a leader must possess certain qualities that will allow the leader to gain followers. While many individuals may contain one quality that would contribute to making him or her a good leader, one must possess multiple qualities to lead effectively. In Lord of the Flies, many elements are prominent in a few characters that possess certain leadership qualities such as respect, physical capability, and intelligence.

Respect

The boys on the island believe Ralph should be the leader because he was the first one to call them together with the conch. Through doing this, Ralph was able to gain the respect of the other boys on the island. In the text, author William Golding is able to show the respect most of the boys had for the others on the island through this influential quote: “partly because Ralph blew it and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority” (Golding, 50). In the beginning of the novel, Ralph is clearly the most respectable character, therefore, the boys, apart from the choir, elected Ralph as leader.

Intelligence

Ralph is able to think logically and realizes soon after the plane crash the need for an authority figure on the island. In the novel, Ralph thinks to himself: “If you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise...thought was a valuable thing, that got results.” (Golding, 78) Ralph’s intelligence is clearly shown when he decided the need for a fire to keep burning, unlike Jack. He realizes that this simple task could ultimately lead to their rescue and determines that it is more important than “goofing around” like the other boys. Ultimately, a leader must have intelligence to be able to make logical decisions for their