Ralph And Jack's Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys divided themselves according to who they feel is a better leader between Jack or Ralph. One of the groups consisted of Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, and is based on survival and hopefully being rescued,meanwhile the other group which consisted of Jack, Rodger, and the choir boys, who like to hunt and have fun and have no intention or care to be rescued. Due to the differences between Ralph and Jack and the forms of government the propose many conflicts occurred around who was really in charge. While each boy had different goals as a leader, they go by different methods of gaining control. While Ralph roughly demonstrates a democracy, the boys find Jack resembling an autocratic form of government.

He forms a dictatorship form of government which is evident by his short demanding phrases and his mentality to hunt and kill, none the less his attitude towards the others. Compared to Ralph, Jack does not have any long term goals set other than to hunt and remain living on the island under his control. In chapter one, Ralph introduces the idea of using the conch as a symbol of power and letting the chief use it which causes Jack to give his explanation which shows he is just arrogant not a true leader. “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” “A chief! A chief!” “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance,”because I’m chapter chorister and head boy i can sing C sharp.” Once Jack is turned down he starts using tactics to get the boys to follow under his own rule."I got the conch" Said Piggy indignantly. " You let me speak!" " The conch doesn't count on top of the mountain" Said Jack," So you shut up (pg 42)." This quotation provides a start to Jack’s dictator like attitude. “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood.(pg 69)” This quotation shows a chant that Jack has his hunters repeat over and over which shows his power and how he can control the boys. This excerpt begins to hunt and kill pigs to provide meat for the boys which gets people to like him due to the food he provides. When they are sitting around the fire and eating the pig that Jack killed, Simon was giving him a hard time about it as Simon favored Ralph more. This is evident by the quotation,”Eat! Damn you!” He glared at Simon. “Take it!”... “I got you meat”... “I painted my face--I stole up.Now you eat--all of you--and I--(pg 74).” While Jack is on the rise for power, he talks bad about Ralph to the boys in order to make himself stand out more as a leader by providing