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In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s characters experience a variety of personal developments. The story develops around a group of British schoolboys that become stranded on an inhabited island when their plane crashed. The story depicts the boys’ struggle to survive without any adult supervision. As the story develops, the boys crave for guidance and more importantly a leader. Dictionary.com defines a leader as, “one that leads or guides...one who is in charge or in command of others.” Personal characteristics, dominating presence, and political ideals all shape a leader. In the novel, Golding uses two characters Jack and Ralph to demonstrate the development of leadership. Further, even though Jack and Ralph portrayed both leadership qualities, Jack proves to be the effective leader. A number of personal characteristics are important in defining a leader. Two important personal characteristics that shaped the leaders in the novel Lord of the Flies, are confidence and stability. There are no significant similarities on behalf of Jack and Ralph’s personal cartelistic, due to the fact of Jack was able to prove himself as the effective leader. The first characteristic that is significant is confidence. Jack’s character allowed him to be a effective leader because he was a confident individual, his confidence allowed him to stand in front of the boys and give orders. An example of his confidence was demonstrated during a meeting when Jack shouted, “Choir! Stand Still!…wearily obedient, the choir huddled and stood there… (p.16).”As a result of this action, anytime Jack spoke afterwards; the stranded boys listened to him. Therefore, Jack was a leader because when Jack gave orders the boys followed. Unlike Jack, Ralph was not an effective leader due to the fact he lacked confidence. Throughout the story, Ralph’s lack of self-confidence forced him to constantly seek the advice of others. One of Ralph’s advisors was Piggy. After Piggy’s death, Ralph’s lack of self confidence became more evident as he finds himself unable to make any decisions, “What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch. ( p.218 )” This quote exemplifies Ralph’s inability to be a leader because he lacked self-confidence. As stated above, an aspect of a leader is someone who is able to lead his or her people. It is evident that Ralph’s lack of confidence weakened his ability to be an effective leader. This was because his advice depended on others, he was unable to make decisions by himself. Confidence is an essential factor to being a leader because it helps distinguishing yourself from the others. And for that reason, because Jack had confidence, he distinguished himself from the others by becoming the effective leader. Unlike Jack, Ralph he did not have confidence, and was not able to distinguish himself as a leader. The second characteristic, stability, played an important role in effectiveness of Jack and Ralph’s leadership. Jack’s stability allowed him to have a strong influence over the others. Right from the beginning, Jack voiced the importance of hunting. As the story developed, he continuously worked to achieving his goal.
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