The Perfect Leader

A detailed Summary of The Perfect Leader

Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, different characters demonstrate both good and bad leadership skills. Because the group varies widely in age and personality, a successful leader would need very specific skills such as knowledge, respect, trust, organization and control. An effective leader of the boys would possess the specific qualities of Ralph and Piggy.

Although Ralph is not the perfect leader he possesses many good leadership skills. When the boys arrive on the island, Ralph is the first to demonstrate these. He calls everyone together and begins making rules and setting priorities. Ralph works very hard to keep things together and gives different people different jobs. "Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be-what do you want them to be? Hunters." (p.22) This shows that he is trying to keep things organized. Ralph also has very good listening skills; he calls meetings "Every day. Twice a day." (p.51) He does this in order to sort things out and, like a good leader, seeks the advice and opinions of the other boys although, he does not necessarily take it. Even when the others begin to decline into savagery Ralph still tries very hard to make the others realize t

Ralph also possesses some bad qualities, which makes it hard for him to succeed as a leader. Ralph may have the organizational skills but he is not aggressive enough. When he gives out jobs he does not enforce what each individual has to do. He does not have power and authority over the boys the way he would like to. "When the meeting was over they'd work for five minutes, then wander off or go hunting." (p. 51) This demonstrates Ralph's frustration because the boys aren't doing enough work. Ralph motivates them in meetings but not enough. As time progresses Ralph runs out of good motivational things to say. "When he stopped no one said anything. After many brilliant speeches that had been made on this very spot Ralph's remarks seemed lame, even to the littluns." (p. 131) Ralph's time as a leader would not have lasted as long except for the fact that he had Piggy. Ralph's biggest problem as a leader is that he could not think for himself, he needed a more knowledgeable human being to help him with ideas and decisions. "By now, Ralph had no self-consciousness in public thinking but would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player." (p. 106) When Ralph has no one to talk to about the decisions he has to make, he makes them randomly and without much thought.

Combining some of Ralph and Piggy's qualities would create a perfect leader. If Ralph's ability to communicate effectively and his physical features were combined with Piggy's fearlessness and su

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Approximate Word count = 1048
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels