Essay on Lord Of The Flies

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Taylor Thomas
Mrs. Wohlstattar
English 10CP Period 3
30 March 2014
Title of Paper Childish and careless behavior can easily lead to death in the wild. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes during World War II. Needing to elect a leader, they quickly choose Ralph, the boy who calls them together using a conch. As soon as the boys start a microcosm it is a quick downfall. Ralph’s leadership fails because he doesn’t enforce the rules, narrow minded in his authority, and he invested too much in the false sense of authority, the conch. As Edmund Burke, a political philosopher, points out that men must have rules and punishment because “society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon” men is placed because if there isn’t any rules or punishments in place, there will be chaos. Even though they have moral values they will give into the temptations of freedom. A good leader has to have qualities like controlling his followers and demanding respect. a good leader also has to be strong not only physically but also mentally. A leader needs to know when to stand his ground and when to step down and listen to other. Ralph, the first person to the lead the boys and to blow the conch, tried hard everything to make it work but Ralph didn’t establish rules and punishment for the boy. “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all were not savages”(golding42), jack discloses to the boys even though eventually the boys do forget the rules and become savage. At the being of Ralph’s reign as leader he made the mistake of making the choirboys in control of the hunting and fire. This allows jack and his posse to make their own rules and this leads to jack encouraging the boys not to Ralph and his rules. This leads to the choirboys seeing jack as a better leader and this is where they start to stray away from Ralphs. And the being of Ralph’s leadership going down hill begins. Ralph mainly focused on the fire and how he needed it for being rescued when in actuality the boys needed food. Ralph doesn’t see the desperate need for food and so when jack offers food he then appeals to the other, “I gave you food and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe”(Golding 150). Showing that jack was using persuasion and is appealing to what the boys want, he is successful in his attempt to take over as the leader. He
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