The Opening Two Chapters of the Lord of the Flies Essay Example for Free

The Opening Two Chapters of the Lord of the Flies Essay When William Golding introduce the three main characters of the first two chapters, they seem to be stuck on an unknown island with no adults to look after them. Ralph, Piggy and Jack are their names. Ralph is a fair-minded boy who is ready for action. He is very wise as he often comes up with good ideas. He is immature compared to Piggy. Piggy is more determined and eager. In chapter one, he is very eager to find any other living being on the island. When Jack comes into the story you find that he is very aggressive and quite competitant. He is not fair-minded the way Ralph is and he is eager to be a chief and take charge of things. Through the essay I will discuss the leadership qualities of the three characters and I will argue that none of the them are capable of being a good leader on their own, but if they were to work together then maybe they could reach some succession Ralph, who is one of the three main characters, is the first person to be introduced on the island. One of the positive leadership qualities of Ralph is that he is very confident. This was the voice of one who knew his own mind. To be a leader, confidence is very necessary because if you have to stand up infront of people, you wont feel ashamed or scared! Piggy does not seem as confident as Ralph as he tends to hesitate when speaking in large crowds. Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch. Jack, like Ralph, is confident too. Ralph and Jack are the ones who normally speak up whereas Piggy is the one who sits and listens. Ralph being as wise as he is, comes up with good ideas. We ought to draw a map. As Ralph is chosen as leader instead of Jack, he always shares his ideas with the rest of the group. I think that a good leader should come up with good ideas, as this is how the group will come to success and actually get somewhere. So really a good leader should be a team player. Like Ralph, I dont think that Piggy and Jack are team players. Even though Piggy is friendly to others he is not really a team player because he does not mix in well with others because of his problems. I think that Jack is too dictatorial to be a good team player. By reading the first couple of chapters, I found out that Ralph is basically the popular one of the group. Ralph counted. Im chief then. He had the most hands up out of the group when they were electing chief. So this does mean that he is popular. If a leader does not have any popularity then no one would listen to them. As Ralph is elected leader he tries to be fair and democratic. He allows Jack to be leader of the hunters when he himself is chosen as leader. Although Ralph has got good physical features and good leadership qualities, you could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil, he also has some weaknesses. I think that Ralphs immaturity can get in the way of his leadership. He always wants to have fun and is hardly serious about anything. Whilst were waiting we can have a good time on this island. A leader should take things seriously to get things done right, and on time. But having said all this, if you put Ralphs immaturity and his seriousness together, they kind of balance. So strictly speaking, Ralph has a got a balanced personality. I think that Jack and Piggys personality is not balanced like Ralphs is. I think that maybe theyre more on the mature and serious side. After Ralph is introduced in the story as the boy with fair hair, Piggy comes into the story. He makes his entrance by calling to Ralph. Hi! it said, Wait a minute! This quote indicates that Piggy wants to get noticed by Ralph. This shows that Piggy likes to be noticed although in the story this does not happen many times. Unlike Ralph, Piggy is more determined and eager, so a leader should be because I think that determination is what mostly brings people to success. In the first chapter Piggy is very eager to find anyone else living on the island. He comes up with different ways in which to manipulate Ralph into helping him do so. I expect theres a lot more of us scattered about. When Piggy and Ralph find the conch, Piggy comes up with a very good idea to call the others. He told Ralph to blow in it. This is a sign that Piggy does have a good leadership quality: he can come up with good ideas, like Ralph. Piggy is also very kind and friendly. This is a very necessary quality. If a leader is not very friendly, like Jack, then nobody would like them and enjoy having them around. Let him have the conch! shouted Piggy. This is where Piggy allows the little boy to have the conch so he could speak. As we know by reading the first couple of chapters, Piggy is quite mature compared to Ralph. Like kids! he said scornfully. Acting like a crowd of kids! When Piggy says this, he tries to imply that the rest of the boys are acting like kids and he is the only mature one around. Piggy can also be calm about things and very sensible at times, these are the good leadership qualities that could make him a good leader. But besides all this, when you read chapter two, you learn that Piggy has got a very quick temper. This is a very negative leader ship quality to have. Piggy lost his temper. Also, Piggy can be sarcastic. Sarcasm does not sound very polite the way Piggy sometimes uses it. You got your small fire all right. And again it is quite a negative leadership quality to have. Besides all the leadership qualities necessary to be a leader, Piggy does not have very good physical features. A leader should be strong and practical and very healthy. Piggy is neither of them. He is more on the fat side. His asthma does not allow him to be as practical as he may want to be. I was the only boy in school what had asthma, said the fat boy. I think that when the other boys went to explore the island, they did not let Piggy come with them because they were afraid that he would slow them down. To conclude about Piggy, I dont think that with all the problems he has, he would make a good leader. When Jack comes into the story, he makes his entrance by marching in on the beach. This already shows that he is full of confidant, a good leadership quality. Although Jack is very aggressive and dictatorial, he could make a good leader. He owns his own choir and he orders them about with oomph and confidence. Choir! Stand still. A leader should be able to talk to the rest of the group with confidence, like Jack and Ralph do. Jack is also quite competitant. A leader should be because this way they could have a challenge with someone else and see what they are good at and what they need to be good at. I think that in a way, a leader should be dominant. Jack is very dominant. I think that this is a good leadership quality because if a leader can control his group then there is no point of them being there. A leader must be dominant and should control their group. Although Jack seems too aggressive, he can also be friendly, like Piggy. Jack grinned back. It seems that Jack can smile and does not always hold a posh look. He is also quite funny as he can make people laugh. Shut up fatty! You have to be able to make someone laugh because this means that if someone is feeling down, you could make him or her feel better by making him or her laugh. I dont think that Jack will be a very good leader if he is chosen as one because he has not got many good leadership qualities as it is. I think that the following words describe him best: Dictatorial, impulsive, aggressive and dominant, arrogant, cruel, envious and red headed. As I have now explained the positive and negative leadership qualities that each of the three main characters has, I have finally come to a conclusion. I have decided that none of the three characters, Ralph, Piggy and Jack could make a good leader on their own. I think that if they work together and not have an individual leader then maybe they could achieve some success and come up with good ideas together. If you put all their positive leadership qualities together then you come up with one ever so good leader. If I were to re-write the whole story again, I would put that all three of them are leaders together!