The Ideal Ruler for Goldings Island Essay Example for Free

The Ideal Ruler for Goldings Island Essay * In chapter one, Ralph was given sole responsibility of chief on the island, with Jack becoming his hunters. Throughout the novel, we see things gradually begin to break up on the island, and much of this is down to Ralphs poor leadership and assertive skills. Alone, Ralph was a very poor leader, leading to the break-up and ultimately the destruction of the island. However, if the leader had all of Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simons qualities, things could have been very different. * The first quality that an ideal chief should have is intelligence and knowledge. Ralph has never been shown as having much intelligence, or knowledge of the wider world. An example of this is where he is trying to reassure the boys of being rescued and says that the Queen has a huge map and his father in the Navy will be able to rescue them in no time. Piggy has intelligence of adult things, for example he knows what a conch is, and also about rock pools. Jack however has knowledge of practical things, such as how to gut and kill a pig. Both the scientific knowledge that Piggy has, and the practical knowledge that Jack has would help to create a perfect leader * To be a good leader, you must have a lot of assertiveness and be able to enforce the rules to people even when they do not want to follow them. Ralph was not capable of this, and an example is when Jack tried to undermine his authority by saying the conch doesnt count on this part of the island. Instead of standing up to Jack, and continuing to enforce the rules, he just accepts this. Jack however does have this quality, and this great ability to keep people in their places is shown by the twins Samneric staying rigidly in their places as Ralph tries to talk to them and bring them back to his camp. * Simon and Piggy are both very caring towards the littleuns. These qualities would be very useful in building the perfect leader, as they can do vital work towards the island as well. It is also better to keep all the people n the island happy, no matter how big or small. * To be a good leader, you must recognise other peoples strengths and find a way to use them. Ralph here makes a good leader as he can see other peoples strengths. An example of this is where he says that Jack and his choir can be hunters. Although this undermines his authority, he can see that Jack does have potential that will help the island. He could also see that Piggy had great knowledge, and although he wasnt very good at physical work, Ralph used Piggys vast knowledge to his advantage. * Simon is a very kind, gentle boy who is in touch with nature. He is willing to get on with hard work, and does not expect thanks. This would be very useful, as the world does not want leaders that need to be praised and thanked for everything they do. The world needs leaders which can get on and show that they love the world and people without constantly needing attention and thanks, as we see in Jack with his hunters saluting him after anything he says, * Simon and Ralph both hold good life-giving values. An example of this is how Ralph wants the boys to stay clean, and not wear war paint and to tidy their hair. As a leader, values are implied and so it is vital that these values are ones that will help the island to thrive. * To be an effective leader, the leader must be able to communicate. Jack is very charismatic, and is able to put a good spin on things to be able to convince his peers that his ideas and values are the correct ones. Ralph also has this ability, but begins to lose it, as we see from where he cannot make speeches without stopping and pausing, and therefore he does not communicate well towards the end as he is stumbling. On the world stage, Golding was trying to show that a world leader must be able to communicate and have charisma to get themselves out of bad situations, such as * Planning and organising is a vital part of becoming a good leader. Ralph has very good planning skills, as we know from where he plans out each part of his speech to make sure that it is effective. When they first came onto the island, Ralph also organised the signal fire and the construction of the shelters. This quality would help to form a perfect leader as the organisational skills to be rescued. On the world stage, Golding was trying to show that someone with the planning and organisation skills to be a good leader would be necessary, as often sticky situations, such as an unnecessary war arise from poor organising, such as failing to obtain the necessary evidence which would have prevented it. * In the novel, we know that Ralph and Jack are two halves of a perfect person. They both have incredible charisma, however Ralph is very concerned with organisation and planning and Jack is very concerned with hunting to provide for himself and other hunters. Piggy has so much knowledge, and is the voice of reason between the group. This quality would help to create the perfect leader, as disputes between other people on the island/in the world need to be sorted out by someone who can see reason. However he is not good at communicating, and this would need the skills of either Ralph or Jack to sort out the dispute. Simon is very spiritually aware, and is capable of getting on with a task with receiving no thanks. This quality would be very useful on the island/to the world as you often need a right hand man to help instruct the main leader who receives little or no thanks. * Looking at these points, we can see that combined, Ralph ,Jack, Piggy and Simon would all form the perfect leader if we drew only on their strengths and put aside their weaknesses. On the world stage Golding was trying to show that if we all pull together, and each draw on everyones good points but forget the bad points, we will have perfect leaders and the world will be able to get on in harmony.