Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Brittany-Rough Draft The Loop
Brittany-Rough Draft The Loop
LeadershipTitle
By Brittany Woodhall
For Mr. Kemp
ENG 3UI
Due 23rd July 2010
Many leaders over time were, and continue to be, known for their impact on a
small community, country, or even the world; some of them for good reasons, others for
poor decisions, which saw them gainmake many enemies. Like political heads of
community to represent their cause in the best way that is seen fit. In the struggle to get
noticed amongst other people’s concerns, some people resort to rising up by pushing
others down. Buck Calder from the novel The Loop by Nicholas Evans fits this mindset,
and his followers are all ranchers devoted to the extermination of wolves. Since these
people are particularly aggressive, they are harder to control; . Tto ease pressure, leaders
such as Buck blame other groups to cover their own problems, and force other people
with power to assist them. The result is that most of the credit is given to one popular
figure, simply because followers do not have the courage to be the face of the cause; they
do not want to be the one who could suffer for the entire group when they fail. One who
blaming other causesusing some other cause to blame, to cover up one’s own
weaknesses. With the government protecting the wolves that he wanted to kill in order to
save his calves, Buck was thinking that, “Everything seemed to be going wrong lately…
In fact, now that he came to think of it, everything had been fine and dandy until those
goddamn wolves showed up. Well, it was time to get serious and get rid of them”
(Nicholas Evans, 253-254). Instead of taking charge of his life, Buck uses the
coincidence of the arrival of the wolves as the cause of all his troubles. If he couldan
from ranchers regardlessthough,, he looses the support of those who care about wolves
and obeying the laws. One cannot stay securely in power without gaining support, and the
lack of responsibility will eventually become obvious, making supporters think twice
One of the things people may not notice right away is how much the leader is
really doing while in powerthemselves. As Buck Calder glorified to other ranchers about
his solution to kill off all the wolves, it was only because of his father that he could even
hire a hunter so prestigious to do the job. The ‘wolfer’ he hired, Lovelace, “remembered
the man’s father, Henry Calder. His own father used to call him ‘King Henry” and joke
about how high and mighty he was” (Evans, 257). Much of Buck’s ‘high status’ within
the community of ranchers is earned from how highly respected his father was. Inheriting
his father’s skills and good looks, Buck himself has proved very little to anyone. He
could not kill a wolf illegally, because he did not have the knowledge to know how to
hidecover it from the law up.; Tto hire someone who does know, he had to use his
father’s reputation. The power one has is often through other people’s efforts, not , as it is
Many ranchers that are affected by wolves killing their calves want the wolves
gone as much as Buck, but are too afraid to go against the law. Also, some of those who
are supposed to enforce the law do not have the courage to fight back. These people make
a weak set of followers, who will not continue to support the leader when they fail. Dan,
who is wWorking for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the wolves, was called
to Buck’s ranch after his pet dog got attacked by a wolf. After Buck made his policy
against wolves clear, “Dan was still seething from his encounter with Buck Calder. ‘I told
you he was a piece of work,’ Rimmer said… ‘Piece of something, anyway.’ ‘Oh, he’s
okay. Reckon his bark’s bigger than his bite. He’s one of these guys likes to test you, see
how tough you are’” (Evans, 35). After a long war of words with Danwords with Buck,
and simply getting run down by Buck’s persistence, Helen, who works as a biologist to
protect the wolves, says to Luke, her coworker and Buck’s son,who are both working to
“‘Dan wants to kill the rest of the wolves… Or are we all supposed to call it, what
was it? Oh yeah, ‘lethal control.’… Dan sighed. ‘They killed one of your father’s
calves.’ ‘So Dan’s going to let himself be bullied into doing exactly what your
father wants: get rid of the wolves. No wolves, no way—all you have to do is
shout loud enough.’ … ‘Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.’
‘That’s bullshit, Dan. You’re just letting Calder push you around… If you don’t
take a stand against people like him, you’ll never win the war’” (Evans, 385-386).
Those who simply try to suppress others do not gain any real supporters. Although Dan
has given in, as soon as he finds a weakness, or a strong point for the protection of
wolves, he could turn many of Buck’s ‘followers’ into his enemies. People who follow
Buck are only looking for a solution fromto having their calves continually hunted down
by wolvestheir calves being killed, and if Dan can offer one that is more appealing to
them, Buck will immediately loose all of his supporters. Appealing at first, Clyde, one of
Buck’s farmhands, “was always so keenly tuned to Buck’s mood, always a little too eager
to please. Whatever Buck’s opinion, it became Clyde’s as well and if Buck changed his
mind, even if he argued that black wasn’t black after all, but white, then Clyde would
soon be laboring through paler and paler shades of grey until he got there too” (Evans,
187). However, Buck later finds people such as Clyde to be nothing but irritating, and of
no real support. Talking about the lack of kills the wolfer has made, Clyde comments,
“‘If you ask me, he’s past it. Way too old.’ ‘I didn’t’ Buck snapped… Clyde held up his
hands. ‘Okay, okay.’ ‘And don’t ‘okay, okay’ me either. Jesus!’ He slammed a fist on the
steering wheel.” (Evans, 342). People who are not fully behind the leader’s cause are not
useful for strength in numbers. It only appears that there is a strong following, when in
fact many are just desperate to find someone who will solve their problems. This is why
it is foolish to be intimidated by a leader who pushes others down – they can not get
support from people who think positively about them; who are willing to defend their
views along with their leaders’ for the better of their own cause. The people they gather
up instead are ones who feel pressured into following, or else they will be shoved down
by the exact same person they are to follow. Even if one agrees with the leader’s opinion,
they are simply not brave enough to speak their mind; afraid of criticism. They rely on
their leaders to do this, for it is the leader who will take most of the blame and criticism,
//What some leaders like Buck do not account for are the people who do not
support them. These people may have been pushed down, but if they were strong enough
to resist being intimidated, they can counter-attack with the passion to ruin the person
who tore them down. After Helen refused to get involved with yet another of Buck’s
affairs, his weak attempt to gain her support to kill the wolves, she realized that,
“Suddenly, though her shock and outrage, something he’d once said came back to her.
She braked hard and skidded to a stop, then reversed back so that she was looking right
down on him from the window. ‘Wanting something can be better than getting it,
remember? Think of it as a favor.’” (Evans, 357). The phrase Buck once said to her, to
try to degrade her hope for the survival of the wolves, was used against him, in his fight
to get rid of the wolves. The real threat of their power is in their own actions and words,
whether it comes back in the form of revenge or guilt. Mr. Lovelace, the hunter hired to
kill the wolves illegally, faced his most threatening, yet unexpected, enemy while he tried
to go on with his job. Before his wife died, she asked him,
“‘Do you think, Joseph, their life is the same as ours? I mean, what it’s made of,
that little flicker or spirit or whatever it is, inside them. Do you think it’s the same
as what we have inside us?’ ‘No dear of course not. How could it be?’ Her
puzzling seemed to have drained her, for she closed her eyes and sank back on her
pillow, with a faint, contented smile on her lips. ‘You’re right,’ she sighed. ‘How
At the time, he simply denied her comment, and went along hunting and trapping for
other people. But it was not until he saw a little boy frightened by his father’s inventions
of traps, that he truly thought about what his wife was saying. After all the lives of the
animals he took over many years, he decided that he deserved to die, and was disgusted
with himself: “Before he died, the wolfer wanted to say sorry, but there was no one to say
it to. The only person who’d understand was Winnie and she was dead. He wondered
how long she’d known about ‘that little flicker,’ as she’d called it, and why she hadn’t
told him before, though he knew in his heart he’d never have listened” (Evans, 372). Both
Buck and Mr. Lovelace fell victim to their own cruelty, unknowingly tearing themselves
down. A leader who cannot take even their own brutality is not a strong leader; it is their
job to stand up and take charge, not cower and look to escape from criticism.
People who are deemed leaders of a community of people who push others down
to get attention do not possess real leadership skills. They do not inspire, but instil fear.
These ‘leaders’ cannot even stand up for themselves, and rightfully defend their ideas.
Their idea of convincing people is that their opinion is right because everyone else is
wrong. Their followers are not truly supporting their leader, they only felt they have no
other options. It is guaranteed that if another person is more inspiring to them, they will
quickly betray the one who took them for granted, for a leader who will truly appreciate
support. It is people like Buck Calder that do not solve problems fairly; instead, are only
done to their rapid satisfaction, still never feeling satisfied with themselves.
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