Rise When They Fall: The Strategy of False Leadership

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 gain many enemies. Like political heads of government,

leaders of a specific community of people are informally elected 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. To 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 rises from the detriment of others is

not a strong, worthy leader.

A common weakness these individuals share, is the use of ‘scape-goats’ –

blaming other causes 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 could provide an answer to another rancher’s problems, and find a

solution, he would gain an even better reputation, according to fellow ranchers. While he
gains support from ranchers regardless, 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 about their leader.

One of the things people may not notice right away is how much the leader is

really doing while in power. 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 hide it

from the law. To 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 by their own.

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 working 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 Dan, Helen, who works as a

biologist to protect the wolves, says to Luke, her co-worker and Buck’s son,

“‘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 from having their calves continually hunted down by

wolves, and if Dan can offer one that is more appealing to them, Buck will immediately

lose 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 cannot 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, since they

represent the entire shared opinion of the community.

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

silly I am. How could it be?’” (Evans, 296).

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 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.

 Work Cited

Evans, Nicholas. The Loop. New York: Delacorte Press, 1998. Print.