In Lord of the Flies, the littluns’ fear discourages them from following Jack’s leadership, but later when they are manipulated by Jack into giving him power they pay for their naïvety by the brutal society they choose. This shows the responsibility the littluns have in determining the society they live in. Throughout the novel, the littluns make decisions that heavily affect all the others and have the opportunity to accept or deny all situations on the island. Their responsibility goes mostly unnoticed by the littluns, as well as the older boys. Ralph and Jack are major characters, but the littluns play an equally important role. From the beginning, the littluns are responsible for the choice of the leader in power. Though Jack is the “most obvious leader” (18), the glamour of Ralph and the power of his conch win the vote of the boys, as “Every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately.” (18). To the littluns, Jack represents order and strict rules, a combination that the littluns fear will impose on their new found liberty, a fear that is later realised to be reasonable. Ralph is not an ideal leader when he is selected. He is still childlike and carefree; harsh reality has not yet set in. This more juvenile Ralph is more attractive to the littluns’ values. This irresponsibility does not hurt them, but their continued decisions motivated by wants later prove fatal. The win of Ralph is not strategic or purposely catered to the littluns, an oversight that
Meanwhile, Ralph values the group over himself, and wants everyone to have a say in any decisions made. Jack gets fed up with his lack of power, so he decides to try to become the leader. He asks if anyone wants to come with him, and says, “Hands up?’ said Jack strongly..... ‘How many think –’ His voice trailed off. The hands that held the conch shook. He cleared his throat, and spoke loudly. ‘All right then.’ …. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. ‘I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you’”(127). Jack acts like a little kid in this scene. This hunger for power demonstrated by Jack has made him corrupt, so much that he will not tolerate being with the others if he can’t be the leader. Jack tries to portray an image of manliness, but it is evident that it is not true when he starts crying. Qualities like this are why Jack is incapable of being the leader. Overall, Ralph is able to handle the power that he is given in a more mature way than Jack.
Ralph represents order and discipline, while Jack represents an unhealthy drive for power and savagery. In the beginning of the novel, Ralph is voted the leader of the group and attempts to make life on the island disciplined and civilized, like their life in England. However, throughout the novel Jack rivals Ralph’s leadership role, attempting to overthrow him. As the boys’ savage impulses increase, more of them begin to side with Jack instead of going with Ralph. As Ralph loses his hold over the boys, almost all of them begin to act violently and barbaric. An example of this is when the children of the island murder Simon for no justifiable reason. Even Piggy and Ralph partake in the murder, showing that the violent human impulse is in
Ralph is a character whose actions make him represent democracy. In chapter 2, Ralph establishes a rule that whoever holds the conch may speak at the assembly. “That’s what this shell's called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking”(31). By establishing this rule, Ralph planted the foundation of democracy for the boys. Later in the story, even though Jack draws most of the boys into savagery, Ralph still held onto the belief
In the book there is conch which gives the beholder of it power over the rest of the group. Jack knows that the group is torn on who should be their leader, so he does whatever is necessary to get the conch and control the group. Jack knows that the only way to do this is to make the group turn against Ralph. With power on his mind his begins to belittle Ralph and make the group think Ralph hasn’t been a good leader. This happens when Jack says, “Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing” (Golding 238). The group then begins to trust Jack because Ralph seems inferior compared to him. Once Jack has this power he begins to think that everyone who isn’t with him is against him. This leads to Jack killing Piggy to stop and uprising from him and Ralph. There is no way that a 13 year old boy would kill another classmate unless he was fueled with power like Macbeth was. Jack isn’t the only one in the book to let power get the best of him, Ralph also falls victim to it. Ralph begins to disrespect his best friend on the island Piggy when the book says “Ralph pushed Piggy to one side. ‘I was chief and you were going to do what I said’” (Golding 132). This quote shows how Ralph is willing to harm someone he care about just to show everyone including Piggy how powerful he truly is. Both Ralph and Jack let power cloud their judgement which
At the time, Ralph heavily influences the boys and their actions for he resembles “the men with the megaphones” (18). He attempts to create order among the boys with rules, but most of the boys would rather play than follow the rules—for there are no adults to enforce them. With the role of leadership thrust upon him, Ralph has no choice but to stop playing games. His goals are to protect the boys and increase their chances of being rescued; however, the responsibility on Ralph’s shoulders soon begins to weigh him down. As “Ralph [watches the boys], envious and resentful” (75), the obligation to care for everyone on the island is a heavy burden to bear. His role as leader has forced Ralph to forget the joys of being an innocent kid and given him the encumbrance of responsibility, which causes the start of his maturation.
The power-hungry will often feel the need for absolute control, hardly ever getting what they desire, they will often be portrayed as crazy and vicious. The same can be said for Jack; all he wants is to be the leader and make the decisions, but Ralph is the one in control. Jack’s desire for power is ruining his own image, and the well being of the other boys. Without the supervision of adults his morals and values took a turn for the worst.
Ralph and Jack begin the novel with similar beliefs, both wanting to implement rules. “I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them.” But then the wanting of power from Jack comes to- Ralph
In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author, William Golding, portrays a story about children that are stranded on an island with no adults to take charge and leadership; therefore, the children have to create their own system of government so they can survive. Throughout the story, there is a development of characters and each character represents various personalities and specific aspects of philosophies. Jack, Simon, and Ralph are the main focus throughout the book and their way of thinking is quite different from one another resulting in constant arguments.
Them kids. The little ‘uns. Who took any notice of ‘em? Who knows how many we got?’ Ralph took a sudden step forward. ‘I told you to. I told you to get a list of names!’ ‘How could I,’ cried Piggy indignantly, ‘all by myself? They waited for two minutes, then they fell in the sea; they went into the forest; they just scattered everywhere’” (Golding 46). Even though Ralph was voted chief at the start of the book, it is very obvious that he has no authority over anyone on the island. Jack is leading his group, and the littluns do not care what Ralph says to do they go and play and have fun and do what they want. The littluns are always playing in the water, running around in the forest, or just messing around. Ralph tries to get them to help, but they know there will be no consequences if they don’t, so there is really no point in listening. On top of this Ralph blames Piggy for not getting the names of all the kids by himself. It’s evident that Ralph is somewhat scared to use his authority because he wants to be liked by everyone, and his goal is to make everyone happy. Which is why nothing can get done, or at least get done correctly. This is also why many boys gain respect for Jack and lose it for Ralph as the book goes on. They realize who has the real leader qualities and who is not afraid to use their authority to put a plan into action. From the start Ralph should have made sure that everyone knew he was a serious leader. He should have laid
Ralph and Jack are very different leaders in many different ways regarding themselves as people and as leaders on the island. Both leaders display very different versions of a human act in this book. Ralph is a person who acts more with ego, which is the most controlled part of human actions like being more civilized and organized with decisions regarding the island. He does this by assigning different roles to the littluns like the ones that are responsible for shelter, the hunters, and fire keepers. Jack, on the other hand, acts more with the ID, the animal part of a human, with his decisions as a leader. Jack favors, food over the shelter, which is the total opposite of Ralph, in fact, that is what he promises his people when the split of the two “tribes”. He told all the littluns that he promises feasts of meat every night and a lot of fun. In chapter five of Lord of the Flies gives a great idea of how Ralph is like as a leader. When he calls the littluns with the conch shell and has to remind the littluns about the rules he says, “‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’” (Golding 108). In this event, Piggy was holding the conch and the others weren’t respecting
When Jack slaps Piggy and purposely breaks his glasses, Ralph calls it "A dirty trick." (p. 76) This shows Jack's selfishness and his failure to respect other people, while at the same time Ralph's concern is understand others. Ralph manages to treat each boy equally with his own form of control while Jack treats the boys, especially Piggy lower. After hunting, the group sits down to eat and Jack gives everyone a share except for Piggy. When Piggy asks for some, Jack says, "You didn't hunt." (p. 78) Neither Ralph or many of the littluns hunted but they still got their portion of meat. This was only being directed to Piggy. Jack's behavior towards Piggy shows that he is unable to understand other people. A good leader would have taken care of all his/her group. Ralph understands that he must treat everyone equal or he will not be respected and is a better leader than Jack because of this knowledge.
In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island choose a leader. As they decide between Ralph the Athletic sporty kind of kid and Jack the Stuck up rich choir kid, they choose Ralph. Jack is enraged by this choice by the boys. So he is set off onto the path he takes during the whole story by this decision. Jack already has his group behind him he just needs more power. The way he decides to gain this power is a terrible choice. The way he decides to take control is to strike fear into the littluns. One of Jack boys,
Secondly, Ralph is not only a rational leader but also a moral person, who cleverly keeps the fairness in his group. “Ralph, looking more understanding at Piggy, saw that he was hurt and crushed. He hovered between the two courses of apology or further insult ‘Better Piggy than Fatty” (25). Ralph is sincere and considerate for other people. He apparently understand their feeling and particularly shows his sympathy for Piggy. Ralph is sensible enough to realize that everyone deserves to be respected. He believes no one should have to put up with being tormented. Ralph gently gains others’ support by treating them equally, showing his compassion and ability to empathize with them. Opposite to Ralph, Jack is immoral, violent and condescending. “He’s going to beat Wilfred” (159). He does not care or understand the natural equality of
The Child: in the novel, Lord of the Flies, the littluns represent ‘the child’. They’re vulnerable, innocent, and obedient. The littluns were very obedient and playful, and because of that, they were often bullied and mistreated by the big kids. They didn’t think that people younger than them deserved respect. Only a few of the big kids were sincere and respectful to the littluns, including Piggy and Simon.
When everyone is more settled down, Ralph suggests that they elect a leader and chief. All the kids elect Ralph as the leader, mainly because he is the one who found the conch and the one who is holding it. We at once see how Jack greatly disapproves of the decision taken by the kids. He