Ralph And Jack Conflict

Ralph concentrates on being rescued and Jack goes along taking on the responsibility that he and his choir will mind the fire. “We’ll be responsible for keeping the fire going-”, (Page 38) but while Ralph remains focused on being rescued, Jack’s new-found interest in hunting leads him to forget about rescue. “Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was. “Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first-.” (Page 58) This also starts to show that Jack has entered the realm of savagery.

Jack and Ralph were motivated for their actions in different ways. Ralph was motivated strictly by the hope of being rescued. Even though he called meetings and tried to organize the group of boys to do simple things like build huts or keep the fire going so they could be rescued or survive, the boys would go play or bathe. Ralph said to Jack ‘"And they keep running off, you remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished?" (51) The only person who would listen or work with Ralph was Simon. Unfortunately, the other boys continued to ignore Ralph's leadership throughout the novel and eventually all turned to Jack for leadership. Jack was motivated by hunting and killing. His obsession for this began when he was frustrated with himself for not killing the pig in the first chapter: ‘"He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy" (29).There would actually be no mercy from Jack from that point on. Eventually all of the boys, except for Ralph and Piggy, turned to Jack's evil ways, even to the point of participating in the killing of Simon. Effectively, Ralph was motivated by the hope

After several failed attempts, he finally accomplishes his goal, but with a price; he ruins the boys chances of being rescued by letting the signal fire go out and not taking it as seriously as he should. He continuously claims that, “We can light the fire again” (58); his will to be rescued is waning slowly. Ralph addresses these issues with his group expecting them to be re-motivated, but the boys have surprisingly ignored him and resumed playing. Instead of caring about being rescued, the boys start caring more about hunting and doing an interpretive dance inspired by hunting pigs, including one time with Robert “…screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy”(101). With progressing events, the boys are becoming more and more irresponsible, and their chance of going back to civilization is fading quickly. Soon, a deadly turn of events will ignite their carelessness into something more dangerous and completely unexpected.

One day while one of Jack's hunters were supposed to keep watch over the fire, they went on a hunt with Jack to kill a pig. Meanwhile on the beach, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are building forts when they realize that a ship is passing over the island. Then, they realize that the fire is out, so they sprint up the mountain but by the time they get there, the ship was gone. At the same time, Jack and the hunters had just come back from the hunt. They see Ralph and know exactly what their mistake was. So, Jack tries to lighten up the mood by saying to Ralph that he should have been there because it was so much fun. Ralph gets very angry at them and says that they could have been rescued if they had been watching the fire. In retaliation to Ralph's anger, Jack takes Piggy's glasses and breaks one of the specs. Then they try to rebuild the fire while Ralph is blocking them, and Ralph doesn't move. (Golding 65-75). "No one, not even Jack would ask him to move and in the end they had to build the fire three yards away and in a place not really as convenient. So Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought for days. Against his weapon, so indefinable and so effective, Jack was powerless and raged without knowing why. By the time the pile was built, they

The conflict between Ralph and Jack shows how lack of civilization can result to savagery. Ralph states, “We need shelters” contrasting to Jack who says, “We need meat” (Golding, p.42). The lack of civilization in Jack shows because he thinks hunting is more important than shelters although he has yet to catch a pig, while on the other hand Ralph thinks it’s more important to build shelter for a sense of home and protection from the rain and the beastie that all the littluns are afraid of. “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing”(Golding, p. 15). This quote states that Ralph should be in charge because he has the conch, and Jack gets upset since he is not voted chief but then Ralph puts him charge of the choir boys who later on become the hunters. Ralph creates civilization when he is given power to become the chief on the island, and he has the power with or without the conch. Later in the novel when Ralph realizes he doesn’t like being dirty and “disliked perpetually flicking the tangled hair put of his eyes,” it shows that Ralph is used the civilization he had before and wants to return to that civilization (Golding, p.66). Then Jack becomes an example of savagery when he shows up to the fire in chapter 8, “stark naked save for the paint and a belt” (Golding, p.125). Ralph and his followers show the civilized and orderly side of the island, but on the contrary, Jack and his tribe show the savagery of man and barbaric side of the island.

Thesis Statement: The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays the theme that regardless of each person’s different background and characteristics, every individual has the ability to commit brutal acts. While this book depicts Ralph and Piggy as the most civilized characters, and Jack and his hunters as young English choir boys, their actions reveal that they all have the capability to act violently.

Although already one death has occurred, the others do not seem to realize what has happened, and continue to give their new chief power. Jack's tribe then kills Piggy, and goes on a rampage, as Jack "brainwashes" the others into believing that Ralph's customs were boring and wrong. This is what sets all the others out to kill Ralph at the end.

Piggy’s death is the first directly caused by the boys that they see the aftermath of. However, the body is swept away into the sea, just like Simon’s, thus the boys feel they can not be held responsible and do not learn their lesson. After the death of Piggy all innocence and reason are lost and the boys become completely trapped in their animalistic ways when they complete an ultimate act of savagery; hunting for a fellow human being. The “tribe” goes to the extent of setting fire to almost the entire island in order to snake out Ralph, who must now run for is life from people who he once relied on and considered his friends. Not only are they planning on hunting and killing Ralph, but also one can assume that they are going to mount his head on a stick as Samneric warned Ralph that “Roger sharpened a stick at both

Savagery is a threat to hope, but does not cause hope to die out. Despite fire’s recurring presence, the fire burns out when the hunters desert their duty to tend the fire and hunt a pig instead. When Ralph discovers that Jack and his hunters neglect the fire, Jack provides a feeble excuse. “[Ralph to Jack] ‘You let the fire go out.’ [...] [Jack insists] ‘You should have seen the blood!’” (Golding 70) When the hunters choose to hunt instead of tending the fire, it represents a descent from the original orderly civilization into savagery. In this scene, Golding hints that savagery threatens Ralph’s hopeful mindset for a civilized tribe, but savagery does not kill hope. By the end of the book, all of the boys become hunters who are regarded as “savages”, murder Ralph’s faithful comrade Piggy, and steal the spectacles along with the fire; Ralph seems to be at rock bottom. Ralph has no one to turn to, nowhere to stay, and no plan for the future as he scrambles to escape a hunt, all the while, unable to see hope in his situation. The narrator speaks, “The best thing to do was to ignore this laden feeling about the heart, […] no fire; no smoke; no rescue,” (Golding). Unfortunately for Ralph, the hunt escalates when Jack’s savage forest fire consumes the

At this point Jack has become an animalistic and egotistical leader. However, Jack does not start out as a savage. For example, he does not kill the pig in Chapter 1 (Koopmans 57). When he kills his first pig, he begins his descent into savagery. As he continues to spiral into savagery, Jack begins painting his face. Painting his face gives him a new confidence that allows him to act on his primal desires (“Analysis of Major Characters”). As Ralph and Jack’s rivalry progresses, Ralph’s tribe tries finding a way to calmly and rationally approach Jack to take back Piggy’s stolen glasses. Ralph’s group decides against painting their faces as a method of approaching Jack because it would mean they would have to stoop to his level (Golding 142). Jack also begins mocking the symbol of order, the conch. Jack begins challenging Ralph and ignoring rules when he is on Castle Rock (Koopmans 58). In addition to challenging Ralph, Jack challenges the entire group by slamming his knife into a tree (Golding 31). From the first day on the island, Jack begins mocking Piggy. Unlike Ralph, who apologizes to Piggy, Jack feels no remorse (Steinbach). Throughout the story, Jack steals Piggy’s glasses, punches Piggy, calls him names, and eventually kills

Conversely, when he is around those he feels are inferior to him, he easily succumbs. The factor that makes Ralph a major contributor to the breakdown of society is his contrary progression as a character throughout the novel. Ralph has no appeal for savagery, but his actions onset the continuous fight for power between him and Jack. At the commencement of the novel, he appoints Jack and the choirboys as hunters. A peculiar animosity is evident between Ralph and Jack, especially when Ralph is accusing jack of having a disregard for rescue and says, “But you like it. You want to hunt! While I…”(54). Ralph is unable to finish his potentially strong argument, alluding to the notion that his fear of evil and the unknown existing in ones subconscious inhibits him from preventing the unfortunate series of events that proceeds. Needless to say, Ralph has a rather sudden change of heart. The point at which goodness prevails in Ralph, is the point where evil prevails through the rest of the boys and they become savages. The pivotal moment is when Jack triumphantly announces his victory of killing the pig, and Ralph mutters with rage, “You let the fire go out”. Ralph has a need for civilization and the democratic system he is accustomed to at home, which presents a contrast to Jack. In other words, Ralph and jack are foils to one another. The turning point for ralph is so significant because it occurs too late. There was a myriad of clues that would suggest that Jack will turn into a savage with the other boys, but out of ego and disbelief, Ralph ignores these clues. In reference to the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus, for the first half of the novel up until his turning point, Ralph demonstrates Epimetheus-like traits, however over time, he begins to possess Prometheus-like traits. During the point at which Ralph has rather mindless behaviour, he is under the illusion that Jack is

Ralph seems to be more responsibility, brave, and some leadership skill. This is clearly seen when he gathers all the survivors, making decision on setting the fire signal and forming civilisations on an island. Piggy,an intelligent character which describe things using his knowledge in science. He often advises Ralph and acts as a medium between the boys and Ralph. His famous quotes throughout the story were “Which is better, to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill” and “Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”. He realises that Jack and his teams have already forming a new civilisation by hunting and killing without the laws. Just like what is stated by the “Lord of the flies” the real beasts inmates in them. Jack , the antagonist , he dislikes Ralph in the beginning of the story . This is evidence when he does not support Ralph as the ‘chief’ in the beginning. As the story progress, he is gone insane and thinking about killing and performing dance ritual chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”. He is shown representing the pessimestic side while Ralph and Piggy is in the optimistic

When Ralph found out what Jack, and his hunters did he got very angry. He called a meeting to figure out why they did it. During the meeting Jack got tired of listening to Ralph and wanted to make his own group. Jack’s main hunter Roger did not like Ralph either and they both made everyone join them. Everybody left Ralph except four boys, Piggy, Simon, Sam, and Eric. All the boys were still afraid of the Beast so Jack thought that sacrificing a pig would save them. One kid named Simon was in the woods thinking about how the boys were split and realized that the “Beast” was the inner savage in everybody. Ralph’s group tried to keep the signal fire going so they could be rescued, but the others in the group just wanted to play around and eat. Jack became prideful and thought he would make a better leader so he convinced his group of hunters to join him. Since their group had no rules they became

Someone tripped over Ralph and Piggy’s corner became a complication of snarls and crashes and flying limbs” (Golding, 167). The boys had already split apart, and the ones that had chosen the native life, had already resorted to violence. They did not truly think anymore. They resorted to violence to obtain Piggy’s glasses instead of asking for fire. A sign that by changing the boys’ way of thinking, and their barbaric nature slowly kicking in, the boys’ actions will highly be influenced. They will only think of bloodshed as the answer. They will think of no other alternatives. Even if the alternative is one of their own, being covered in dirt and blood.

“Compare and contrast the characters of Jack and Ralph and discuss the way that the rivalry between them develops in the course of the novel. ” By comparing and contrasting the characters of Jack and Ralph it allows the reader to fully understand their characters and how each develops throughout the novel. Once this has been achieved the reason the rivalry occurs becomes evident and the novel’s most important qualities and themes emerge from these two characters. It is then that we are able to see why Ralph and Jack’s friendship can never develop into anything but rivalry. lt;br> (-- removed HTML --) Throughout the novel we see that Ralph and Jack share similar qualities, but there is a great difference in the way they use these attributes to benefit both themselves and others. Ralph uses his power to create a democracy, where each person has the right to voice their opinions and ideas. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking… and he won’t be interrupted. ” The conch becomes a symbol of the right of a speaker to a fair hearing. While Jack uses his authority to produce a fascist, hostile environment where he controls the doings of his tribe. Tomorrow we shall hunt” and “He said we weren’t to let you in. ” Whilst both characters have the chance to exercise their power, both do so in a disparate way, with Ralph aiming to benefit the group as a whole, and Jack himself profiting from his actions. Ralph and Jack begin the novel with