Reflection On Adversity

Throughout chapter 6, Ralph becomes a more forceful leader as a result of his people become less civilized. Ralph seems desperate for his people to listen to him and as if he can’t get everyone together. For example, when everyone is saying they want to stay near the rock fort, Golding writes, “I say we’ll go on!’ shouted Ralph furiously,” (108). By Ralph “shouting furiously”, we see the weight of authority taking a toll on Ralph through the desperation in his tone. In this chapter, it becomes clear Ralph is getting tired of his responsibility as chief. When walking in a line, he let’s Jack lead the way. Golding says, “Ralph walked in the rear, thankful to have escaped responsibility for a time,” (103). Allegorically, if Ralph symbolizes civility and Jack symbolizes savagery, Ralph surrendering temporary leadership

Despite the fact that Jack’s fear of not being chief ends badly, Ralph’s fear of not surviving has another whole level of bad endings. Ralph’s main concern when the boys crash into the island is being rescued, but because of this, he neglects other problems such as looking out for littluns. “’That litte’un – ‘gasped Piggy – ‘him with the mark of his face, I don’t see him. Where is he now?’” (Golding 46). Ralph is so blinded by the idea of being rescued that he forgets his priorities. He should be watching the littluns, but instead, he is being selfish and cares only about the fire. As a consequence to his poor action, an innocent life is taken away. Also when a ship comes by and Ralph realizes that the hunters let the fire out, he loses it and he yells at Jack, but “his voice was loud and savage, and struck them into silence. ‘There was a ship’” (Golding 74). This is the first time that Ralph shows any sign of savagery, which tells the readers that evil and savageness is

Jack demonstrates leadership qualities at the first place when coming up with a plan of being rescued. Nonetheless, as the time passes, he begins to enjoy a sense of power. He becomes forceful, hazardous, and is willing to kill. Jack and Ralph attempt friendship even though they have extremely different personalities. Their original feelings were

Ralph: All this I meant to say. Now I’ve said it. You voted me for chief. Now you do what I say.

William Golding proceeded to tell us, “No human endeavour can ever be wholly good... it must always have a cost”. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding reminds us that the difference between a pessimistic and an optimistic society is in the hands of the boys themselves. All of us have savagery within but it is our choice to disguise it with the help of our morals and the structure of the boys and the society around

Ralph is not only a leader, but a voice of reason within the group. Ralph’s main priority throughout the novel is to be rescued, even when it did not seem as important to the other boys in the group. Ralph creates a signal fire and consistently reminds the boys that it is imperative to their survival. Ralph explains, “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). Ralph’s scolding to the hunters is well deserved considering that they wasted a possible opportunity to be rescued after letting the signal fire go out. As time went on, Jack and his hunters become more and more consumed with hunting and order began to turn into chaos. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in” (Golding 75). Ralph refuses to join the boys and viciously murder pigs. The boys’ hygiene habits were also worsening, to the point that the boys were defecating in the wrong areas. Ralph tries to address it at a meeting, but the boys’ find their animal-like behavior amusing. Throughout the loss of civility and order, Ralph always keeps a persistent effort to keep the signal fire going and keep order within the group. Ralph’s attitude towards the entire situation drops, however he never completely lost hope.

Ralph however holds his position of leadership and Jack forms his own tribe with his hunting party. When this happens, Ralph's tribe hits a low point and is struggling to keep their society stable. It is now when Jack seizes the opportunity, feeds all of Ralph’s people, exclaims “‘ I gave you food...my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’” (Golding 150). This is the turning point for many of the boys because the loyalty to Ralph is not as strong as the comfort provided by Jack to their fear of the beast. Jack offers them everything that they want at the time and is very easy. After this decision however, they will be unable to overcome this fear and in fact, it will only become

It can be argued that Golding’s use of characterization solidifies his theory that all men have the capacity for evil due to their innate human nature. Golding depicts the two main alpha male characters of Jack and Ralph as primary examples of this theme. As the story unfolds, Golding reveals Jack to be selfish, violent, and corrupt as he was driven “to violence, the bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach,” (Golding 71). The description of Jack towards the conclusion of the book reveals how deceitful and antagonistic Jack has become. Jack’s monstrous personality devours everyones humanity when he refuses to obey rules, and begins to let his anger out starting with piggy. Ralph accuses Jack of being “a beast and a swine and a bloody thief” (Golding 179)! Ralph’s statement is a concise summation of all that Jack becomes. Furthermore, the fact that Jack has begun to become more tribal in appearance indicates his reversion into a more primal being. Finally, as depicted midway through the story, Jack reveals his true sadistic nature as he was “on top of the sow stabbing downward with his knife....Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands,” (Golding 135). All of these intensely descriptive characterizations of Jack committing violence as a beast and becoming a thief portray his evil nature. This proves Goldings point that all humans can succumb

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

As the book goes on, Ralph takes being chief more and more seriously. In this quote we see how he has become accustomed to using his authority over the other boys to make them listen.. Ralph’s power is entirely based in his role of leadership, and that is illustrated in this quote by how he has to restate that he is chief as a reason for them to obey. However, his confidence is what makes the boys actually listen to his command. This is because of the way the command is written. It’s clear, short, and the way punctuation is used causes the reader to imagine it being said in a confident voice, rather than a nervous or frail one. The quote truly demonstrates how deeply his own authority has become engraved in himself, as it is said that he feels “something deep” within him did the talking for him. This ‘something’ is Ralph’s natural power and authority taking

However, at the last chapter, Ralph begins to kills other boys in Jack's tribe in order to survive. He is slinking through the forest and he begins to think as a wild boar would. At the end, when Ralph is finally discovered by a Navy Officer, he is ashamed for all the civilization he has lost and reverts back to a naïve

The book demonstrates that despite our best efforts, we don’t always get to obtain the goals we once set for ourselves. Both The Lord of the Flies and the story of Jesus Christ relate by having temptations and having to resist them through the belief of something larger. William Golding, author of The Lord of The Flies, advocates that fear causes people to struggle with their belief system despite their best efforts causing many hardships along the way. People fall short because of fear and commit horrendous mistakes without even noticing. With fear and instability, terror will arise, and everything good will defile. Golding’s use of symbolism forces main characters throughout the novel to confront one another. These challenges consist of a battle for power, the struggle of not losing hope and lastly the terror of having fear overcome them. The main characters all having different traits making them unique will not coincide with one another creating a huge

In a story of brutality and chaos, in which children are pitted against one another in a quest for survival, they must do everything to survive even if it means sacrificing who they once were. While the events that took place during the book are extreme, they are not too different from what happens in the real world during times of war and chaos. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, displays Golding’s moral thought process about the tight grip that tribalism has on society and how that humans, while they have their different ideologies, are only ever truly governed by natural selection. Natural selection is large part of what defines human nature and no one

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.

“Here’s to another day of outward smiles and inward rage screams”- anonymous. This quote speaks about the internal struggle people have when faced with adversity. You cannot pass through a high school without hearing about the value of adversity, how challenge prompts growth. Yet, adversity has ultimately negatively impacted today's society in my opinion. In my personal life, I have seen many loved ones and friends suffer emotionally after facing adversity. In popular opinion, adversity theoretically has the ability to pull out positive qualities and traits of a person from a conflict they face allowing traits to blossom that would otherwise not have been awakened. On the contrary however, I argue that adversity could hurt a person's personal life more than help it. The outcomes of adversity negatively impact today's society by affecting people’s self-worth, their ability to solve their own problems and ultimately allows people opportunities to make rash decisions.