The Bad Seed Vs Lord Of The Flies

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys who are lost on a deserted island and must do what they can to survive. At the beginning of the novel, two of the boys, Ralph and Jack, become leaders. These differences will form the main conflict in the story. The differences will cause them to hate each other and the anger that results is a recurring part of the plot throughout the novel. These two boys can be compared by the way they change, the reason for their actions, and the way they use or abuse power.

Both of the boys change a lot during their stay on the island. Ralph begins the novel as a leader and role model to the other boys. But eventually, the group gives in to savage instincts and Ralph's position

The final push that drives the young boys over the edge is when the hunters kill Piggy. Ralph, Piggy, and a few others try to reclaim Piggy’s glasses at Jack’s camp. When Ralph arrives he is met by Jack and his hunters. The boys start to argue and a fight breaks out. Roger, one of Jack’s violent hunters, shoves Piggy over the cliff side. “Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (Golding 181). Roger had not shown Piggy any mercy. They all used to be good boys until the island took their innocence away from

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

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.

In the end, all the boys learn a lesson. They had many struggles and troubles of staying together as a group. Jack and his hunting group ended up setting the whole island on fire. “ The fire was a big one and the drum-roll that he has thought was left so far behind was nearer. Couldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse?” ( Chapter 12, Page 278) The horrific fire caught the attention of a naval vessel passing by the island. Ralph collapses in exhaustion, but when he wakes up, he sees a British naval officer right over him.

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

Ralph made sure all the older kids on the island had a key job role to ensure safety and survival by setting things straight. Ralph orders the hunters to keep the fire going because it produced smoke which could signal the ships nearby securing their rescue. Ralph spotted ships and knew there shouldn’t be any fooling around because it is up to them if the fire stays lit or not. He, himself, was focused on providing everyone with shelter and was determined to do it by himself if he had to, whether the hunters did their job or not. Unlike Ralph, who is doing his job, the Jack’s choir ignores the fire and goes out hunting. When the fire goes out, the hunters aren’t really upset with the fire going out while Ralph saw that the situation could’ve been their rescue saying, “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out” (70)! If he had the same attitude as the other boys nothing would likely get done and he would remain the same as before and not care about the aftermath, but he continues to act mature and not this incident stop him from trying to seek rescue. This shows his change because of how he sees the priority of being rescued and keeping the fire lit expressing his maturity and showing his understanding of life not just about having fun like most adults

In the end of the book, Ralph, the formerly elected leader, sprints through the jungles of the island away from Jack, who had risen above Ralph, leading the remaining group of boys. All of the surviving boys, excluding Ralph, resorted to a primal state, breaking the system of democracy that was emphasized in the beginning and long forgetting the need to be rescued. Just as Ralph was about to be hunted by the boys, they all stumble into a naval officer, who assumes that the boys were playing an innocent game, and that he had found the boys due to the fire burning part of the island, which was really a fire not made to be a signal, but for the sole purpose of cornering Ralph. The officer looks upon the boys and states, “Two? Killed? We saw your smoke. And you don’t know how many of you there are? I should have thought that a pack of British boys… would have been able to put up a better show than that….” (Golding 202) After being informed of the chaos that took place just before his arrival. If the boys had stuck with the rules that they fabricated, the murder and savagery on the island wouldn’t have occurred. It’s ironic that if the boys would’ve continued the structure that was in place for a few more days instead of splitting apart and turning against one another, then they would’ve been rescued. Jack was the first to

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.

Jack and Ralph first meet and the beach and establish their leadership roles among the boys. The boys feel as though they need a chief and have a vote, Ralph wins the vote and after seeing Jack's

Fiction looks at all ranges of topics through the eyes of so many diverse characters. Lord of the Flies and The Destructors is no different in the sense you see two extremely striking situations through the eyes of surprising characters. These stories both take a look at society and the primitive aspects it can have. The main characters in the story are both children of young ages exhibiting surprising and sometimes extremely shocking behavior displaying a loss of innocence. They differ in the sense that Lord of Flies looks at how savage a human can get in desperate situations while the other is how savage a person can get against a society that feel victimized against.

Jack’s departure from the boys sparks a civil war in between them and ultimately creating a giant war that lead to death of some of the boys. Jacks uprising or rebellion is hinted early in the book but he shows his true side leaving Ralph’s group. This action by jack creates the events of piggy and simons death but creates the reason they are rescued. Jacks new aggression embodies war and destruction itself and is a monster. When jack breaks out against Ralph he not only defeats him but he shows that Ralph is weak eventually taking everyone Ralph has by torture or death.

The first sign of boys’ ethical decline is when they skip out on keeping the fire lit to kill a pig instead. Ralph becomes furious with the hunters and says, “‘You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home-’” (64). Shortly after, the savages create their own group and steal the only way to make fire, Piggy’s glasses, so Ralph desperately makes his last attempt to show them that they really need a fire by saying, “‘Your only hope is keeping a signal fire going as long as there’s light to see. Then maybe a ship’ll notice the smoke and come and rescue us and take us home.’” (162). Jack and his tribe eventually reach their peak of savagery when they decide to hunt Ralph and burn the whole island (180). The island being ablaze makes a statement that the boys really need rescued not only from the island, but from the monsters they have become as well.

Fire is the only chance they can get rescued. Just as what Ralph says, “ So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.” (Golding 38). He knows they cannot get rescued without the fire. However, some of the boys do not understand the significance of the it and miss the opportunity to be rescued over and over again. Afterwards, when boys do not care about the fire anymore and all go to hunt thep pigs, Ralph breaks out, “And you yet we can’t keep a fire going to make smoke. Can’t you see we ought to - ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). He start to fell hopeless and upset. Now the boy group is having more and more different ideas. Savage boys only want to hunt, and civilizate boys only want to make a fire. Soon after, this difference becomes bigger and bigger and makes this group close to the death. Many of the boys losting at this unrule place, and forget the most important thing for them, to be rescued. As the fire disappears, hope