Preview

Comparing Jack And Ralph In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
444 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing Jack And Ralph In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies
In a nuclear war, a plane evacuating a group of boys from Britain is shot down over a deserted island. The only people who survived had been a group of boys with the main character Ralph. The group gathers and start to remember what happened. After a while Ralph notices the difference in Personalities and that there where many opinion differences.

Ralph says he's afraid "of us”, he was right to be afraid. When groups of people are surviving, the greatest enemy will not be the bad environment, starvation, or dehydration, but the other survivors standing around them on the deserted island.

Ralph noticed that the choir boys leader named Jack stood out, he was aggressive and wild. Both boys begin with a certain admiration for each other but their
…show more content…
Many of these conflicts are because of power and opinions. Ralph was selected as the leader of the group of boys, which Jack is jealous about because he wants to lead the group. Throughout the book Jack doesn't really like Ralph as a leader, such as when he ignored his rule of letting the fire go out.

Jack once again did not listen to Ralph's rule, in which whoever has the conch may speak and nobody can speak over them. This happened when Piggy had the conch and was speaking about the beast and Jack stops listening and starts talking loudly without any hesitation. Eventually Ralph got fed up about jack always disobeying the conch rule and confronted him by telling him to sit down and be silent. This shows that Ralph won the dispute because Jack was in shock about the response to how he was disobeying the conch rules.

From first of on Ralph is appointed leader by the boys. Later Jack becomes more savage. He desires to be the hunter and kills a pig. As he exerts his power through his ability to hunt and kill, the other boys are joining his tribe. The boys joined the tribe because he maintains his power through his very strong presence at the meetings.

Jack and Ralph have had many conflicts, but who has right to speak?
Ralph is a wise kid with a good view about what needs to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During chapters 9-12, Ralph and Jack reach their utter desperation point which results in them trying to kill each other to again their pride and power back. Towards the end of the book Jack became extremely dangerous and aggressive due to the lack of civilization. "Jack made a rush and stabbed Ralph's chest with his spear," (Pg 177). Throughout the fight for pride and power at the end of the book, Jack is determined to prove his strength and bravery by trying to kill Ralph. I believe he does this for two reasons; because of his utter hate and disregard for Ralph and how he treated him like a child and how he needed to prove that Ralph was weak to the other boys on the island. The lack of rules, orders and regulations caused Jack to think there were no laws to…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph was the only civil guy left in the end. Although savagery came sometimes to him, he managed to stay civilized for the most part, even though the others became more savage. He is a reasonable leader, but lacks the experience and the knowledge to lead. Jack is an example of a leader, as he can easily get the bigger, more knowledgeable boys to go with him, while Ralph ends up with Simon, Piggy, and the litte’uns.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, he tells the story of a group of boys stranded on an island. During World War II, a plane filled with young boys got shot down which led the young survivals on a deserted island without any adults. The young boys decide to have a leader who can willingly lead the group to survival. Ralph is chosen to be the leader, yet after a series of events maybe Ralph wasn't a good choice after all. I believe Ralph is the reason of the development of their savage society. Ralph takes responsibility for the island’s decline because his poor leadership skills result in nothing getting done and the young boys breaking into groups rather than cooperating like they should have been…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He did not like that Jack and his gang would much rather hunt than do their assigned jobs. The only way for the island can run smoothly is if everyone does their part. Ralph states at a meeting “You hunters! You can laugh! But I tell you the smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one.” (81) and You could have had everyone when the shelters were finished. But you had to hunt---- (81). Ralph lets the hunters know that they are no better than the other members of the island. At the assembly reminded all the islanders that one of the first priorities that they all agreed on became less important over time, Ralph said “We all built the first one, four of us the second one, and me ‘n Simon built the last one over there.”…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before things had fallen apart like they did, the boys were more unified and respectful of each other. Both Ralph and Jack had been seen as dominating figures in two different ways. Jack was the leader of the hunters and Ralph was the leader of them all. They were both leaders which in turn caused minor conflict at first. There were a few times when Jack has agreed with Ralph’s opinion of certain subjects only to turn it into a situation about…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph is the elected leader of the group. He continues throughout the whole book to try to keep the order in the book. He first understands that he needs to set up a structure of rules to allow for the group of boys to remain civilized. The first great leadership skill that Ralph has is that he compromises. Ralph is a compromiser. The smartest compromises makes is that he instead of having Jack be upset about not being elected leader he makes Jack be the leader of the hunters. This would allow Jack and Ralph to have a good relationship until the middle of the book where having Jack be the head hunter would cause a split in the…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piggy lord of the flies

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As the tension between Ralph and Jack increases, we see more obvious signs of a potential struggle for power. Although Jack has been deeply envious of Ralph’s power from the moment Ralph was elected, the two do not come into open conflict until this chapter, when Jack’s irresponsibility leads to the failure of the signal fire. When the fire—a symbol of the boys’ connection to civilization—goes out, the boys’ first chance of being rescued is thwarted. Ralph flies into a rage, indicating that he is still governed by desire to achieve the good of the whole group. But Jack, having just killed a pig, is too excited by his success to care very much about the missed…

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The boys all stick together in the beginning. Ralph and Jack, being the two individuals with the most power, lead the group. Throughout the novel, Ralph and Jack are constantly butting heads. This starts two problems.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As soon as Jack was standing in front of the boys, he knew he wanted to be chief of these lost children. Instead of Jack being elected, Ralph was, and this sparked a slight emotion of mortification and jealousy within him. Right after Ralph gets elected as chief of the group of boys, Jack…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph and Jack were both capable of being a good leader. Ralph chose to use his power for the greater good and Jack abused his power. Ralph helped everyone out and tried to keep them all civil at times they were the most scared which made him a good leader. Although Ralph was a good leader, Jack wanted the power. He wasn’t responsible enough to have that power. Jack treated everyone poorly and it reflected on the other boys, soon enough they all were savage. Jack had not been responsible enough to hold the power and he abused it. It is easy for someone to abuse their power and to disrespect others but it is also easy to use power of the greater…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    • As the tribes begin to split, Ralph begins to obsess over ‘popularity’ between him and Jack. He begins to bully Piggy in-order to gain favor from the other boys. Ralph begin to fall into the savage ways as the other boys have, he even went as far as to participate in the murder of Simon.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph represents orderliness and tranquility. He is the one who brings the boys together. When they vote for a chief, they elect Ralph, as he is in possession of the conch who brought them together; "There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch." (Goulding 22). The conch has given Ralph authority and sets him apart from the other boys. As the novel progresses, he finds himself at competition for power-- with Jack. When the boys are tempted to engage in his savage…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His attempts to make the boys tougher made things get done on the island, and inspired them to do better. His stand on right and wrong gave the tribe a clean look at how they were acting, and keeping his word had a great start, but turned against him, and he the weight of his people were slowing him down, until he weeped at the realization of corruption among each young boys heart. Ralphs society would have worked well had they not been so afraid. This fear drove the children mad and some of the older ones hostile. The boys didn’t leave Ralph because he was a bad leader, they left because Jack promised to kill whatever was out there at any cost, and cover their fear in paint. Ralph was the only one who didn’t become like this because he is brave, smart, and loyal to himself. He doesn’t let anyone take these qualities away from him for the sake of goodness. This type of leader is one we should each try to find, because things that are worthwhile might actually get done. The greatest problems faced by society can be solved, and the world can be whole. The boys were lucky to find their leader, so let's see if the people here can find one just like…

    • 1876 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph symbolises leadership, while Jack symbolises evil. William Golding wrote this novel following World War II, and there is some speculation that Jack’s rise to power was like Hitler’s. (SecretNonComformist, 2) The Nazi regime lasted from when Golding was 22 to when he was 33, and when most of your adult life is surrounded by war and even fighting against such hate, how could you not believe that humans are inherently evil? Now, whether or not Golding meant to base it off of World War II, his theme for the novel remains, children will go wrong if there is no one to guide them, and he’s right. We’ve seen it countless times in the media and pop culture. There’s the kids that shoot up schools because their parents weren’t there for them, and the foster care children that end up committing crimes. When there is no one to guide you, how are you supposed to remember right from wrong? You can’t. Which is why the boys could so easily forget all of the humanity they might’ve learned in those few…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ralph remains civil while all the other boys diverted to savagery. When Jack challenged Ralphs chief skills nobody voted for him, he ran away and started his own tribe across the island where everyone went leaving Ralph and Piggy behind. Jack and all the boys became…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays