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Ralph and Jack comparison
Ralph and Jack comparison
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Jack and Ralph’s differing identities that they firmly stick to creates a we-they mindset that deepens the conflict between them. With such rigid and different identities, Jack and Ralph have very different priorities, making it challenging for them to work together. Ralph’s identity is threatened when Jack lets the fire burn out to go hunting, so he lashes out at him, accusing him, “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts-then you go off hunting and let out the fire-”(70, 71). By ignoring what Ralph told him to do, Jack threatens numerous aspects of Ralph’s identity. Ralph identifies with being elected Chief based on his plan to get rescued, so Jack’s insubordination threatens Ralph. Meanwhile, …show more content…
The division begins to appear soon after Jack kills the pig. Ralph hesitates to blow the conch because, “if [he] blows the conch and [the littluns] do not come back; then we’ve had it”(92). Ralph understands Jack’s hunting is a threat to his power. Jack and Ralph cannot coexist and if the order ends, chaos will ensue and it will be because Jack and Ralph divided. The littluns not coming to the sounds of the conch would show they have chosen Jack, effectively pushing Ralph out of power, and he would soon be targeted, and cause him to resent Jack.The tension comes to a crest in a confrontation between Jack and Ralph after Jack’s tribe stole piggy’s glasses. Both Ralph and Piggy questioned, “which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill”(180)? The first half represents what Ralph stands for, while the second half is what Jacks stands for, showing a stark clash of their identities. A majority of the boys chose the second option immediately, and the rest were killed or forced to the majority. This was the beginning of the end of the illusion of society. It leads to more violence and a separation between everyone and Ralph. Being chained to their identities creates an exaggerated and obvious we-they
How Ralph and Jack Change William Golding wrote the story "Lord of the flies". It is about a large group of schoolboys whose plane has crashed. They get stranded on a desert island. The story is about their survival and how they run their everyday lives. The two main characters Jack and Ralph are both from upper class
Societies were constructed by both parties. With no authoritative figures to control what is decided, it enabled them to create whatever laws to their liking. The characters become more savage-like every day as the upkeep of their laws starts to become more lenient. As the intelligent Newt explained, “‘That’s one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busylike. You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple” (Dashner 77). Explaining that a societal type of order had to be established in order to keep their spirits up, the quote retaliates that believing what they have contributed to their small society will grant them into finding a way out soon. However, even this type or societal order came crashing down when... After Piggy was killed, tragically and the conch shattered, Jack had tried to kill Ralph. Consequently, after running away from Jack’s chaotic takeover, Ralph, “. . . argued unconvincingly that they would let him alone, perhaps even make an outlaw of him”, but then becoming aware (to his own knowledge) that, “These painted savages would go further and further” (Golding 184). Ralph realizes that Jack and the rest of the boys have become barbaric. Without the conch’s overwhelming reigns holding the boys back from becoming savage, all order is forgotten. With prior knowledge that the conch was what held the boys together, it can be seen that once it was destroyed, humanity was lost. Proving that once order is lost, humanity is then
Which is why he had gotten treated the way he did by Jack and the choir. The author writes, “ Jack made a rush and stabbed Ralph’s chest with his spear.” (Golding 177.) Even though Ralph is technically chief, Jack will stop at nothing to become chief. Ralph had been teasing Jack for being a thief, and that had pushed Jack over the edge, causing him to lunge towards Ralph. Jack does not have a high tolerance for Ralph’s actions, and Ralph obviously has a high tolerance for pain. William Golding states, “ ‘The chief and Roger.. They hate you, Ralph. They are going to do you.’ ‘They are going to hunt you tomorrow.’ ‘... Roger sharpened a stick at both ends.’ ” (188) As you, the reader, can probably tell, Jack certainly does not like Ralph. He only likes the faction that obeys and follows him. Those who do not obey Jack, he wants to kill. This island has really gotten to Jack, he is just pure evil now, and poor Ralph and every other character has had to deal with his
While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got there. However, Ralph was able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch shell. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (p. 31) By making this rule, he gains respect from the boys and becomes for confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to tries to make the boys better people. He shows his by building them shelters. "They talk and scream. The littuns. Even some of the others." (p. 53) Ralph is saying that the boys need the shelters because they are afraid and the shelters will help the boys feel more secure. This shows he has better knowledge of people making him a better leader than Jack who does not understand this. Jack does not realize that the boys need to feel secure and need someone in control.
One day on the island, Jack creates two different sides. One side being where Ralph is chief and Jack is chief: “I’m not going to play any longer...I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot”(Golding 127). Since Jack does not want to be “a part of Ralph's lot” Jack creates a great chaotic mess. One reason is because Jack has now split the boys into two non-working communities. Now the boys do not know what the other side is going to do because the boys are immature. Next, Jack orders his side to kill Ralph because Jack thinks Ralph is no longer needed: “They hate you, Ralph. They’re going to do you”(Golding 188). Ralph off in the distance could here the chant the boys created to kill. SamnEric run to Ralph telling him “they’re going to do him”. The boys are very immature because they want to kill one of their own. Thus, when a immature community gets separated, chaos is even greater then being one community.
At one point in the story Jack says “Conch! Conch! We don’t need the conch anymore, we know who ought to say things” This quote really tells us that Jack’s pride has overtaken him and the idea of the kids submitting to him and calling him “chief.” has gone to his head. Jack has become very popular by force and by the kids feeling peer pressured to join Jack’s tribe and be hunters, or else they might be killed by the rest of the tribe. Everyone on the tribe is scared to step up to Jack because the people on his tribe are beginning to get used to the violent acts savagery that have been committed on the island so far. The kids start to let the fear of man overtake them and give into the peer pressure of joining Jack’s tribe because there isn’t really another option. By the kids giving into the peer pressure to follow the “popular” leader, Jack, they are ultimately giving Jack more power so he can do whatever he wants with the support of others who agreed to be apart of the tribe. This theme reaches its climax at the end of the story when it is literally Jack’s whole tribe, which basically consists of all the kids on the island, against Ralph. In the end, Ralph was the only one who didn’t give into the peer pressure to join Jack’s tribe, and ultimately he was rewarded for it because he got what he wanted, to be rescued. Now just because he didn’t give into peer pressure doesn’t mean you automatically get rewarded. I feel that giving Ralph his desire was William Golding’s way of rewarding Ralph for not giving into being apart of Jack's
... island. As a power struggle in a savage group, the conflict between Ralph and Jack manifests itself not as a competition to prove who would be the better leader but instead as a competition of sheer strength and courage. After this incident we can see continual conflict between Ralph and Jack. We can see this when Jack proclaims that Ralph, “Isn’t a proper chief.” Golding is trying to show both boys are fighting for power and recognition. Its shows conflict caused when dealing with two individuals trying to gain control over land through two different personalities. t
Comparing Ralph and Jack to Show How the Characters Change in Lord of the Flies
Ralph is the novel’s protagonist and tries to maintain the sense of civility and order as the boys run wild. Ralph represents the good in mankind by treating and caring for all equally, which is completely opposite of Jack’s savage nature. Jack is the antagonist in the novel and provokes the most internal evil of all the boys. Jack is seen at first as a great and innocent leader but he becomes t...
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
When Jack loses the election to become chief to Ralph, it becomes apparent that Jack is schismatic and wholeheartedly intends to act against Ralph’s actions and decisions. From small nuances such as churlish remarks to fights, it is obvious that Jack intends to eventually either dethrone Ralph or form his own tribe. In one instance, Ralph assigns Jack a very simplistic task of watching the fire on the mountain, yet Jack decides that his appetence for blood and meat is more important than fulfilling his duty to the fire. Disobeying Ralph’s orders, Jack defects from his post to hunt and does not attempt to have another person tend the fire in his absence. Because of Jack’s actions, Ralph verbally scolds Jack and states to Jack, “You talk. But you can’t even build hut...
At first the meetings were the things that brought them together. Meeting had rules and order in them. Jack was the boy that started the unraveling of civility. He wanted to be the chief and ended up being in charge of the hunters. He resented the power that Ralph had. Jack hated Piggy because he was always on Ralph’s side. The rule at meetings was a boy could only speak if he had the conch shell. While Piggy was talking, Jack interrupted him and tried to take away the shell. Ralph yelled out “The rules! You’re breaking the rules!” Jack shouted “Who cares?” Ralph exclaims “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!”( pg 91) Ralph was the one who tried to keep everyone together and Jack did every thing to turn the other boys away from Ralph.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
When it comes to Jack’s fear of not being chief, it brings out the worst in him and it has an effect on others. For instance, when the boys are deciding on who should be the chief, Ralph wins by a landslide. “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Golding 19). That is the first physical evidence of Jack being humiliated by Ralph and judging by Jack’s personality, he is not used to failure so it has a big impact on him. This motivates him to destroy Ralph and the rivalry between the two begins. Another point is that Jack uses fear and threats to control the boys. For example, when Robert tells Roger “’He’s going to beat Wilfred.’ ‘What for?’ Robert shook his head doubtfully” (Golding 176) it shows that Jack is violent and is using his...
Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief. He carries this position until Jack and his fellow hunters break away from the group. Ralph makes it his job to set out the rules to organize a society. Ralph always thinks of what is best for everyone and how they will all benefit from his decisions. Rules and standards are set when Ralph is the chief. He orders the group to build the basic necessities of civilization, shelters, and most importantly to keep the fire going, in hope that they will be rescued and return to humanity. "But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (Golding 75). Jack, on the other hand, takes on the idea of every man for himself. He does not care about making homes, only about hunting. When Jack is the leader, evil takes over and all good is destroyed. Under Jack's power both Simon and Piggy are killed.