We learn that Ralph does not want to stay on the island or to integrate himself into the island, he still has a strong desire to be rescued, and puts this desire at the very top of his priorities. He does not enjoy being the leader, and only does so because he feels it is necessary for him to stay in power for the group to remain democratic and ordered, but at the same time it is a terrible burden for him. In the end he cracks under the pressure and is unable to keep the group together. He begins to lose sight of reality as he has more and more considerations and thoughts and worries running through his mind, we learn that Ralph is not a natural leader and cannot handle that much pressure.
Jack in chapter eight capitalises on the appearance of the beast, although he himself is scared of it too, but realises that the group's faith in Ralph is ever decreasing, because of the fear of the beast. He is ever challenging Ralph's leadership until one incident where Ralph insults his hunters and Jack splits completely from the group: "'What about my hunters?' 'Boys armed with sticks.'" Jack then blows the conch and calls a meeting, in which he makes negative comments about Ralph: "'Ralph said my hunters are no good', 'He's like piggy…he isn't a proper chief…he's a coward himself…' 'He's not a hunter. He'd never have got us meat… He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing', 'not a prefect.'" He then makes a challenge on Ralph for leadership, which is unmistakably a direct challenge: "'Hands up…whoever wants Ralph not to be chief?'" When nobody raises their hand Jack is devastated and publicly humiliated, he runs down the beach and makes an offer to the boys: "'I'm going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too.'" This life is obviously more attractive to most of the boys, killing and feasting instead of keeping a fire going. Therefore inevitably some boys go to see him: "'We'll hunt, I'm going to be chief', 'I say this, we aren't going to bother about the beast…we're going to forged the beast.'" This is significant in the way he has reacted to the beast, he uses the possibility of pacifying the beast as a way of seducing the boys to what he wants them to do. He makes sure his way is going to be more attractive to keeping the fire going, Ralph's way. He uses the promise of exciting hunting, brilliant feasts and most of all, the promise that the beast will not bother them and the promise that the beast will cease to be a constant point of fear for the boys. Whilst out hunting with his new-found group, they kill a pig and then Jack makes a peace offering to the beast: "'Sharpen a stick at both ends…ram one end in the earth' Jack held up the head and jammed the soft neck onto the pointed end of the stick…'The head is for the beast, it’s a gift.'" This is significant because Jack is using the beast in such a way that his hunters do what he says, so that they keep the beast pacified, he does not believe it will pacify the beast, but if his hunters do then it will keep them obedient to him, through fear of being attacked by the beast, they believe that Jack's leadership will keep them safe. Jack also reacts very violently to the beast, but does not aim his anger at the beast, instead he has aimed it at Ralph's leadership and at hunting. He has bloodlust and loves now to hunt and to kill, the food is merely a by-product of the adrenaline that it gives him to hunt, chase and kill another animal. He has passed his passion onto his hunters: "'The hunters followed, wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood…Roger ran around the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pigflesh appeared. Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgement for his point and began to push…The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands."
From his reaction to the beast we learn that Jack is a much more natural leader than Ralph, and that he is a much more violent and ruthless character, he will go to any length for power, and is a very manipulative and spiteful boy.
Simon has a very different reaction to the beast from the other boys, he instinctively knows that the beast is something that has manifested itself in the heads of all the boys so that they have a focus for their fear, a single place where their fear belongs. He tries to show everyone that there is no beast and to disprove its existence by climbing the mountain and discovering what it was that Ralph and Jack saw: "'I thought there might be something to do, something we-' again the pressure of the assembly took his voice away… 'I think we ought to climb the mountain… What else is there to do?'" Simon climbs the mountain and his theory is proven, he finds a dead parachutist (the pilot of the plane), and also meets the pigs head, he enters into a fit where he has a conversation with the beast, which all takes place inside his head, and inside his mind, the beast does not exist in a physical form, it is merely a place for the boys to place all their fears to be able to see the fear as something tangible. He attempts to tell the boys but unwittingly crawls into a vicious war dance and is literally torn to bits by the demented boys. He had massive understanding of where the fear comes from.
We learn that Simon is extremely intuitive and intelligent to work out that the beast does not exist, and with his confrontation with The Lord of The Files he is shown as a Christ-like figure, because of his huge understanding of the children's fears and worries, however, he could only take so much pressure, and before he was killed he too had entered his own madness inside his own head. He is also very timid and was therefore not listened to, he was an outsider and the other boys often and openly described him as "'Batty'".
We learn that Ralph is not a natural leader but is the voice of reason within the group, he wants to get off the island and to be rescued, and his main priority is keeping the fire going. He can only handle so much pressure however and then he too, slowly loses his mind.
We learn that Jack is a natural leader and he is a very violent and ruthless boy, but he is also very manipulative and plays and preys on peoples fear and uses their fear to his own advantage.
We learn that Simon is a very meek boy, an outsider, who has greater knowledge about the beast than all of the other boys, he understands that the beast is only in their minds, but is not able to say it because of his meek nature. He is a Christ-like figure because of his understanding and kindness towards the other boys.