When Jack becomes fed up with Ralph’s rules and leadership tactics, he decides to break away from the crowd and forms his own tribe of ‘hunters.’ By this point Ralph grows aware that trying to persuade them to stay with his tribe, he is fighting a losing battle, and discovers that he may not be as good a leader as he thought he would be: “Only, decided Ralph as he faced the chief’s seat, I can’t think. Not like Piggy.” The death of Simon, a quiet, subdued fellow schoolboy, really disturbs Ralph, as he faces up to reality. Simon’s death was a consequence of Jack’s tribe getting overexcited about “the beast” and was a mistaken identity case involving the beach, many spears, and a chorus of youngsters wildly chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The realisation of the awfulness that occurred affects all of the boys not in Jack’s tribe, and in a moment of sheer alarm, Ralph almost snaps: “That was murder.” Piggy, now the most faithful and loyal friend Ralph has left on the island, can’t bear to even think about it, let alone discuss it: “You stop it! What good’re you doing walking like that?” By this time, the relationship between Ralph and Jack has deteriorated so much that bitterness from power-possessed Jack is all that is left.
By the end of the novel, it is clear that the relationship between Ralph and Jack has no amiability in it whatsoever. The power and authority that Jack enforces over his tribe portrays him as a king to the reader: “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulders and chatted in his ear like an ape.” After Simon’s untimely death, Jack and his tribe seem somewhat unaffected by what they have done, and become even more uncivilised, to the extent that they cause another shocking and unexpected death. Piggy is killed by a rock that Roger pushes over the edge of the cliff, near the beach. This event shows just how disconnected with reality Jack and his tribe have become, and now Ralph is on his own. His only friend’s death has made him now completely alone and so vulnerable. Ralph feels like he is the only one left with any sense of the real world. The shock of what has happened since they first explored the island scares Ralph and fear of the future kicks in. “These painted savages would go further and further. Then there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone; never.” Jack discovers that Jack and his tribe are planning to kill him the next day, and now survival is the only thing that matters to Ralph. Realisation of his desperate situation comes to Ralph when he is told by one of the twins “Listen, Ralph. Never mind what’s sense. That’s gone.” A lonely, terrified, weak and exhausted Ralph wakes the next day to noises of every other child on the island hunting him down. They set fire to the island and eventually locate Ralph, and then the chase begins. Ralph reaches the end of island, and the end of his sanity. He literally runs into a naval officer and recognition of everything hits the twelve year old. Shock of the circumstances is all too much for Ralph to bear, and he falls to his knees and breaks down. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” Ralph takes responsibility for the chaos and collapse of civilisation, as he believes that if he had been a better leader, none of this would have happened. He realises just how far things can go when there is no order imposed, and that he alone couldn’t change that.
Throughout the novel, Ralph makes a journey towards self-discovery, and witnesses behaviour no other person, like the naval officer, would believe if he explained them. His relationships with the other two main characters influence the horrific events that took place on the island, and at the end of ‘Lord of the Flies’ Ralph sees that man can lose all sense of civilisation when no rules and order are in place.
