Roger shouts for a vote and so the group agrees. Jack's choir vote for Jack and every hand outside the choir except Piggy's hand was raised immediately. But then Piggy slowly raised his hand because he knew that it was better to have Ralph than Jack.
The group outside the choir vote for Ralph because of the conch he has.
Ralph gives Jack his choir as hunter to please Jack and not become enemies with him and secure his leadership.
When Jack, Ralph and Simon go to explore the island, they are happy and in good sprits. When Jack sees a slanting rock and he wants to push it down the cliff. He leads the others to the top; all three of them pushed the rock off. This shows Jack's destructiveness of nature and mischievous.
The crash site destroys the beauty of the island and looks like some sort of adventure playground.
Jack also spotted a trapped squealing piglet, he takes out his knife and raises his hand into the air but doesn’t bring back down and the piglet runs away. Jack was humiliated despite his own weakness he will not revel it again, '"I was choosing a place. Next time-----!"'
Next time there will be no mercy and no sympathy.
In chapters two to six Jack and Ralph have changed considerably and events have changed the atmosphere for the worst.
At the beginning of chapter two the boys are having a meeting in the evening. They decide to have rules in which the all agree on, the boys here are happy and optimistic about their situation, but one small boy raises his fears about a "snake-thing" or "beastie" on the island. The small boy describes the "beastie" as big and wanting to eat him and turning into ropes on trees in the morning. Ralph tries to convince everyone that there is no "beastie", at the beginning the boys laugh and think that the boy was dreaming but they start to look around in the trees and become scared. During the night is dark and darkness is when the "beastie" comes out and so does the boys fear. The atmosphere has changed here forever for the worst. The boys will always have fear in the night.
Ralph really tries to convince everyone that there is no beast; he does this because he knows his duty is to be responsible for the children. Jack seizes this opportunity by accepting the boys' fear and attempting to deal with it. He promises to kill the snake, if there is one, and to hunt for meat. Jack thus offers food and protection. Jack needs this beast to have power. Ralph wins back the boys by his conviction that they will be rescued. We can see that Jack is trying is take over the boys and become a kind of leader, but Ralph is strong and wins them back. Jack's always talking about killing things like the "beastie" and pigs, while Ralph talks about being rescued and doing things to improve life and more chances of getting rescued and having a better life on the island.
Ralph has an idea of making an signal fire, he believes it will have an effect to them being rescued but it is Jack who leads everyone to collect the fire; '"Come on! Follow me!"' The fire on the mountain represents the boys' desire to be rescued, to return to civilization. The boys still work as a unity and like teamwork.
When trying to light the fire Jack has an idea of using Piggy's glasses to light the fire. He snatches his glasses roughly and violently off Piggy's face.
When they are on top of the island Piggy has the conch and is trying to talk but everyone else is talking. Jack shouts at Piggy and tells him '"the conch doesn’t count on top on the mountain, so shut up."' But Piggy doesn’t give up he still interrupts saying '"I got the conch---" Jack turned fiercely.
"You shut up!"' Jack doesn’t like Piggy he despises him because of his physical appearance; Jack think that people like Piggy are useless have are a waste of time, but Piggy is actually the one with most common sense on the island.
Jack favors Ralph because he is chief and a leader we can see when Ralph takes the conch and when Jack says his hunters will look after the fire. "Ralph-- I'll split up the choir-- my hunters, that is--, into groups, and we'll be responsible for keeping the fire going---." This generosity brought a splatter of applause from the boys, so that Jack grinned at them, then waved the conch for silence.'
Chapter two ends with a reference to the "unfriendly side of the mountain". Here is a lot of dead wood, rotten and decayed. The atmosphere of the "unfriendly side of the mountain" shows carelessness and Jack destruction to nature. This is the side that the boys set fire to. The power of the fire is more powerful than they had expected.
Chapter two is the beginning of conflict and it is clearly seen that Jack and Ralph have different priorities.
In chapter's three to six is where the changes of Jack and Ralph become noticeable by minor events and the atmosphere is changing for the worst bit by bit.
Jack has regressed to a half-naked savage stalking his pray on all fours like a dog. Like a dog he sniffs for clues. His eyes are "bolting and nearly mad". The language here reinforces the sense of regression, of going back into time. The atmosphere is earthly, sensual and basic; the pig's droppings are still warm, "they are steamed a little". Jack is "steaming with sweat" and "streaked with brown earth".
The boys have made some progress in their time on the island. They have built a couple of rough shelters and keep drinking water in coconut shells. But Ralph is annoyed because the boys won't work. When Jack returns from hunting Ralph implies that he is wasting his time and Jack becomes angry. There is open conflict and it is the meat versus the shelter i.e. Jack versus Ralph. The conflict is about Ralph and Simon trying hard to build shelters while all the others just plays and swims.
They make friends again by when they first went exploring the island together, but it is clear that both boys have changed. Ralph takes duty of caring for the boys seriously. Jack has become obsessed by hunting and the desire to kill. Ralph is more eager than ever to be rescued. Jack has almost forgotten about rescue in his obsession to kill; '"Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I'd like to catch a pig first---" He snatched up his spear and dashed it into the ground.'
Ralph confronts Jack and tells him about his desire to hunt; '"I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!"
"But we want meat!"'
Ralph then realizes that he works hard for something they need while Jack says he works hard for a luxury that is not needed and he likes doing. '"And I work all day with nothing but Simon and you come back and don’t even notice the huts!"
"But I was working too---"
"But you like it!" shouted Ralph "You want to hunt! While I---"'
Their real hatred about how they feel about each other comes out. Ralph felt that 'people were never quite what you thought they were.' Ralph now knows he can't trust anyone and he knows his friendship with Jack is falling apart. Even when the argument is over Jack and Ralph still can't agree with each other; '"If only I could get a pig!"
"I'll come back and go on with the shelter."
They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.'
The two boys have moved further apart, "two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate".
Jack paints his face, initially as a camouflage, but when he sees his painted mask reflected in the water he is excited, "the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness". Masks conceal the identity of the wearer. If you can't be recognized you are free to do you please. Jack here has reinvented himself, he is a new Jack that can do anything and is a stranger to himself; 'he looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but an awesome stranger'. The old Jack has gone the old Jack who hesitated to kill a pig. Jack is now literally two faced it’s the old face versus the new face. The power of Jack's new mask has already affected him; 'his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarl.'
The mask starts to compel the twins; they are forced to do what Jack says; 'Jack rushed towards the twins.
"The rest are making a line. Come on!"
"But---"
"We---"
"Come on! I'll creep up and stab---"
The mask compelled them.'
The distance between Ralph and Jack widens in the face of Ralph's anger at the fire being out. Ralph is desperate to go home. Jack is deliriously happy and fulfilled by the killing of the pig: "they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon ot, taken away its life a long satisfying drink." Jack is angry at being put in the wrong by Ralph. He still does not want to openly break up with Ralph he vents his anger on Piggy. Jack and Piggy represent the opposing poles of human experience. Jack is all primitive urges and feelings; Piggy is all ideas and thoughts. Jack is physical; Piggy is intellectual. Golding obviously sees theses aspects of human nature as being at war with one another.
When Ralph as well as Piggy is shouting at Jack, his anger builds up to violence and he lashes out at Piggy and punches him in the stomach. When it comes to apologize he says sorry but not to Piggy to Ralph. '"I'm sorry. About the fire, I mean. There. I--"
He drew himself up.
--I apologize."
Jack twisted the situation he turned it into his advantage. By saying sorry the boy's thinks he is in the right and puts Ralph in the wrong. The boys think that Jack behaved well and did the good thing, 'The buzz from the hunters was one of admiration at this handsome behavior.'
'"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in." This savage chant shows the enjoyment of chasing a pig and killing it and the thrill of power, life and death. The need for meat seems secondary to the need to kill. They chant as they dance, re-enacting the hunt and killing of the pig. We can compare this ritual with the ritual of the conch and the assembly. One represents order and democracy. The other represents the descent into savagery, violence and death.
At the beginning of chapter five Ralph realises how unpleasant and wearisome life is on the island. He realises that he doesn’t like being filthy dirty and dressed in rags, rolling into dry leaves on the ground to go to sleep. He feels older as he looks back to his first enthusiasm for their situation on the island. He begins to understand the value of thinking as a process. He realises that Piggy has this facility and him accordingly. Ralph begins speculate about the nature of reality. Darkness reflects Ralph's gloomy side; darkness is a symbol of fear in all the boys.
Ralph handles the meeting well, he starts to tell the truth and tells the boys that things are being said but not done; '"We decide things. But they don’t get done."' He reminds them of unity and tries to create harmony and bond between amongst them.
Ralph then realises he is wasting his breath when talking about hygiene hazards; the littlens think this is boring. Ralph also tells the hunters off about the fire; '"You hunters! You can laugh! But I tell you the smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one."'
He also states the truth about if they are not rescued they will die, so they have to keep the fire on because it’s a matter of life and death.
After this lecture he tells them; '"You voted me for chief. Now you do what I say."' We realise that Ralph is chief in name only he really has no power over the boys, it is Jack who controls the boys and tells them what to do. He tries to look on the positive side by saying "and be happy", life on the island isn't fun anymore its discord.
Jack then takes in charge and rules by the children's fear, he tells them to live with their fear. He attacks the smallest and weakest members of the grouping true fascist tradition. He accepts that fear is part of the human condition but asserts that you just have to learn to live with it. Jack understands and accepts human nature for what it is. Talking about fear and the "beast" makes the littlens afraid. The meeting starts to break up into disorder as darkness engulfs them, and Ralph realises that he has made a mistake calling a meeting so late in the dark. Darkness is when the beast comes out and eats people the littlens are now really afraid. Jack sees this as an opportunity to challenge Ralph's authority. "Why should choosing make a difference?" his attitude to the rules is now made plain. "Bollocks to the rules!" He places all his faith and confidence in his own strength. Jack's language has become crude and vulgar as he regresses further from civilised standards behaviour.
Jack has now absolute power of the boys he is free range he is one who has broken the assembly up and the children are now scattered, its only Ralph, Piggy and Simon who are still in the meeting.
Ralph knows if he blows the conch to call the children back they will not come and the conch will have no power in it, so he leaves the conch safe.
Ralph starts to feel depressed and wants to give up being chief he knows that Jack has all the power and he is chief but in name only. They start to believe that they will not leave the island and they will die. Ralph also start to lose faith in not having a "beastie" he questions himself to Piggy: "The trouble is: Are their ghosts, Piggy? Or beasts?"
Piggy is the one who stands by him and puts faith back in him so he doesn’t lose control. Piggy needs Ralph he knows if Ralph isn’t chief Ralph won't be able to stop Jack from hurting him.
The end of this chapter marks the beginning of the end for Piggy, Ralph and Simon. They now know they are in danger and Jack can do anything to them whenever he wants.
When Ralph hears that Sam and Eric have seen the beast his first response is to call an assembly. Jack response to this is to go out and hunt it. He is impatient with Ralph who wants to work things out in his mind first. Jack challenges Ralph not only in his authority but the ritual of the conch and the right to free speech: "we don't need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things." Jack implies this Piggy making him feel weak and brainless. Ralph then wins the boys the boys back by reminding them of their desire to be rescued.
Ralph's idea of leadership involves a deep sense of responsibility for the people he leads. He cares about the welfare of the littluns. He knows the majority of the boys want to be rescued and does his best to achieve that. He is also very brave, venturing to go first on to the castle rock even though the beast's lair
There is a power struggle and Ralph starts to shout at Jack again: '"This is more than a hunter's job," said Ralph at last, "because you can't track the beast. And don’t you want to be rescued?"'
Ralph then agrees and says that they will look up down by the piled up rocks and they up the mountain to re-light the fire.
Toward the end of chapter six they are back together as a unit working together to hunt the beast. These are bittersweet memories of better times without Piggy.
These are echo's of chapter one here as the boys set off to explore the narrow end of the island. In the excitement of exploring of the castle rock Jack and Ralph remember the excitement and friendship of their exploration. But both boys have changed since then. Ralph has become older and wiser. His sense of responsibility and purpose gives him the impression of maturity. The boys grumble and argue as Ralph calls them for their play, but Jack upholds Ralph's authority on this occasion and the boys follow Jack across the bridge.
