Ralph starts off as a self-assured boy whose self-confidence came from the acceptance of his peers. He had a fair nature as he was willing to listen to Piggy. He became increasingly dependent on Piggy's wisdom and became lost in the confusion around him.
When Ralph was elected chief over Jack, Ralph cleverly makes Jack feel imortant again by saying he should be leader of the hunters.
‘The choir belongs to you of course’.
Ralphs maturity enables them to have a friendship at the beginning of the book.
Soon after, the boys begin to show a difference in priorities.
‘’They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate’.
Being leader of the hunters, Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and wanting to kill a pig to eat, whereas Ralph is diplomatic, kind and understanding and starts to think about how important being rescued is. These two ideas reflect on how different their personalities are. Jack is portrayed as inherently sadistic and doesn’t take Ralph as seriously as he should, ‘rescue ? Yes, of course ! All the same, i’d like to catch a pig first-’ trying to overpower Ralph. The freedom of the island allowed Jack to develop the darker side of his personality as the Chief of a savage tribe and for Ralph it has developed mediating skills, maturity and a good sense of leadership and knowledge.
Later, Jack degenerates and immaturely paints his face to play the part of a real savage hunter and to release him from normal civilisation. There is a growing gap between Jack and Ralph. Jack is proud, pugnacious, argumentative, provocative and atavistic. The confrontations of the two groups emerge. Ralph starts to feel the pressure of leadership and is in despair when Jack lets the fire go out because he is so busy hunting and leaves no chance of getting rescued, by a spotted ship, which was Ralph’s main priority.
‘There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!’
Ralph shows disappointment and anger, so he calls a meeting, but no one shows interest and is resentful towards Jack who’s gained respect from hunting down meat. The boys on the island start to replace rationality with basic feelings, basically forgetting about being rescued and concentrating on their instinct to hunt and kill. Ralph gets scared that the boys are starting to become apathetic whereas Jack is happy and content with what’s going on.
The two opposing ways of life, which are developing, are the one lead by Jack and the other led by Ralph. Both boys disappoint each other with their differences in priorities and natures. At first, not knowing much about each other they manage to get on, but it doesn’t last long and some rivalry between them gradually increases. Their different natures cause the opposing ways of life; one is a dedicated leader, who is kind and mature whilst the other is immature, clueless and atavistic. This ends up in Ralph resenting Jack as he gains power from the killing of the pig. The differentiation between them is so clear that readers can tell what will happen next. As Ralph becomes wiser, Jack becomes more sadistic and savage.
