So from chapter one we can see straight away that Ralph is fair, respectful and leader; whereas Jack is shown to have an evil side and not to be very nice. This is expanded and shown throughout the whole novel with different situations involving Jack and Ralph.
In chapter two the boys hold a meeting on the beach to introduce the rules into the society on the island. Ralph starts by discussing the layout of the island and says that they are alone with nobody else, at this Jack interrupts and says, ‘all the same you need an army-for hunting. Hunting pigs,’ again bringing foreword his craving for killing.
Also at this meeting, one of the novels most important issues and symbols is introduced from the littl’uns. One of them is ‘pushed towards Ralph’ and through Piggy interpreting his words, tells the group of the ‘beastie’, which is a monster, which the littl’uns claim to have seen at night. Jack and Ralph react differently to this idea, Jack says, ‘If there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it. Were going to hunts pigs to get meat for everybody,’ showing his craving yet again for hunting, but also using the beastie to manipulate the littl’uns into believing Jack will protect them. But Ralph says, ‘But there isn’t a Beastie!’ This doesn’t help him as leader as the littl’uns feel he betrays them as leader and protector.
Shortly afterwards Ralph, along with Piggy’s help introduces the idea of being rescued and eventually going home. To get rescued Ralph puts forward the idea of making a fire and using the smoke to attract passing boats, Jack says, ‘we’ll be responsible for keeping the fire going.’ This becomes an aspect of Jack’s change in the future. The idea of using fire to get rescued shows Ralph’s foresight and focus, compared to Jack getting sidetracked and impulsive upon his own needs.
In chapter three at the beginning, ‘Jack was bent double, down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth,’ this is a dramatic start showing how Jack has changed into almost a predator like a lion or tiger.
In this chapter there is a confrontation between both Jack and Ralph over what should be done on the island. Ralph is frustrated because after the group says they will do certain things at meetings, ‘they’d work for five minutes then wander off or go hunting’. Also Ralph is annoyed with Jack spending his whole time hunting, he says with a ‘certain passion in his voice’ (suggesting anger), ‘Well, we haven’t got any yet. And we want shelters’ showing his anger with Jack. ‘The madness came into his eyes again,’ Jack has completely lost his mind to hunting. So in this chapter the two boys really start to fall apart.
In chapter four Roger helps Jack use some of the natural materials to paint a face onto Jack. Jack uses very striking colours in a design that made him, ‘no longer himself but an awesome stranger’. He puts a long striking line of charcoal across his face.
In this chapter there is another major confrontation between Jack and Ralph. In the distance on the horizon Ralph catches sight of a ship and looks behind to see that there was no smoke signal coming from the mountain. Jack had betrayed his promise and given up hunting to get rescues for hunting to fill his craving. Ralph repeatedly says, ‘you let the fire out.’ Showing his disbelief and anger with Jack’s betrayal. However Jack doesn’t seem to care as he had finally managed to kill a pig and become a real hunter. Jack had taken the twins away from the fire to go hunting with the excuse, ‘we had to have them in the hunt or there wouldn’t have been enough to make the circle.’ This really is the key moment when Jack changes from wanting to be rescued, to hunting for meat and having fun, with rescue as a bonus.
In chapter five the boys hold another meeting to discuss how the group of boys are still not pulling their weight even after the previous assembly was held to address the problem. Ralph starts addressing the problems with the shelter building, lavatory situation and the fires position in the island. ‘The murmur swelled up again and died away,’ the other boys are growing tired of Ralph constant complaints. ‘There was a row immediately. Boys stood up and shouted and Ralph shouted back,’ the meeting broke down into an argument. There is an exchange of views throughout the whole group until Jack gets fed up with Ralph incessant boredom and breaks completely, ‘Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast we’ll hunt it down!’ This shows him as the leader of all the other boys who have grown tired of Ralph’s leadership, from this line he gains both their support and the support of the littl’uns after Jack says he will hunt the beastie and protect them. This is the point in the book where the separation occurs in the group between Jack and the littl’uns, and Ralph, Piggy, Simon and Samneric.
In chapter six, whilst Sam and Eric are maintaining the fire on top of the mountain, Eric catches sight of something in a dark gap behind the rocks. He figures it to be the beastie and panics and tells Sam. The two go running down the mountain and tell Ralph about it at which point Jack uses this situation for two purposes; firstly he uses the sighting as an excuse to go on a hunt and feed his craving, and secondly by going to hunt he shows how he is a more strong leader than Ralph, to gain more support, showing again how Jack has changed from a Choirboy into a manipulative, violent person. At the end of this chapter the boys discover a cove in the cliff face and decide it would be a great place for a fort to roll rocks down and have fun. However Ralph thinks it is unsuitable due to no safe water supply, and tries to use his weakened authority to tell the boys to move on. However at this point Bill, a boy in the group gets frustrated and shows anger to Ralph, showing how even the less important inhabitants of the island are starting to stand up to Ralph, showing Ralph’s failing leadership. ‘Jack led the way down the rock and across the bridge,’ Jack leads the way instead of Ralph who should.
In chapter seven the group of boys hunting the beastie come across a dead parachutist from the crash, due to the darkness the boys don’t realise it isn’t a beast except for Simon. In this chapter Jack leads the idea of practicing hunting skills by hunting a littl’un. ‘Ralph entered the play and everybody laughed,’ it seemed harmless to everyone but deep down Jack was using this play to suppress his craving. Jack shouts, ‘Make a ring!’ Showing he is thinking this to be a real hunt. Then the boys start chanting, ‘Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!’ Showing what an influence Jack has had on the group.
From the summaries of chapters one to seven we can see that as Ralph starts off as leader, Jack changes his attitude and eventually manipulates the situations he encounters and the people around him to make him gain supreme power over the other on the island. Overall in the book Ralph stood for Good, Democracy, Civilisation and Rescue. However Jack stood for Evil, Hunting, and Fun with rescue as a bonus. We can see that Jack eventually gains the upper hand in the novel by chapter seven, with Ralph becoming very lonely and insignificant.
