The third diversity between Ralph and Jack are their appearances. In the beginning of the book everybody has the same appearance: hair still somewhat combed and neat, their clothes wet, dirty and ripped from the plain crash. Ralph, as he progressed throughout the book, tried to act civilized and take baths. Jack's appearance as he progressed throughout the book was different. He stopped taking baths and was not civilized. Further in the book he and his tribe started putting on face paint when he was hunting. One characteristic that both boys shared as they advanced through the book was the growth of their long entangled hair. My thoughts on this difference are that Ralph, as he progressed throughout the book, tried to act like he was normal and civilized. But Jack forgot everything he knew that was civilized and acted savage.
This paper has established differences between Jack and Ralph's social responsibility's, individual personality, and their appearances. Those things all keyed into what made them different from each other. In the beginning of Lord of the Flies they were never close friends but their mutual dislike enhanced by their differences and stress of the situation made them enemies by the end of the book. That is what the differences of Jack and Ralph produced.
There are two competing instincts that exist within all human being. The instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands is called civility. The instinct to satisfy one's immediate desires, act violently to obtain dominant over others, and enforce one's will on the other is called atavism. The book Lord Of The Flies is a great example of the two competing instincts in humans. A group of British boys were deserted on an island. Without adults on the islands the boys learned to take control. Changes take place, as they are isolated from society. The instinct of civility has been fading away as the instinct of savagery arises. Certain characteristics of each character make them unique. Our Leadership and atavistic behaviors are represented through Ralph, a twelve-year-old boy with blond hair. Jack the symbol of atavism and irrational thinking, is a twelve-year-old boy with red hair. Piggy represented the intellectual and rational thinking that humans posses. The symbol of Christ and natural human goodness is represented through Simon, a choirboy. The symbol of evil is represented through Roger. As they are isolated from society, they show the human nature to turn atavistic.
The civil leader was represented trough Ralph. When Ralph repeatedly calls meetings trying to restore order, and to figure a way to get rescued illustrates why Ralph is a civil leader. This is seen when Ralph says, "This meeting must not be fun, but business" (Pg. 76). Ralph's urgencies for a meeting and plan to get rescued represented his leadership. Ralph deciding to explore the island to see what kind of a surrounding they are at represented a civil leader. This is seen when Ralph says, "If this isn't an island we might be rescued straight away. So we've got to decide if this is an island" (Pg. 23). Ralph exploring the island to prepare themselves for the future signifies a civil leader. Ralph suggesting to build a fire on top of a mountain so that if a ship passes by they would come rescue them represented a civil leader. This is seen when Ralph says, "We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain" (Pg. 38). Ralph symbolized leadership by taking control of the group and planning for a rescue. Ralph is a complex character because although he often struggles between atavism and civility his leadership qualities always shine through.
Jack is a major character in Lord Of The Flies because he is the atavistic leader. Killing a pig represented atavism. This is seen when Jack says, "' I cut the pig's throat,' said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it" (Pg. 69). As long as Jack is isolated from society he acts more and more violently, killing pigs when the chance comes along. Rubbing the blood of a pig after its death represents an atavistic leader. This is seen when Jack " grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks" (Pg. 135). As Jack is getting accustomed to the murder of a pig he had also been getting accustomed to the bloodshed, which a twelve-year-old boy should not be used to. Leading in the attack of Ralph and Piggy for the theft of Piggy's spectacles represent an atavistic leader. This is seen when " A fist withdrew and came back like a piston, so that the whole shelter exploded into the light" (Pg. 167). Jack acts more violently as he is on the island with no adults where he is able to do anything he desires.
Piggy is a major character in Lord Of The Flies because he is the rational thinker. Suggesting a build a sundial so they were able to identify the time represented why Piggy is the rational thinker. This is seen when Piggy says, "We could make a sundial. We could put a stick in the sand, and then-" (Pg. 64). The suggestion of a sundial represented the rational thinking that Piggy posses. When Piggy had told the other kids that if they keep the fire burning they would burn the whole island down. This is seen when Piggy says, "Now you been and set the whole island on fire. Won't we look funny if the whole island burns up" (Pg. 45). When Piggy had thought ahead and see the possible outcome of the fire he symbolized rational thinking. When Piggy had spoken out at Castle rock telling the boys that being civilized is better than being atavistic. This is seen when Piggy says, "Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up" (Pg. 180). Piggy outspokenness towards that end of the book had shown the intellectualism that he posses. Piggy is a complex character because although he was the most intellectual of the group he was abused because of his looks.
Simon is a major character in Lord Of The Flies because he was the Christ figure. An example of why Ralph is the Christ figure is when Jack refused to give Piggy any meat; Simon reluctantly gave his piece to him. This is seen when "Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it." Simon kind gestures represented why he was the Christ figure. When Simon had went up to the mountain to free the pilot he represented a Christ figure. This is seen when Simon "took the lines in his hands; he freed them from the rocks and the figure from the wind's indignity" (Pg. 147). Simon was struck down because he had tried to warn the other kids that the beastie that they had been worried about was just a dead pilot. This is see when " The blue-white scar was constant, the noise unendurable. Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill" (Pg. 152). Simon is a Christ figure because by trying to help the other he had risked his life for them. Simon is an interesting character because although he was not seen many times in the book he was a major contributor to what happen later on.
Roger is a major character in Lord Of The Flies because he was the evil assistant. One example of why is the evil assistance is when he had tried to throw stones at one of the littlun. This is seen when "Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them" (Pg. 62). As roger is kept from society big changes have occurred in his behavior. Sticking a spear up a pig's ass also represented that Roger was the evil assistant. "'This is seen when Roger said "Right up her ass!'" (Pg. 135). Roger has also been affected by the isolation from society when he is also changing. Before he had thrown the stones to miss but now he took it to another step and tortured the helpless animal. The murder of Piggy was also an example of why Roger was the evil assistant. This is seen when "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee" (Pg. 181). Because of the time Roger has spent on the island he had lost his sense of reasoning as seen with the killing of Piggy.
There are two competing instinct that exist in all human being. The instinct to act peacefully and think rational is called civility. The instincts to act like savage and disobey rules are called atavism. The book Lord Of The Flies is a great example of the battle between atavism and civility. As the groups of British boys are kept isolated from society changes occur. All the boys in the book were symbols something which was unique. Ralph was the civil leader. Jack was the atavistic leader. Piggy was the rational thinker. Simon was the Christ figure. Roger was the evil assistant. As these boys are stranded on the island their personalities had shown. Although atavism won many battles, civility won the war.
In Lord of the Flies I believe that William Golding is trying to prove that the flaws in human society are due to the flaws in human nature. Human society and human nature are both overflowing with Cruelty murder and corruption. Though some when they read the book Lord of the flies they see that even children are evil. There is much representation in this story. There is much symbolism in this book. The characters in the book represent aspects of human culture for example: Piggy (and Glasses) stand for Clear-sightedness, intelligence. Their state represents the status of social order. Ralph, The Conch stand for democracy and order, Simon Pure Goodness, "Christ Figure", Roger who is the evil and/or Satan, Jack the savagery, anarchy, The island a microcosm representing the world, the beast the evil residing within everyone, the dark side of human nature. There are many themes in this story such as The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you to either insight or hysteria, morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization around us, we will lose these values, and finally You can only cover up inner savagery so long before it breaks out, given the right situation. In the first few chapters we see that the children are starting off trying to organize themselves. In chapter two we hear about how one of the little boys saw that there was a "snake beastie" in the darkness. When he brought this up at the meeting everyone except Simon is scared. Everyone thinks that there is a horrible creature out in the forest that will kill them all. If they had sat and thought about it like smile had they would realize that the beast was just the fear in all humans. in order to understand what makes us aggressive and fear things we will have to recognize what makes man act in a territorial group. Most psychologists agree that what makes us go to war and act aggressively and what causes us to go into hysteria is the upset of aggression and fear. This upsetting is due to the consequences in cultural evolution. One of the main factors that have to be taken into count is the fact that there are constant changes in social environments that causes people to be cautious and fearful. That and humans fear what they don't understand. It is only a natural when Jack stood and said " what ever this beast is we'll kill it and eat it!" because the environment was disturbed and that caused fear, which leads to aggression. Jack acted out against what he didn't know and wanted to kill it to restore a calm mind state again. This happens many times in history over and over. For example people started to go into panic during the prank radio broadcast saying that aliens have landed on earth in the 1960's. Because of this prank people started to go into a state of hysterical because of what they did not know. Yet also it made NASA curious about life from space. Now we have the information at our fingertips that life could exist on other planets but doesn't because of certain factors in the atmosphere. The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you to either insight or hysteria. It can cause people to act aggressively or it can lead to a scientific discovery.
Morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization around us, we will lose these values. This theme is shown starting about chapter 4 in the book. The boys have been stranded on this island for a few days and are starting to get used to it. A few little children are playing on the beach when some older kids start throwing sand at a child named Henry. The big kids leave and the little kids see that the big kids don't get in trouble so they do it too. Though the little kids know its wrong to throw sand at the boy they do it because they cannot get in trouble. Henry gets up and goes away from them. From behind a tree an older boy named Roger starts throwing stones. He aims around Henry because he knows it is wrong to throw things at little children. In the book it states the some invisible force is holding Roger back from throwing the stone right at Henry's head. The psychologists would call that the ID or the parents voice that is always with a child. Most aggression that is in animals is not really to inflict injury or harm another it is just to prove dominance as is shown in the book when Roger wants to hurt little Henry to show that he is stronger. It is also shown in the book when Jack makes his choir hunters so that they can be aggressive. Jack is jealous of Ralph because he could not be leader so Jack relies on his aggressiveness to get his way. The frightening and increasing violence in our communities with murder, aggravated assault, and forcible rape the most rapidly increasing crimes all seem to lead to support the fact that man must universally be driven to his acts of aggression by some deep seated internal force. it is certainly obvious and simple conclusion to draw from the evidence. Both Darwin and Freud had said that "the warfare of nature" is what they spoke of. and since man is a part of nature is only makes sense that man would be war like creatures. Ralph in chapter 8 on the other hand, showed his faltering in blocking his inherent savagery when he joined in on the pig hunt and dance. This savagery would have been even more redressed if there were some adults around to supervise the children. Even more so there would be very little savage instinct if he were back in England where civilization was because of the rules set and things. "the desire to squeeze and hurt was overmastering." Even the mock pig hunt is becoming something of danger and greater brutality. Chapter 9 shows the best example that morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization around us, we will lose these values. The beating of Simon by all the boys, even Ralph and Piggy who were caught up in the frenzy, fulfills the Lord of the Flies' "prophecy." Even these boys were overcome with their savage side when in such close contact with all the other boys. Because Ralph and Piggy were around the savageness of Jack and Roger they lost all sense of awareness and what is right and wrong. Even the most calmest people can have an aggressive side. And before long it will come out.
You can only cover up inner savagery so long before it breaks out, given the right situation. When Jack first painted the mask on his face to when there was the murder of Piggy signs of aggression showed out of ever child. (except Simon of course) There have been many examples of this. When there is the murder of Simon even Ralph and Piggy help to kill him to show that they too have an aggressive side. Whether the infant develops an aggressive component in its behavior will to a lord extent depend on the manor in which it has been socialized and on the models societies has. It is in this manner that some societies tend to be made up of allot of non aggressive individuals, while among the members of other societies the expression of aggressive behavior may run the possible digress of development. The "stick sharpened at both ends" is a reference to what they did with the Lord of the Flies, impaling one end in the head and the other in the ground. This shows the brutality of what they planned to do to Ralph, who indeed felt like a pig being hunted by the savages. The fire set on the entire island shows the tribe's complete lack of foresight, as if they were not rescued, they would have no food or shelter. Ironically, the fire meant for evil started by Jack turned out to be what got the boys saved. The arrival of the Naval officer thus seems like a happy and ironic ending, but if one digs deeper it is just a continuation from one war to another. Once all the boys get on the Navy cruiser, they'll most likely just be subjected to more battle and fighting, this time on a worldwide level, due to the war-taking place in the outside world. Which will make them want to fight more. As many psychologists say that the exposure to violence will cause a child to act out aggressively.
" and in the mess of matted hair and unwiped nose Ralph wept for the innocence was gone, because of the darkness in a mans heart." By the end of the book Ralph learns The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you to either insight or hysteria, morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization around us, we will lose these values, and finally You can only cover up inner savagery so long before it breaks out, given the right situation. He has seen innocent people die, betrayal and what its like to live without parents and rules. He has also seen that people aren't what they appear to be. Ralph has learned that depending on what kind of a person you are determines the society in which you live and what flaws that society has.
The Beast Within
The beast cannot be hunted or killed, it lies within, to keep order and integrity one must suppress the beast. "However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick." What makes the characters in this book different is how they handle the beast within. After the plane crash in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Piggy start an immediate bond. They are the first two survivors that meet up and they are also the first ones to use the symbolic conch to call out to the other survivors. Along the beach two marching files of black clad children approach, this is the first we see of Jack Merridew and his choir group. Strangely, besides Percival, Jack is the only one whose last name is mentioned. Ralph is voted chief and the first meeting is held with the conch used as a mediator. Piggy who is Ralph's right hand man is already singled out because of his weight. However he is more mature than the whole lot and never tries to refuse the name. They set up rules and start making the island inhabitable. Already the beast in Jack is coming out when he defies Ralph and designates himself and his choirboys the hunters. His groups of hunters are the least helpful. When work has to be done they are off hunting pigs for food that they do not need to survive. Jack sees the island as an opportunity for fun and adventure until rescue. He is a very wild and high-spirited person who has a problem with restrictions and authority. This is shown by the constant bickering between himself against Piggy and Ralph.
The beast possesses the children in many different ways. Jack embodies the beast with face painting and hunting. Ralph represses it with structure and authority symbolized by the conch. Piggy hides from the beast behind a wall of knowledge to make him feel more secure. Piggy's knowledge, and support for Ralph is symbolized by his glasses. This is shown because Ralph's determination for an ongoing fire could only be met with Piggy's specs. The fires also show a major difference in the thought processes of Ralph and Jack. " `But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one.' " While Jack thought that they could hunt, and would be rescued without an ounce of work. Ralph thought that the fire was necessary for their rescue off of the island. Even though the beast in Jack was not as tamed as it was in Ralph and Piggy it still had yet to be unleashed. When they found the piglet on the way down the mountain, Jack unsheathed his knife but couldn't draw blood. "They knew very well why he hadn't [killed the piglet]: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood." After this episode Jack promised that next time he would kill, and that he did. Only after he put on his mask, which liberated him from all that is civil and everything of the "Old World." It is the tap on which the beast thrives. Jack started out wearing the mask only during hunting but throughout the book he wears it more and more. Jack is the Hitler of the isle, he has indoctrinated the liluns and at the end all except for Ralph. They were in the palm of his hand after the first tribal dance: to which Ralph joined in and lost control of his own beast in the dance, fire and the remains of the slain pig. "Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Jack is a born leader more so than Ralph. When Jack has rules, he would actually make you believe in those rules. Where as Ralph would trust that everyone had strength of mind to find right from wrong. This is why the tribe ended up taking over Ralph' democracy. To Ralph and piggy hunting seemed almost a waste of time: time that could be spent doing other things that could contribute to their rescue. The conch is used to represent everything that a savage is not. It is their democracy, and Ralph's only influence over the other children. Towards the end the beast finally gets to all of them, their fears have come true and they must result to savageness to cope with their empty hearts. For fear is what started the whole division and the fear led to anger, which led to the deaths of Simon and Piggy.
The ability to lead others is what sets one person apart from another. Throughout their time on the island Ralph thought he was in control, which he was in the beginning. Then towards the end Jack gave the boys an alternative, something with adventure. As a person Jack was lazy. It was easier for him to be a savage than to be civil. That is what was so appealing to everyone. Before the division of the children, when Ralph was I control, children held on to their old ways for the hope of being rescued. "...there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins." When that hope began to fade, so did the children's humanity. To Jack they were there for good so he let go of civilization because there is no need for it out in the jungle. But, Ralph held on, he held on to the fact that one day they would be leave and be taken of the island. He clinched on to civilization because it was the one thing that set himself apart from the savages. Piggy never saw the appeal that everyone else did for the savage ways. His eyes were set on being a good follower to the chief. The reason he was so loyal to Ralph was because he saw life on the island the same way, as and interim home. Ralph never knew how loyal piggy was until it was too late. He realized that he wasn't strong enough by himself and that he never would have made it without piggy. Piggy was the strongest out of the children. He was sure with his knowledge and set in his beliefs. He was Ralph's rock. It is ironic that the strongest person on the island was killed because he did not have something as simple as his glasses. Or else he would be celebrating on the boat with Ralph. "...Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy."
Compassion is a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Besides Simon, piggy was the most compassionate person. He was a guiding voice to the liluns even when they did not want one. He was kind to those who called him names. Even though he could be annoying at time his heart was always in the right place. The only reason he was not a leader and did not get the respect that he deserved was because of his weight and short stature .To Jack it was survival of the fittest. To him there should be no reason to help another, unless it benefited him. Compassion was lost for Jack after the death of a lilun in the fire that burned out of control. When Simon was killed he felt no remorse, all he felt was the beast inside. Telling him to keep hunting. That is how Jack copes with what is inside. Piggy's death meant little more than a red spot on the rocks. Jack was desensitized by killing pigs. His right hand man, who was even more sadistic and sick, was Rodger who flung the bolder which killed Piggy. No one seemed to notice accept for those in Ralph's camp. If it were not for their rescue Ralph would have snapped and lost all hope to survive and therefore become a savage, or be killed.
Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are like pieces of a puzzle, when separated they make nothing, but united with one, goal turns them into what they needed what whole time, a good leader. Their strengths combined would make to be an ideal child. Ralph's need for structure would cancel out Jack's wild side. Piggy's compassion would help to guide the group as a whole off the island. Jack's leadership would unite them, and Ralph's perseverance would make sure that people stayed on the right track. That is the track that leads to Britain. This could not happen in this novel because of one thing the Beast. The fear for what is not known.