Ralph allows Jack to form a band of hunters, his choir to hunt for meat. The hunters do represent evil; Jack, who represents evil, leads them and there are evil characters in the group, such as Roger and Maurice (who are both nasty to the litluns regularly, e.g. throwing stones, destroying whatever they have built in the sand etc.) The hunters could be used for evil, as Ralph has allowed them, they now have power, and theoretically power to hunt down members of the group.
Jack is the main source of evil on the island, and starts to cause conflict. The first conflict is at the end of chapter 2, when Piggy and Jack have an argument about the forest fire, e.g. ‘You shut up!’ Ralph, as he is during a lot of the book, is in between both of them. In Chapter 3, there is a clash between Jack and Ralph for the first main time, Ralph has been working hard and wants help with the shelters, he feels that these have the highest priority at the moment, which is what he should think, but Jack is obsessed with hunting and producing meat for the group, but has failed so far. Ralph is more annoyed that Ralph’s hunters are actually swimming rather than hunting. This scene creates tension between the two, and although is not a major conflict, is important, as it is their first quarrel.
In Chapter 4, there is a clear division between the good characters and the evil characters on the island. The choir, which represents evil, now wears face paint. This shows that they are savages, they have left civilisation, and are principally wild. The non-choir members still look civilised. Also in Chapter 4, Jack leads a hunting expedition, when he is supposed to be looking after the fire. Ralph sees a ship, but then to his dismay notices that Jack has let the fire burn out, so the ship did not see any smoke from the island, so did not stop there. When Jack returns, he has killed a wild pig, but Ralph is very annoyed at him with good reason, and there is another conflict, e.g. ‘There was a ship out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out.’ In this chapter, hope of being rescued has been destroyed by the carelessness of Jack.
After this conflict, Piggy joins the argument. He also blames Jack, and Jack hits him for doing so, knocking his glasses off, and breaking one of the lenses. Piggy is now half blind, ‘I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye’. Good (Piggy) is struggling to survive with only one eye due to evil (Jack). The group now only has one lens to light a fire with, so if that is destroyed, so are the boys’ chances of being seen by as ship out at sea.
In Chapter Five, Ralph has many problems with the hunters and the younger members of his group. Ralph is trying to build shelters for them but only Simon is helping, everyone else is either swimming or doing another leisure activity. At the assembly Ralph tells everyone that they need to assist. Also he mentions that many people are wasting fruit, and their supplies of food are low. If they do not change what they do, they may all struggle to survive. Also at the assembly, there is discussion about the beast, and there is an argument between Piggy and Jack that leads to Jack disobeying Ralph and leaving the assembly, making the others follow him. Ralph’s authority has clearly been broken. There are now clear divisions between the groups. Ralph (who is still officially chief) and Piggy still are concerned about the fire, whereas Jack and the hunters are concerned about hunting. Jack doesn’t seem to care about them all surviving and being rescued, just about his hunting. This chapter shows the struggle between good and evil, as the evil (Jack) has revolted against the good (Ralph). If something is not done, Jack may seize power, upon which chance of safe rescue will diminish, e.g. ‘we shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll be like animals’, (Ralph to Piggy, Chapter 5). Ralph ponders over resigning as chief of the group, if he does so then it is probable that Jack will take power. Jack could be described as a dictator as he is all-powerful and treats everyone below him badly, as we shall see later on in the book. If Jack does become leader, it means that evil has won the struggle against good, as now they are not as likely to be rescued.
In Chapter Six, the divisions between Jack and Ralph are apparent, but do not expand greatly. However, Sam and Eric, while looking after the fire, think they see the beast, and alert everyone else, although they did not really see a beast. Everyone is now quite scared. This again illustrates how the fear inside them makes them imagine to see a beast, and make everyone nervous and tense. This episode shows that evil (their fear) has more effect on the boys than good (their common sense that there is no such thing as a beast.) The group goes on a search around the island to try and locate the beast. Instead, what they find is what Jack describes as a ‘fort’. Roger starts rolling rocks over the cliff, this could hit someone, but luckily this time none did. Jack wants to move up to the fort, he is fascinated by it. Ralph tells them that thy must go and tend to the fire, but Jack wants to stay. There is tension, as Ralph (the chief) has ordered Jack to do something that he is reluctant to do. Fortunately for Ralph, Jack decides to obey him this time showing that Ralph (Good) still has some power over Jack (evil).
In Chapter seven, Ralph, Jack and Roger climb the mountain in search for the beast. At the top, they all think they see the beast, so run away as fast as they can. The beast (the fear inside them) has cased them to be too cautious. If they had actually have looked carefully on the top of the mountain, they would have found out what the beast really is, a dead man with a parachute on his back.
At the start of chapter eight, Jack calls an assembly and makes a speech on how bad a leader Ralph is. He then opens a vote on whether Ralph should be impeached as leader. No one votes. Jack has now obviously revolted once again, and good (Ralph) is now struggling to take control of the situation. When Jack loses the vote, he then decided to leave Ralph’s group, and takes all of the hunters with him. Now there are two groups, Jack’s group with all of the hunters, which is evil, and Ralph’s group, with Piggy, Simon, Sam and Eric and most of the’ Litluns’, which is good. Ralph’s group are forced to move the fire from the mountain, as they no longer have the numbers to maintain. They (Good) are now struggling to keep the fire going due to the revolt of Jack (evil). Jack raids Ralph’s camp for fire, and succeeds. He also invites everyone to a feast at his base, and also invites many to join his group. Good is now struggling, as evil now has more power and is trying to take away the few assets that they have left. Many people from Ralph’s group do indeed join Jack. Also in this chapter, one of the only good ‘biguns’ left, Simon is having hallucinations by the Lord of the Flies (the Pig’s head) He collapses unconscious, and is struggling to survive because of his hallucinations (which represent evil).
After his hallucinations, Simon wanders off up the mountain. At the top, he discovers the beast, but does not run away like the others. He discovers what it truly is, a dead soldier with a parachute, which blows in the wind, making it look alive. He makes his way down to the bottom of the mountain to inform the others of his discovery. Down at the beach, everyone is at Jack’s feast. The hunters are in a wild savage dance when Simon emerges from the forest. There is no light, and Jack and the hunters naturally assume that the creature coming towards them is the beast, so they grab their spears and stab Simon to death, e.g. ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’ (Chapter 9). His bloody carcass floated out to sea. In some ways, Simon was like a saint or even Christ. He came to them to tell them they had nothing to fear, and the beast was not alive, but instead he was murdered in cold blood. This shows that good is struggling a lot to survive against evil, and they are struggling so much, they have casualties. Ralph has now lot one of his strongest supporters. Jack has recruited most of Ralph’s group; only Ralph, Piggy and the twins are left. Evil is once again diminishing the good.
In Chapter 10, the way that Jack leads his group is made clear. Anyone who does something that he does not agree with gets punished, e.g. ‘Beat Wilfred’, ‘tie him up’. (Chapter 10). Jack is using capital punishment against members of his own group, some of which are not evil. At the end of this chapter, Jack sends a group to raid Ralph’s camp. Piggy tries to protect the conch, but then realises that they came for his glasses. In the struggle, the last lens is broken. Piggy is now effectively blind. Good is struggling to survive against evil as now he cannot see, so he is not much use to Ralph and will become more of a hindrance to the group.
Chapter eleven sees the struggle between good and evil reach its peak. Piggy, Ralph and the twins confront Jack on Castle rock about the raid and the destruction of Piggy’s glasses. Jack just ignores them. Piggy waits down at the bottom of the cliff with the conch, while above Roger throws more boulders off of the top of the cliff, killing the innocent intellectual. Good is murdered by evil. Along with the death of Piggy, the conch is shattered into a thousand pieces, representing the end of any order on the island. Jack throws a spear at Ralph, which scrapes by his chest. Perhaps Jack was trying to kill Ralph, thereby meaning all that was good on the island was dead, meaning that evil had won the struggle. Ralph manages to escape from Jack’s tribe, but ‘Samneric’ were not so lucky. They were taken prisoner and forced to join Jack. Evil has once again converted more of Ralph’s followers (who are good) to his followers. Ralph is the only one left not in Jack’s tribe; he will struggle to survive against the power of Jack.
In the final chapter, Jack and his tribe go hunting again, but this time for a larger prey, - Ralph. Ralph is in a dilemma, e.g. ‘What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch.’ (Ralph thinking to himself, Chapter 12). Ralph struggles to stay hidden in a bush, with many hunters a few feet away. If he made the smallest of noises, they could be his last. Fortunately, he is not discovered, so the hunters try another way to find him, by setting the forest alight. Due to the smoke, Ralph is forced out of his hiding place, and he runs from his pursuers onto the beach. Ralph (good) is struggling to survive against the powerful Jack (evil). On the beach, Ralph falls over, when he looks up, he sees the white cap of a navy officer. Out at sea, he sees the navy vessel. The Navy brings order back to the island; evil is wiped out as as soon as Jack and the tribe are taken aboard the navy vessel, they do not seem evil anymore. In the end it was good that won over evil, but it was nearly the end for Ralph.
In conclusion, during this epic novel, good and evil struggle against each other, good represented by Ralph and his followers (including Piggy), and evil represented by Jack and his followers (mainly the choir, especially Roger). To start with, Ralph is chief and rules fairly over the island, but there are frequent arguments with evil. At the end of one of these arguments, Jack breaks one of Piggy’s lenses, making him half blind. Jack also prevents the boys from being rescued as he let the fire go out when there was a ship nearby. Jack and the choir look more evil when they turn into savages by using face paints. Piggy could never be a savage, as for some reason his hair never grows. After more arguments, Jack decides to split from Ralph and starts his own group, clearly showing the divisions on the island. At his feast, they mistakenly kill Simon, one of Ralph’s followers who was coming down the mountain to tell them about his discovery about the beast, when he was mistaken for the beast. He represents Christ, dying when trying to help others. Jack converts many of the followers of Ralph (good) to his tribe (evil). Jack raids Ralph’s camp, breaking Piggy’s glasses in an attempt to steal them. Piggy is now blind, and struggling to survive. When Ralph confront Jack about this, Roger throws a rock over the cliff, which lands on Piggy, killing him and also destroying the conch, therefore destroying any chance of order on the island. Sam and Eric are captured; showing that good is really struggling to survive as only Ralph remains. They hunt for Ralph the next day, and nearly kill him, but Ralph falls at the feet of a navy officer, who restores order to the island and wipes out any evil influences. Therefore, the ‘Lord of the Flies’ shows the struggle between good and evil in many ways, using a lot of symbolism. In the end, good manages to vanquish evil.
