Chapter 2: The relationship grows strained and wearier as the story progresses. The boys hold more assemblies more issues come into to focus. Jack becomes slightly more antagonistic when in front of the group. In one such assembly one of the littluns spoke to the group through Piggy and spoke of a beast that he saw creeping around in the night. Ralph tried to throw out these ideas by claiming that there was no such beast on the island, only “in big countries, like Africa, or India.” The talk of the beast was spreading fear and tension through the group and while Ralph was trying to expel the thoughts by saying, “There isn’t a beast”, Jack was encouraging the idea by saying that if there was a beast, “We’d kill it!” Later in the same assembly, Ralph uses his power to good effect when he changes the subject from the beast to rescue. It is his idea that they should have a signal fire for any passing ships to pick up on and then to rescue the boys from their tropical paradise island. Ralph decides to burn the fire on the mountain, at which point Jack takes things his own hands with shouts of “Come on, Follow me!” At this, the group completely ignore Ralph waving the conch and follow Jack up the mountain. These acts’ of Jack shows the difference between himself and Ralph. Ralph tries to keep things calm and civilised and Jack is more barbaric and savage ready at any point to kill anything, just for the want to kill. Jack strikes fear into the group by encouraging fearful ideas to blossom and Ralph is against these things. The fear that Jack makes causes tension but Ralph’s idea about the fire unites the group to work towards rescue. I still think that Ralph is in control because he has thrown out Jack’s sinister ideas about the mountain. Quote “Ralph was annoyed and, for the moment, defeated.”
Chapter 3: The relationship between them is very cruel when Jack goes off hunting alone and leaves Ralph and Simon to build huts and the choir doesn’t help. Again Ralph symbolises the civilised world outside the island and Jack symbolises the break up of man without the civilised world. Jack slips into a completely new world and becomes obsessed by the need to kill, hiding behind views that he hunts for the group and wants them all to have meat. Whilst Ralph continues to build huts to get shelter from the beast, he points out that Jack is not doing his bit for the group at all. The difference between the work that they do is that Jack wants to hunt, for himself not just the group and enjoys it, but Ralph is stuck building some “ruins” for shelters with only Simon for company. The two characters’ priorities are clearly different from one another. For the first time in the novel, Ralph’s control of the group is slightly slipping away because of Jack’s behaviour. Quote “They were both red in the face and found looking at each other difficult.”
Chapter 4: The relationship reaches a climax in dramatic fashion. When Ralph sees a ship from the beach he looks up at the mountain to see that the signal fire that Jack’s choir were in charge of was out, he runs up to the fire and finds Jack celebrating the first killing of a pig. This is the final straw for Ralph who is now tired of Jack’s disobeying orders in order to fulfil his own selfish needs to kill. The ship passed by and they were once again stuck on the island until the next opportunity arises. Because of Jack they didn’t have a hope this time. Jack had taken Sam and Eric from the fireside so that his hunting party could form a full circle in which to trap and kill a pig for meat. This indicates that Jack thinks that savagery and hunting is more important than civilisation, huts and rescue. The tension between Jack and Ralph has now reached its climax and ends with them squaring up to fight. Ralph makes the group see that Jack was wrong to let the ship pass and so Jack attempts to win back favour by bullying Piggy who had now made his way up the mountain. Once Jack “stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach” whatever link was left in the relationship between Ralph and Jack, was “snapped”. I think that in this chapter Ralph’s leadership has come back stronger and he is more confident as he calls for the meeting. Quote “Ralph brought his arm down, fist clenched, and his voice shook.”
Chapter 5: walks alone along the beach, thinking with frustration about the disintegration of the boys' efforts to improve their lives on the island in an orderly, civilized way that will maximize their chances of being rescued. The cruel behaviour, love of savagery, and lack of discipline have accelerated to such a point, especially among the hunters, that Ralph fears for the whole group. He decides to call a meeting to attempt to bring the group back into line. Late in the evening, he blows the conch shell, and the boys gather on the beach. Near the end of the meeting, Jack torments Piggy and when Ralph defends Piggy, Jack runs away. Many of the other boys run after him. In this chapter Jack has taken some of the leadership role with him as he runs away. Quote “Who are you anyway? Sitting there - telling people what to do.”
Chapter 6: In the darkness late that night, and carry the littluns back to the shelter before going to sleep. As the boys sleep, military airplanes battle fiercely above the island. None of the boys see the explosions and flashes in the clouds, because , who were supposed to watch the signal fire, have fallen asleep. A dead parachutist drifts down from the sky onto the island; his chute becomes tangled in some rocks and flaps in the wind, while his shape casts fearful shadows on the ground. His body is covered up by the parachute, but his head seems to rise and fall in the wind. When Sam and Eric wake up they tell Ralph and he organises an expedition. As they set out on the search, insists to Ralph that he is now in charge, because he is the head of the hunters and the search for the beast is a kind of hunt. Ralph is irritated, but in the effort of the search the problem quickly goes away. The boys soon reach a part of the island that none of them has ever explored before, a hill dotted with dark caves. The boys are afraid to go into the dark caves, so Ralph goes in to investigate them alone. He finds that while he is frightened to go into the darkness when he is among the other boys, he quickly regains his confidence once he is alone in the dark. Soon, Jack joins him in the cave. The group climbs the hill, and Ralph and Jack feel the old bond between them coming back. But the other boys begin playing games, pushing rocks into the sea, and many of them forget about the purpose of their expedition. Ralph angrily reminds them that they are looking for the beast, and says that they must return to the other mountain so that they can rebuild the signal fire. The other boys, lost in unusual plans to build a fort on the new hill, are displeased by his commands, but they unwillingly obey. In this chapter Jack really wants to be the group leader. This is shown when he argues the he should be leader for the “hunt”. Quote “Consciousness of the bad times in between came to the both”
Chapter 7: That afternoon, the hunters find pig droppings, and says that they should hunt the pig while they continue to search for the beast. The boys agree and quickly find a large boar, which leads them on a wild chase. Ralph has never been on a hunt before, and he quickly becomes caught up in the joy of the chase. He throws his spear at the boar. It glances off the animal's snout, but Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship. Jack holds up his arm, which was grazed by the boar's tusks. The boar escapes, but the boys are in anger after the hunt. Excitedly, they pretend to chase a boy named Robert playing the boar. They dance and chant and jab Robert with their spears, eventually forgetting that they are only playing a game. Beaten and in danger, Robert tries to drag himself away. The group nearly kills Robert before they remember themselves. When Robert suggests that they use a real boar in the game next time, Jack replies that they should use a littlun instead. The boys laugh. Ralph tries to remind everyone that they were only playing a game. Darkness falls, and Ralph says that they should wait until morning to climb the mountain, since it will do no good to hunt the monster at night. Jack calls him a coward, and Ralph finally agrees to go on the hunt simply to regain his position as leader in the eyes of the group. volunteers to return to the beach to tell and the littluns that they will not return until late that night. Ralph, , and Jack start to climb the mountain; then Ralph and Roger wait at the halfway point while Jack climbs alone to the top. He returns, breathlessly claiming to have seen the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up to have a look and see a terrifying image: a large, shadowy form, with the shape of a giant ape, making a strange flapping sound in the wind. Horrified, the boys hurry down the mountain to warn the group. In this chapter I think that Jack is in charge because he decides to hunt the boar and climb the mountain. Ralph agrees just because he wants to prove to Jack that he is not scared. Quote “Ralph heard the mockery and hated Jack.”
The relationship between Ralph and Jack is weakened because of Jack and his savageness, his selfishness and his greed for power, against Ralph’s intelligence, hard work and skill in trying to build a civilised and orderly environment for the boys to live in.
