Lord of the Flies- Jack vs. Ralph

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Camilla Mauritzen

English IB 1K

Ms. Lake

22.09.08

Compare and Contrast two characters- Ralph and Jack

      Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book about a plane crashing onto a deserted island with the only survivors being children, all of them boys, who were on that plane. This novel was meant to portray boys being just that, -boys. Boys doing exactly what boys would naturally do, not what boys should do in order to become perfect angels.  Much of the idea behind the descent from civilization to savagery is based on Golding's real experiences during World War II.  They set up a kind of society to stay together, and they hope that they will, hopefully, soon be rescued. 

        Two of the first characters we meet in Lord of the Flies are Ralph and Jack. The two of them are natural leaders and compete with each other to gain the most power. They are both friends and enemies, as they both want the same thing but do not know how to work together to achieve what they want.

      Ralph is a born leader, he may sometimes be careless, and he really strives to get off the island they get marooned on. He is described as "handsome", with fair hair and an athletic build. His very name tells us alot about his personality,  originating from the Anglo-Saxon language and meaning 'counsel'. Just as this implies, Ralph is calm natured, thinks clearly through things (or at least tries), and thinks about the cause and consequence in both the short term and the long term. When the society is to vote for a leader, Ralph is chosen because the boys feel that he has leadership qualities and they feel they can easily trust him. 'Let's vote-/ Him with the shell./ Ralph! Ralph!' However those who get power thrust upon them are not always the ones best suited to rule. Ralph begins by trying to find order and create a working society, however his inexperience at being in control becomes apparent when he sets off on an expedition of the island with Simon and Jack to explore the island without leaving anyone in charge of the remaining boys.This is very foolish, as he had no idea how the boys would react to this small freedom in a new existence; things could happen without surveillance. We can easily imagine that Piggy is in charge, but we cannot be sure because it is not mentioned in the book in any manner or form. It seems Ralph learns from his mistakes though, and as the book progresses we see the progression of leadership in him. When he decides they need a meeting to discuss the failing of following what little rules they have and the failure of not guarding the fire, Ralph remains clear-headed throughout and always focuses on what to say next. "He was searching his mind for simple words so that even the littluns would understand what the meeting was about./ He had learnt as a practical business that fundamental statements like this had to be said at least twice, before everyone understood them." Ralph seems to rise to the occasion, proving that he can live up to the leadership skills the boys first saw in him when they voted him leader.  Ralph has a personality which requires him to do the right thing, however he often doesn't succeed in this. An example would be when he first summons the boys together and he tries to save his newly-found friend Piggy from the torments of the crowd. "He's not Fatty," cried Ralph, "His real name's Piggy!" Although this may seem a very decent thing to have done, it was poorly executed. Piggy had confided in Ralph that "I don't care what they call me, so long as it's not what they called me at school. They used to call me 'Piggy'.". Ralph had then completely forgotten this fact and instead managed to tell the whole population of boys Piggy's "secret".  However Ralph obviously regrets this later on "Ralph, looking with more understanding at Piggy, saw that he was hurt and crushed. He hovered between the two courses of apology or further insult." Although not specifically mentioned that he did apologize, the fact that he even considered it an option shows regret. From this we see that although there are a lot of positive things about Ralph, there are always negatives.

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Jack, however, is extremely arrogant, but intelligent at the same time. His name originates from the hebrew word meaning "one who supplants" or "one who enables". As with Ralph, the meaning behind the name tells us a lot about the characters personality; Jack is very sly and manipulative, and comes eventually to replace Ralph as the ideal leader figure. Although one of the first things he says is seemingly meaningless -he boasts about being able to sing C sharp- however this is his way of implying that he is the best man there, and that he would be an ...

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