Ralph Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

The other boys, tempted away from civility by the more natural urges the island and Jack present, abandon Ralph, thus abandoning the ways they’d been taught to act in a British society. ‘He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.’ (Golding 64) Jack teaches them how to hunt the pigs and displays aggressive behaviors they then partake in, exposing a dark side inside of not only the boys, but all of us. This shows a kind of nurture, but a sinister one developed in nature. ‘In his famous Bobo doll experiment, (Albert) Bandura demonstrated that children could learn aggressive behaviors simply by observing another person acting aggressively.’ (Cherry 13) Jack remains at the forefront of his band of savages as their leader after being previously rejected from Ralph’s society. ‘Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.’(Golding 23) Jack is the obvious choice for leader in the way he conducts himself and how he had the arrogance of one who leads,

When the storm comes, “A wave of restlessness set the boys swaying and moving aimlessly” and “the littluns began to run about, screaming.”(P187) Jack demands that savages do the ceremonial dance just as they do it before killing pigs to achieve a sense of security. Even “Piggy and Ralph […] found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society” (P187). However, Simon appears for his decision of sharing his discovery about the beast at this time, and this is absolutely inopportune. All of the boys, include Piggy and Ralph, brutally beat him to death. After this assembly, The boys are officially divided into two groups -- one is lead by Ralph and the other one is under Jack's control.

In the reading, Golding describes, “Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and smudged blood over his forehead as he pushed down the plastered hair,” which is an example of imagery. By using imagery, Golding creates an image for the readers and describes how passionate and obsessed Jack is with hunting. With this technique, it created a vision of Jack, Golding shows Jack’s true poison of obsession and narrow-minded. While everyone on this island is trying to find rescue, Jack goes off and hunts for a pig instead of helping the others. Further, Golding mentions how Piggy states, “ You didn’t ought to have let that fire out.

Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (Golding 104). In a normal situation in society what the boys were chanting would be deemed inappropriate. But, since the boys are falling away from regular civilization actions such as the one in the quote are starting to be classified as morally acceptable in their eyes.

This displays his control over their fear of the beast and this act uplifts Jack’s power status. Jack converts their fear into power and is able to win the view of the community. In the middle of the book, it is evident that both boys have different goals. This can be seen, when Ralph and Jack fight about which is more important, building protection/ shelter (Ralph’s opinion) or hunting for food (Jack’s opinion). The quote, “rules, rules, so many rules”, illustrates his approach to survival, which is to hunt for food, while having fun.

On the island, he is burdened with responsibilities such as leadership and organization. Despite Jack encouraging and pressuring his inner savage to come out, Ralph continues to contribute to the enhancement of society. Even after partaking in Simon’s murder and acting savagely, he does not fully give himself over to it. Ralph instantly feels remorse and guilt for his actions: essential human qualities. Golding makes this evident and describes, “Ralph, cradling the conch, rocked himself to and fro” (Golding 157).

Jack is always wanting to go hunting and have a more savage “tribe”, while Ralph wishes to keep the group civilized and neat. Because they both have contrary beliefs, they butt heads and disagree very often. Readers can see this play out when a few boys (Including Ralph and Jack, who’re the main two arguing) who went off to decide if they need to let Piggy know what’s going on. “Jack cleared his throat and spoke in a queer, tight voice. ‘We mustn’t let anything happen to Piggy, must we?’” (117).

In the beginning of the story, the mask adds to Jack's identity by making him feel anonymous. Before he puts the mask on he is scared to kill the pig, but the addition of the mask makes him feel anonymous and he builds up the courage to kill the pig. Golding writes, “He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing of his own, behind which Jack hid liberated from shame and self consciousness . (Golding 64)” When Jack has

Due to Jack’s increasing obsession with hunting pigs, his clear dislike for anyone who disagrees with his thoughts and the fact that he is slowly gaining more support from the other boys, leads me to believe the novel will end with Jack murdering Piggy, symbolizing complete detachment from morality since Piggy symbolizes civil thought. If I were to rewrite this conclusion I would have Jack realize the importance of order, make a compromise with Ralph, and peacefully have the group rescued from the island. In my opinion, Ralph is the one of most compelling characters in this novel. Although Ralph symbolizes order and civilization during certain points of the book he struggles to overcome savage desires. Despite being angry with Jack for letting the fire go out, when Jack and his hunters tell the rest of the group about their hunt Ralph sits quietly and is filled with envy.

Gene was out for Finny because he thought Finny was trying to be better than everyone else. By jouncing the limb and breaking Finny’s leg, Gene no longer had to worry about Finny being the star of greatness. Throughout the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, there are many examples of how greatness can cause others to act indifferently. Certain aspects of this can be positive but, they mostly possess a negative connotation. Gene becomes more outgoing and more willing to do things, but at the same time envies Finny and does things that could ruin their friendship.

The beast is metaphoric of the crude feral nature within every human, though naturally more prominent in those who act on it willingly. Simon later encounters the Lord of the Flies (a pig’s head on a stick that Jack left as a sacrifice for the beast) who “speaks” to Simon while he is having a brain clot. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that it is the beast, that it’s inside of everyone. “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (Page 143) it tells him, reminding Simon that to defeat the “beast”, or evil, within a person is impossible to physically accomplish. It’s as if everyone has a ticking time bomb of malevolence that is kept in check by our moral values and societal standards.