Some say that true character is revealed in the face of adversity. In Lord of the Flies the young boys in the story face adversity and find their true character. Kids crash land on a deserted island without adults. They work hard to survive and to be rescued. Parts of the group disagree and Ralph and Jack, the two main characters, form their own groups. Jack is all about hunting and surviving while Ralph is worried about getting rescued as soon as possible. After reading the story, Jack is an important character because of the conflict between him and Ralph and because of the roles they both play in the theme of the story. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Jack Merridew is obstinate because he is still young and does not understand …show more content…
He hasn’t grown and gone through experiences that could make him wise enough to understand the importance of respecting others and working together. “‘They’ve got our fire.’Rage shrilled his voice. ‘They stole it! That’s them. They blinded me. See? That’s Jack Merridew’”(Golding 169). This is an example of Jack’s lack of respect for Piggy and Ralph. Jack and his tribe didn’t bother thinking about the safety or needs of the other boys they were stealing from. “‘I say! You voted for me for chief. Didn’t you hear the conch? You played a dirty trick--we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it--’”(Golding 178). This quote is another example of how Jack’s lack of respect caused problems that did not need to occur. Jack is disrespectful to the entire group from the very beginning. At the beginning of the story a vote was held for who should be the leader and all of them voted for Ralph in a fair manner. And Jack has always gone against Ralph’s word because of his jealousy and …show more content…
He is insubordinate to all the ideas and rules held on the island. “‘He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.’” (Golding 126). In this quote Jack is saying because Ralph shares the same ideas with other people he dislikes he is not fit to be chief. “‘ …I mean…what makes things break up like they do?’ Piggy rubbed his glasses slowly and thought ‘I dunno, Ralph. I expect it's him. Jack? Jack.’ A taboo was evolving around that word too. Ralph nodded solemnly. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I suppose it must be.’"(Golding 139/140). This quote is from people’s perspective around jack. It still shows that his character creates conflict between many things. “The booing rose and died again as Piggy lifted the white, magic shell. ‘Which is better –to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?’ A great clamor rose among the savages. Piggy shouted again. ‘Which is better –to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?’ Again the clamor and again – ‘Zup!’ Ralph shouted against the noise. ‘Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’ Now Jack was yelling too and Ralph could no longer make himself heard. Jack had backed right against the tribe and they were a solid mass of menace that bristled with spears.”(Golding
A major part of Jack’s tribe that made him the superior leader over Ralph, was discipline, which Ralph did not have. When Piggy defied Jack and was killed, Jack yelled,” There isn’t a tribe for you anymore” (181)! Jack utterly destroyed Ralph’s power and led the boys with a sort of crazed discipline and order. Jack inadvertently, with the smoke from a fire, drew the attention of the Navy and had the rest of the boys on the island rescued; nevertheless, his real intention was to kill Ralph with fire. Jack had all of his tribe work hard for meat, or they would not eat.
As we can tell, the attempts of Piggy and Ralph fail to convince the speaker of this line, Jack, to give up on his ways and follow the rational plan laid before him. During this dialogue, Ralph argues with Jack about his rulings as the aforementioned character refuses to respect the rules of the assembly. This is because the only way to feel like they are still connected to society is to follow the leader’s rules and orders; similar to the grown-ups mentioned on the story.
Ralph’s Leadership In the Bible, a prince is entitled as a leader or ‘ruler’ under God. Joshua, in the Old Testament was gifted with the spirit of leadership to take the Israelites to the Promised Land. In the castaway adventure novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, Ralph leads the group of boys stranded on the island with him. He rose to the occasion as a responsible chief and can also be recognized as ‘the prince’.
"You let the fire go out." (69) This being Ralph speaking to Jack after Jack arrives on the mountain from his hunting venture, during which a ship passed by and the fire that he and the choir were responsible for had burned out and no longer gave off signal smoke. Jack’s response to this event was completely out of alignment with the interests of Ralph as a leader. "We can light the fire again.
Why elect a leader if you’re not going to follow their rules? In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the majority of the book takes place without adults. This leaves the boys stranded with no supervision of help from anyone but themselves. Without adults or resources, they must start from scratch to build their society. Even though many may see Jack as a strong leader, he prevents the boys from creating a perfect society and getting off the island efficiently.
This exemplifies that Jack doesn’t care about Ralph’s want of the fire, and would rather be out “cut[ting] pig’s throat[s]” (69). Later in the book, when Ralph decided to “climb [the mountain] tomorrow”, Jack viciously made Ralph aware that he was “going up the mountain” (119) at that very instant. Jack not only decided against Ralph, but he also said it in a fashion where he let Ralph know there was no debate against him. Through all of the arguments and conflicts going on between Ralph and Jack, Piggy is trying to make himself heard and be taken seriously. From the beginning of the book, Piggy was the laughing stock of the group.
Throughout the novel, Jack is constantly making-fun of Piggy and putting him down. “I’ve got the conch-” Jack turned around fiercely "You shut up." (Golding, 42). In the beginning, Ralph and Jack both didn’t care for Piggy, but along the way, Ralph comes to appreciate his wisdom and considers him a friend.
Later in the book, Jack invites Ralph and his tribe to a feast. After the meal, he offers the members of Ralph’s tribe to join his group, and Ralph dissuades those who agree, by saying that he will blow the conch and call an assembly. Nevertheless, Jack replies that he and his supporters “shan’t hear it” (Golding 167). This quote shows how much the relationship between Jack and Ralph has changed over time. Earlier, they were good friends, but now that Jack has power, he feels the need to exert it, which he does by showing hostility towards Ralph.
Jack automatically assumes that he will be the chief. However, more people votes for Ralph. Jack envies Ralph’s power as a leader, and in return he disobeys his job in the group. Ralph says, “I was chief; and you were going to do what I said…then you go off hunting and let the fire out. ”1
Jack has always been a natural-born leader, in the beginning, he was in control of the hunters and thought he would be elected chief. But since Ralph had the conch he didn’t become chief so ever since then Jack has tried to do things that a chief would do he wasn’t allowed because he wasn’t the chief. For example, “Jack stood up, scowling in gloom and held out his hands… But you’ve talked and talked… Jack sat down grumbling”(Golding 81-82).
Being authoritative and clever when situated in a life and death scenario is the characteristics an effective leader must possess. However, if we were to compare the differences in Jack’s and Ralph’s rule, it’ll be two completely distinct approaches. First of all, Ralph governs the group with a set of laws, such as the rule to maintain a constant fire signal. However, when people oppose Ralph, he doesn’t seem to punish them, but rather he does nothing. During the beastie assembly, after the outbreak of the crowd’s disobedience, Piggy told Ralph to blow the conch, but in response, he said, “ If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it…”(pg92).
After Jack and his choir agree to tend to the signal fire, Ralph spots a potential rescue ship but finds that Jack’s group let the fire go out as they went on a pig hunt, making Ralph extremely enraged and disappointed. Whereas previously there were only minor arguments that resolved quickly and easily that did not damage their relationship much, this marks the official beginning of the conflict of Ralph against Jack. After this incident was yet another turning point. What started off as an assembly “to put things straight” resulted in Jack disputing Ralph’s authority and leading everyone away in a show of clear mutiny. This shows that Jack is distancing himself and the group away from Jack.
Piggy expresses his fear for Jack. Continuing on page 93, “He can’t hurt [Ralph]: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s [Piggy].” Piggy is going on too say that Ralph could be the only leader, because Jack hates him, but he can’t do anything about it.
The age-old conflict into navigating hardships and challenges is often overseen by the internal conflict one withholds when faced with such adversities. May it be the forego of their morals and beliefs, or the tendency to hold onto them; it's undoubtedly true that in the face of hardship, one’s personality and values are challenged. One’s inclination to hold onto their ethics and values is impeccably demonstrated in the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, where the protagonist, Ralph, is faced with various internal and external challenges when navigating survival on an uninhabited island with a group of boys, following the wreckage of their plane. Ralph remains head-strong, ensuring the survival of the group, while simultaneously
Jack has changed greatly, over the course of William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Crashing onto an island without adults and having to survive put a strain on all of the boys, but Jack’s personality altered the most due to this experience. He went from living as an ambitious choir boy, to being a vicious, brutal, beast. Many things changed Jack on the island, but most of all, he created the monster he became.