Ralph and Jack Lord of the Flies

Throughout the novel we see that Ralph and Jack share similar qualities, but there is a great difference in the way they use these attributes to benefit both themselves and others. Ralph uses his power to create a democracy, where each person has the right to voice his opinions and ideas. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking and he won’t be interrupted.” The conch becomes a symbol of the right of a speaker to a fair hearing. While Jack uses his authority to produce a, hostile environment where he controls the doings of his tribe. “Tomorrow we shall hunt” and “He said we weren’t to let you in.” Whilst both characters have the chance to exercise their power, both do so in a disparate way, with Ralph aiming to benefit the group as a whole, and Jack himself profiting from his actions. Ralph and Jack begin the novel with similar beliefs, both wanting to implement rules. “I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them.” Ralph concentrates on being rescued and Jack goes along with this taking on the responsibility that he and his choir will mind the fire. “We’ll be responsible for keeping the fire going-”, but while Ralph remains focused on being rescued, Jack’s new-found interest in hunting leads him to forget about rescue. ‘Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first-.” As the story evolves, so to do Ralph and Jack’s different opinions.
The pressure on Ralph and Jack’s different ideas peak when Jack forgets about his responsibilities in order to hunt. When Ralph tells Jack a ship had passed, and Jack had let the fire go out, because he had been hunting, all Jack can say is “You should have seen the blood!” We witness Jack step out of the world of civilization and cross into a world of savagery. From here Jack and Ralph’s similarities deteriorate and a gap develops between them, causing many problems due to conflicting viewpoints. “They walked along, two continents of experience and