Lord of the Flies; Compare and Contrast; Ralph and Jack Essay Example

The book Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is a 1950’s best seller and is read in many schools across the nation today. It is compelling and addictive and the further the reader gets into the story, the easier it becomes to read. Ralph and Jack are the two ‘leaders’ in the book. Although, Jack isn’t chosen as the leader at first, as he descends into savagery and loses innocence, he has more and more influence on some of the boys. The two boys, Ralph and Jack, are very different but they still have some similarities. In the book, Ralph is more innocent then Jack is. Ralph believes that he will be rescued by his father who is part of the navy. He thinks that as long as he keeps a fire burning that his father will find him as soon as he hears word that the plane was taken down. The fire is the only thing that really matters to Ralph because it symbolizes hope, hope to be rescued and taken away from the island. He assigns a boy, Samneric, to keep the fire burning so that if I ship or plane comes by, they will be noticed. “.. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us..” (13).As soon as Jack takes Samneric away from the fire, it is realized that Jack doesn’t really want to be rescued and he is trying to corrupt Ralph’s system. He thinks that they should be able to have fun and do whatever they want on the island, which would undoubtedly lead to havoc and chaos in the end. Jack tries to get more boys to join him and the hunters. “I gave you food,” said Jack, “and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?” (150.) Ralph knows that he has to keep things organized in order to have things running smooth and everyone to be taken care of. Ralph and Jack are very different in many ways. Ralph wants order and organization kept in case of possible rescue. He tries to keep the boys as civilized as possible because he believes that it is the best way to keep everyone safe. Jack doesn’t want this, he wants