Ralph Lord Of The Flies Comparison Essay

Nishanth Mekala

Mr.Collins

English 9

15 March 2023

The character differences between Ralph and Jack

“Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad... but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.” Thomas Hobbs. This quote is an ever-present theme in the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding. The novel is about a group of British boys getting stuck on an island in the Pacific. The story follows the boys as they try to maintain some figment of society and order but in their attempts, they fail to do so. This struggle to maintain order is ever present in the 2 main characters Jack and Ralph as they fight each other to determine who has the proper methods for maintaining order. There attempt to make society

Jack on the other hand is the fact that he is too power hungary and always looks for ways to increase his power but decrease others. In the novel, the boys start as a bunch of kids trying to establish rules. They then select their leader. They select Ralph as he is the one that blew the conch. Ralph takes this in stride and says yes and becomes the leader of the tribe he tries his best and organizes the tribe somewhat decently but then the narrator says “Ralph…would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a good chess player.”(Golding 117pg). This shows that Ralph is a bad leader because it says he's bad at chess. Since Ralph thinks that all decisions today are like a chess game Ralph just does not know how to properly lead him. If you put someone that does not know how to lead in a position to lead then they will be very ineffective at their job. The second instance where Ralph is shown as an

As the story goes it becomes more and more apparent that Jack is losing himself to the forest and is becoming a beast this also leads to the fact that he was becoming power-hungry and a savage. When he says” I’m not going to play anymore. Not with you...I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot—”(golding) This quote exemplifies jacks power struggle since he is leaving the group. He wants to be a leader and since he did not get to be a leader he leaves the group and makes his tribe. This also leads the the destabilizing of the tribe as they have lost on of the more prominent figures this was a very selfish and power-hungry move as since he did not get what he liked he destroyed the tribe and made his own with him at the center. Another quote that exemplifies Jack's hunger for power was” Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat”(golding 91pg) This quote shows that jack is becoming a savage boy since he is rejecting rules and is restoring to violence to solve all his problems. This leads to many fo the boys following him in abandoning rules which in many cases are the fundamental corner stone of society with out them society would not function and would fail. Jack is hear