If the boys weren’t trapped on the island, they would not be forced to grow into a slaughterer. Furthermore, another conflict that acts upon the boy’s tremendous transition is lack of authority. The boys set rules and restrictions when they make their presence on the island; “We’ll have rules… lots of rules!” (33) The boys eventually learned to manipulate their freedom: “You’re breaking the rules!”(91) “Who cares?” (91) The lack of authority made it impossible to keep the rules enforced. Things worsened due to lack of restrictions: “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… the rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…” (181) Lack of authority severely triggers the boy’s transition. Hence, if there were more authority the boys could not stand a chance for such dreadful change.
Jack is constantly challenging Ralph’s authority throughout the novel and wanting a position of power. When he first discovered the thrill of killing during his hunt for pig, he became addicted and couldn’t stop. “While the boys were making huts for shelter, Jack was off hunting instead of helping with the huts. All he cared about was that the boys needed meat” (55). Unlike most of the other boys, not only did Jack become a savage, but also he became a murderer.
Piggy hung bumbling behind them…. Ralph stopped and turned back to Piggy. “Look.. You can’t come.”(William Golding p.31.32) On the contrary, this further explains, that Simon can indeed get along with the other boys on the island, but on the other hand Piggy can’t , he’s always excluded , and the outsider at all times. Additionally, Piggy is always being bullied, like when in the novel had only commented “ What’s any use. We couldn’t keep a fire like that going, not if we tried.”(William Golding p.52) And since he doesn’t have a good relationship with others, they are always mean to him.
his arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him . . . ” (Golding 65). The boys struggle to come to terms with the reality of being trapped on the island without any grownups and therefore expect the usual punishments that were expelled upon them during their lives prior to the crash.
Spill his blood! Do him in!” (168). By becoming so carried away and building up such desire to kill, the boys mistake Simon for the beast and murder him instantly. Finally, the boys’ savagery is also portrayed in the murder of Piggy. Nobody was allowing Piggy the opportunity to speak his mind, disregarding any of his opinions.
You talk. But you can’t even build huts – then you go off hunting and let the fire out”. Had the fire been going the ship might have seen the smoke and rescued the boys. This makes Ralph very angry and a clear division is made between Jack and his hunters and Ralph. Because of the savage nature brought out from within the boys, they make an irrational choice to hunt rather than the reasonable choice of keeping the fire going.
Jacks priorities are very different to Ralph, he feels like doing, later, to take power away from Ralph and lastly, to get rid of anyone who opposes him. Once Jack losses the vote to Ralph as leader of the group (Golding 19), after he loses the election to Ralph, he becomes quick to oppose everything Ralph plans to do. He states that his job is going to be to hunt pigs so he could provide the boys with meat and himself with something to pass the time and oppose Ralph’s ideas. Jack does whatever suits his interests an example of this is when the signal fire goes out and Jack only cares that they killed a pig. Ralph is the opposite of Jack, he believes in leading with a democratic style, which gives people freedom of opinion, as well as equality to all group members.
His importance has lead to him ordering his hunters to forget about the beast so that they wouldn’t have any nightmares. This is illustrated when he says ‘Jack paused cradling the conch’ This suggests that he wants to have things his own way and is mostly concerned about himself Jack is presented as a violent and impulsive character. He tries to assert power and authority over the boys with threat and violence and he is selfish, only thinking about what he wants at
He antagonises Ralph; he antagonises the boys’ hope of rescue. To juxtapose these two characters allows us to see Jack’s unruly use of power coupled with his arrogance, pride and vanity. “Ralph is like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief,” – Jack.
Although he’s a stubborn person, he can also be considered a pushover. For example, as Jack bullied Piggy, he just stood by and watched rather than helped him out. Also, as they were trying to hunt for the beast, Ralph got carried away along with the other boys and started acting wildly. When it came to defending his power, Ralph wasn’t able to convince everyone else. As Jack defied him, all he could say was “I’m the chief” or “I have the conch”.