Friday, February 1, 2019

What is the relationship between the boys of Lord of the Flies, especially Ralph and Jack?

At first, the relationship between Ralph and Jack is quite friendly. Both boys are in the same boat, and they seem to realize that they need to work together if they're to make the island in any way habitable.
But soon, relations between the two rapidly start to deteriorate. The main problem is that Jack wants to be the undisputed leader and hates to see Ralph in charge. Unlike Ralph, Jack doesn't believe in rules, democracy, and all the things that make for a well-run, ordered society. He just wants to be king of the castle, head honcho, or just plain old dictator.
Jack comes to see Ralph as the biggest single obstacle to the absolute power he so desperately craves. It's not surprising, then, that he should set out to remove him from the scene once and for all by killing him. Once his thug-in-chief Roger kills Piggy and destroys the conch-shell with it—the symbol of a rules-based order—Jack no longer feels under any constraints. So he hunts down Ralph like an animal, like one of the many pigs he's so brutally killed since he arrived on the island. Jack no longer sees Ralph as in any way human; he's just a dangerous animal that needs to be slaughtered, and quickly.

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