The Relationship of Jack and Ralph in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

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The Relationship of Jack and Ralph in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

The relationship ship between Ralph and Jack is essential to what

happens in Lord of the flies. Things start off well at the first

meeting when Jack and the choir first arrive and are greeted by Ralph

and the other boys. The group of boys vote for a chief who turns out

to be Ralph as "The circle of boys broke into applause. Even the choir

applauded; and the freckles on Jack's face disappear under a blush of

mortification" making him feel embarrassed that he has not been chosen

chief and that his choir are not supporting him.

Then Ralph says "the choir belongs to you of, course" and "The

suffusion drained away from Jack's face" making Jack feel important

and that he has power and is no longer ashamed. Jack decides that the

choir will be used for hunting and he and Ralph "smiled at each other

with shy liking" This is where friendship is beginning between the two

boys though it does not take too long to begin to brake down.

The breakdown is caused by the boy's different obsessions. Jack who

had let the pig escape in plain sight of Ralph and Simon wants to kill

a pig to prove he's not weak and is haunted by this so he is obsessed

with killing a pig to prove himself. On the other hand Ralph does not

care about the pigs and he sees what really needs to be done first

which are the construction of the shelters and the maintaining of the

fire. When they decide to construct shelters that's when the drift

between Ralph and Jack starts as Ralph wants the shelters built and

Jack only wants to hunt a pig.

When Jack first arrives at one of the shelters and asks for some
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...ght the fire

again" not really caring as he is so happy that he has finally killed

a pig. Again Ralph says "You let the fire out" causing Jack to feel

uneasy and he looks at the twins and says "We had to have them in the

hunt" though he was "conscious of a fault" Jack realises he is wrong

but tries to dismiss it saying "The fire's only been out for an hour

or two. We can light up again-" but stops after seeing Ralph's

"scarred nakedness, and the sombre silence of all four of them" Ralph

points to the horizon and says "There was a ship" These few striking

words force Jack to back away back to the pig. From this point on the

friendship between Jack and Ralph completely breaks down and this is

where the real problems begin on the island with each disagreeing more

and more until Jack begins his own group where he is chief.

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