Week 3

This week in English class, we continued to read and analyze the novel Lord of the Flies.  Similar to previous weeks, our main focus was on the process of developing characters, or characterization.  We looked at how the two characters—Ralph and Jack— have evolved since the beginning of the novel and the conflicts between them.

This is a book cover of Lord of the Flies.

In the chapter one, Ralph is portrayed to be well-built, handsome, tan, confident, gregarious, and leader-like—ultimately his description resembles the perfect person—however we began to see his imperfections as the novel advances.  Although his appearance remains the same, his mannerisms change slightly.  Ralph is introduced to the story as a relaxed, nonchalant character, but now it is evident that Ralph is more concerned and serious.  He is very persistent about order, which contradicts his desire to have fun at the beginning of the novel.  Ralph always seems to know what is best for everyone, but not everyone listens to him.

At the beginning of the novel, Jack appeared to have greed; he desired power.  Jack was introduced to the story in a way in which he conducted himself as a leader-like figure or at least someone who desires to lead, however his character traits have altered drastically; the reader holds a jaundiced view towards Jack, because now he is almost wicked and selfish.  All he ever talks or thinks about is hunting and killing pigs.  His demeanor has transformed from the desire to have order and be rescued to the desire to kill.  He seems to have a very peculiar urge to kill, which is most likely due to his desire to feel powerful.  This unusual urge for power keeps getting stronger and stronger as the novel advances.  Jack's more tenacious sense of greed is most likely due to his jealousy towards Ralph—the true leader.  Jack sees Ralph as a powerful, intelligent leader—his desired characteristics—therefore he feels the need to compete with Ralph to prove himself as a strong, leader-like figure.  This, along with the extraneous face paint, ultimately shows that he is not "comfortable in his own skin"; he wants to be a different person.  Often, in real life, people are uncomfortable with who they are.  These people—one of which is Jack—are usually very confused, and it takes much reflection for them to find their place, or role, in society.

Furthermore, Ralph and Jack are opposites in a copious amount of ways; motivation, appearance, and mannerisms.  Although there is a saying that states that opposites attract, in this case, opposites do not.  Instead Ralph and Jack constantly fight and are in conflict between each other. For example, when all the boys are discussing “the beast” at a meeting, Ralph and Jack both agree that there is no beast, but their explanations of it are completely different.  Ralph tries to make his point that there is no beast on the island by connecting to the other boys, especially the “littluns”.  He divulged that he is frightened sometimes also and it’s not a big deal, but there is no reason to be scared.  Ralph’s main focus is to get past the beast issue and worry about the participation in doing the necessary things to survive and get rescued from the island.  However, Jack steps in and coerces the little ones that they need to deal with their fear.  He yells at the little ones and says, “You’re a lot of cry-babies and sissies”.  These two explanations show an example of confliction between Ralph and Jack and it also foreshadows that there are more conflicts between them to come.

This is a picture of Jack (left) and Ralph (right) most likely during a confrontation.