Name: Aaqib Hussain

(BENF18M046)

Class: BS English

Semester: 5th

Submitted to: Prof. Faheem Arshad

Topic: Critical difference between Ralph and Jack

Department Of English
University Of Sargodha
 Critical difference between Ralph and Jack

A Difference Between the personality of the Two:

, a marked difference between the personality of the two boys and between their temperaments is
clearly seen evet this early stage in the story. Jack thinks himself to be superior to Ralph by
virtue of the position that he has been holding in his school and by virtue of his present position
as the head of the choir, and the members of which are still duly obedient to him. Then Jack
shows a strong inclination to kill a piglet which has got entangled among the creepers. He takes
out his knife to kill the piglet but refrains from actually killing it. At this point he does not kill
the piglet because of his sense of "the enormity" of the act of killing. However, he declares that
he would show no mercy to a pig when he gets another opportunity to kill it. He then slams his
knife into a tree-trunk to give point to his remark. He tells the assembly that in the course of their
exploration of the island they have seen no houses, no smoke, no foot-prints, no boats, and no
people. Ralph also points out to the assembly the need of maintaining some kind of discipline on
the island, and so he makes the suggestion that ...”whoever wants to speak at an assembly can do
so,,only if be test asks for the conch and then holds the conch in his hands. “Ralph further says
that it is good island, that it is their island, and that they can have fun on this island until the
grown-ups come to rescue them, while Jack says once again that there are pigs on the island and
that there is food on the island, meaning that, the meat of the pigs is the food that they can hope
to eat.

The correspondence between the Two in the beginging:

Ralph and Jack, they make a striking difference to each other. Indeed, each one is different from
the other. Each is almost an antipode of the other. All in all, Ralph represents the law of
righteousness, and Jack stands for the principle of evil. At first, Jack no doubt behaved in a way
that could not be described as disgusting or unpleasant. While Ralph suggests (just in the first
chapter) that boys should have a king then Jack says that he (Jack) should be automatically
accepted as king on the grounds that he is "a manager and a big boy", and that he can sing and
having extraordinary abilities. But when most boys vote for Ralph, Jack accepts Ralph as king
kindly, and Ralph, in turn, allows Jack to continue to be the leader .......as this time the author
writes: "Jack and Ralph smile at each other in embarrassment." Then they go on a trip to find out
if they are really on the island, with Simon. for all three boys as they did their mission of
exploring the island. Ralph and Jack seemed to get along very well during the exploration, and
both felt happy and shouting

Similarities between both at early stage:

After all the differences between Ralph amd jack,. However, there is still much that is common
between Ralph and Jack. After the fire has been lighted on announcement which shows that there
is no divergence of opinion between him and Ralph. This is what Jack says on this the mountain-
top, Jack makes an important occasion:
“I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We’re
English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things.”
Jack at this time even undertakes to keep the fire on the mountain-top burning all the time; and
he entrusts some of his hunters with the task of keeping the fire alive.

Differences between both:

Very soon after expressing his concurrence with Ralph, we find Jack devoting himself mainly to
his self-chosen task of hunting pigs. At the beginning of Chapter III, Jack is described as
exploring; the forest all alone in search of pig-tracks. The spirit of adventure is strong, in Jack.
Ralph's announcement that the chief aim of the boys should be to attract the attention of the
sailors of a passing ship so that the boys can be rescued has not made much impression upon
Jack who now becomes obsessed with his desire to hunt down pigs. Ralph had also suggested
that, next to maintaining the fire on the mountain-top, the chief priority of the boys should be to
build huts or shelters on the beach. But Jack's main priority is the hunting of pigs. This difference
of outlook brings about the first quarrel between the two boys. When Ralph reminds Jack about
the need of building shelters, Jack tries to convey to him his compulsion to track down pigs in,
order to kill them. Ralph becomes furious at Jack's adverse reaction. Jack says that the boys must
have meat to eat, while Ralph says that the boys are in need of shelters;
This contrast is further emphasized when Jack succeeds in killing a pig for the first time. While
Jack was away hunting in the forest, Ralph had seen a ship in the distance on the sea. But, as
Jack had taken all his hunters with him, nobody had fed the fire on the mountain-top, with the
result that the fire had gone out and there had been no trace of any smoke. Jack isolated by his
success in having killed a pig and he describes his achievement to Ralph, saying that Ralph
should have been present at the spot in order to see the blood coming out of the pig’s body.
Ralph scolds Jack for having allowed the fire on the mountain-top to go out. A golden
opportunity of being rescued has been lost, according to Ralph.

Civilization v Barbarism:
Ralph repeatedly insists on the need to maintain a fire because his aim is that the boys should be
rescued from this island. Jack hardly ever refers to the desirability or possibility of rescue. Jack
becomes obsessed with the hunting of pigs. He evolves a strategy for killing them. This strategy
consists in painting his face with red clay, with white clay, and with charcoal. He asks his
hunters also to paint their faces in the same way. Now this painting of faces is a step towards the
barbarism of primitive times. On one occasion Jack, after having killed a pig, offers the slain
pig's head to the beast as gift. This is a ritual suiting the primitive people of ancient times. In the
course of a frenzied mock-hunt held by Jack and his boys, Simon gets killed, but Jack
experiences no guilt. On the contrary, Jack gives out that the beast has been killed, while Ralph,
speaking to Piggy, describes Simon's death as a murder. Jack now goes on becoming more and
more savage and brutal. Soon afterwards Piggy is killed by Roger's releasing rock from above.
Jack does not object at all to what Roger has done, because Roger must have known that Jack
would approve of Roger's action in killing Piggy. Ralph's own life is now in danger because Jack
has become so bloodthirsty that he and his savages pursue Ralph who flees to save his life. Ralph
has felt shocked by the manner in which Piggy has been killed, and he knows that Jack would
not spare his life also in case Jack can lay his hands upon him (Ralph). Thus, while Ralph
remains true to the values of civilization, Jack has become a complete barbarian and a primitive
savage. This contrast is a key to our understanding of Golding's message to us.

Ralph as Open-Hearted but Jack, as a Strategy man:

Ralph is a frank and open-hearted boy. He conceals nothing from others. There is nothing
secretive about him or his plans. He always lays bare his mind and reveals, without any
reservations, how his mind is working. It is true that Ralph prevaricates with regard to the
circumstances in which Simon was killed; but not for long. He soon comes out with his sense of
quilt insofar as he had been a silent witness to the killing of Simon by Jack's savages. He then
tells Piggy frankly that he thinks the death of Simon to be a "murder", though Piggy at this stage
disagrees, referring to Simon's death as an “accident". It is true also that on one occasion, when
Ralph thinks that the beast is about to invade his hut, he prays that the beast should spare him
and should devour one of the Littluns; but that only shows that Ralph is morally not perfect.
Ralph does offer a contrast to Jack in this respect because Jack is a strategist who does not shrink
from using cunning methods to achieve his objectives. When Jack instigates the boys against
Ralph and calls upon them to disown. Ralph as the chief, Jack distorts and twists the facts. On
this occasion Jack tells the boys that Ralph has criticized the hunters and has called them
cowards. Actually, Ralph has said no such thing against the hunters, but Jack's purpose on this
occasion is to prejudice the hunters against Ralph. Jack then also says that Ralph is a coward
himself because, while Jack and Roger had climbed up to the mountain-top in order to look for
the beast, Ralph had stayed behind. This too is a distortion of facts because Ralph too had
climbed up to the mountain-top. Jack then goes on to point out some of Ralph's shortcomings.
Ralph is not a hunter, says Jack, Ralph has never got them any meat; Ralph was never ahead boy;
Ralph just gives orders and expects people to obey him for nothing. Finding that all his
arguments have failed to evoke much response from the boys, Jack now adopts another trick. He
begins to shed tears and tells the boys, that he would no longer stay with them and that he cannot
continue to be a follower of Ralph. He then says that he is going away all by himself and that, if
anyone wants to hunt pigs, he can follow him (Jack). This strategy succeeds, and most of the
Biguns follow Jack.
Ralph's Introspective Nature; Jack, a Believer in Action:
Another point of contrast between these two boys is that while Ralph is introspective and
contemplative by nature, Jack has no inner life. Ralph often gets into a reminiscent mood and
begins to brood upon his past life. He thinks of the days of his childhood when he used to live in
a cottage on the edge of the moors in England. He often indulges in fancies of different kinds
while falling-asleep. Sometimes he merely gets lost in thinking of his present circumstances,
such as how long his hair has grown and how dirty his shirt has become. Often Ralph also
experiences an obstruction in his thinking. It sometimes seems to him that a cloud has descended
upon his mind and obscured his vision. Jack has no such moods and tendencies. He has chosen a
certain course of action, namely hunting, and he pursues this activity without any scruples or
hesitation. He then aims at becoming the chief, and he directs all his efforts to the attainment of
that aim. Having achieved his desire, Jack begins to lead the life of a primitive tribal chief,
hunting down pigs and also hunting down those whom he regards as his opponents. It is true that
Ralph too is capable of action. Ralph-too is bold and daring as for instance, when he is able to
attack and wound a boar which had rushed towards him, as when he fights the raiders in his hut,
as when he goes and confronts Jack, calling him a beast, a swine, and a bloody, bloody thief, and
as when he makes desperate efforts to save his life from the savages who are chasing him
relentlessly. But, while Ralph thinks as well as acts, thinking in the sense of meditation or
contemplation or reflection is foreign to Jack's nature.

Evil versus Good:

In symbolic terms, Jack represents the, principle of evil, while Ralph represents the principle of
good. The main theme of this novel is the conflict between good and evil, and the partial triumph
of evil, even though Golding has himself said that the novel does not depict the triumph of evil
over good but the rescue of good from the clutches of evil. Released from the restraints of school
discipline and the obligations of a civilized life, Jack rapidly develops into a savage and a
barbarian. The evil instinct in him finds ample scope on the island to grow and flourish. Ralph,
on the contrary, clings to the values of civilization and, to the kind of discipline which he had
imbibed at school. Evidently, goodness is filled in Ralph's mental make-up, while evil
preponderates in Jack's nature. Ralph too does bad to some extent under the conditions of life on
the island but the goodness in him remains largely intact. Jack goes on morally decline till the
goodness in him becomes almost extinct. Evil is certainly victorious on the island because a
noble boy like Simon is killed, and a good hearted and wise boy like Piggy is deliberately
murdered; and there is no doubt that Ralph too would have been tortured to death if the naval
officer had not arrived in time. Evil is inherent inhuman-nature: such is the message of Golding.