Compare and contrast Ralph and Jack as leaders

Ralph and Jack signify different themes and ideas throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’. They both have different personalities but in some aspects they are similar. For example, they both want to be leaders, but they want to lead in different ways. The two boys are from typical English public schools so their background is similar yet their personalities contrast. Ralph is calm and fair; he represents order, leadership and civilisation. On the other hand Jack is very authoritative and represents unbridled savagery and desire for power.

As the book progresses we see these traits becoming even stronger in Jack, as if he were a dictator like Hitler from the Second World War, which was when the ‘Lord of the Flies’ was set.

When Ralph first finds himself stranded on the island, it is as if he couldn’t care less as to how he got there. The fact that he has just survived a plane crash, in which many adults have died in, does not seem to bother him at all.

The first thing he does is rip off all his clothes and swim in the lagoon. This is quite childish behaviour and the fact that he is ripping off all his clothes shows that he is already starting to stray away from civilisation. It is not until Piggy finds him and starts asking intellectual questions as to how they got there and whether there is anyone else on the island that he starts to vaguely consider the situation.

As the book progresses Jack emerges with his choir.

It is obvious that he is in control, ‘he shouted an order and they halted’. This shows he is an authoritative figure and the impression is given that he is controlling an army. Even though the two boys have not met, it is immediately clear that there are differences between them. Ralph is calmer and quite happy to take everything in his stride, whereas Jack remains in his choir uniform and still acts with a large sense of responsibility despite the fact he is hundreds of miles away from civilisation.

Ralph is democratic and more thoughtful. For example, before anything happens about being rescued he says ‘we ought to have a chief to decide things.’ Jack shows his arrogance emerges when he replies, ‘I ought to be chief’, as if he was a dictator without any care for other people’s opinions. In reply Ralph uses his democratic approach and decides, ‘Let’s have a vote’. Ralph’s decision to have a vote shows how fair he is and his approach to become a leader is democratic. On the other hand, it is clear that Jack is very self-centred and is prepared to push for the position of leader even if it happens in a manner not popular with the other boys. The situation of the Second World War is being reflected in the two boys’ contrasting personalities.

As the time that is spent on the island advances, Jack’s savage traits start to emerge. For example, when he goes hunting he lets the boys go off swimming whilst he continues. Unfortunately he catches nothing and goes back to camp. He describes the situation to Ralph, ‘I went on. I thought, by myself’ … ‘the madness came into his eyes again’ … ‘I thought I might kill’. Jack’s true traits are starting to emerge. His savage instinct is starting to become apparent; he is described as having madness in his eyes. He is starting to have a ‘compulsion’ to hunt and kill that was not apparent before because society and civilisation keeps people in control but when they are set free from this their natural or basic instincts start to emerge. However this is not true of everyone, Ralph has continued to remain calm and civilised;, building huts on the beach with Piggy, his advisor. His natural instincts are not savage but to try to find a means of remaining safe and being rescued.

Throughout the book Ralph relies on Piggy to help him with many decisions. The idea to blow the conch so that other boys would emerge from the island was Piggy’s idea as well as the idea to use his glasses to start the fire on the mountain. Piggy’s pragmatic and intellectual approach to the situation they are in helps Ralph yet sometimes the boys do not listen to him, especially Jack. Jack has a very autocratic approach and feels he can make the correct decisions himself.

His decline into savagery becomes apparent due to this and results in him punching Piggy and eventually killing him. For example after Piggy notices there is no smoke he tells Ralph but there is not much they can do, as the boys who were supposed to be watching the fire had gone hunting. Soon enough they notice a large group of figures coming down the beach chanting, ‘Kill the pig, Cut her throat. Spill her blood’. Jack is part of this group and it is apparent that the other boys have also acquired a lust for killing and hunting. However, Piggy drives Jack to violence by saying, ‘You didn’t ought to have let that fire out, you said you’d keep the smoke going’. After this Jack hits Piggy; Jack has lost the self control that was in place before he was held back from violence due to the moral trappings of society.

Later on in the book, Jack’s leadership starts to become more appealing to the boys. The lifestyle he is offering them with meat and protection from the beast is compelling for them in some aspects, ‘To-night we’re having a feast. We’ve killed a pig and we’ve got meat. You can come and eat with us if you like’. Eventually all the boys start to switch to Jack as their leader.

The boys have lost sight of what being civilise means and just want to follow a leader who offers a simple way of life; hunting, food and safety in the tribe. Ralph starts to give up hope, ‘So we can’t have a signal fire … We’re beaten’. The two boys’ contrasting opinions and aims are in competition and at the beginning of the book when society and civilisation was still in the minds of many of the boys they were prepared to have Ralph as their leader. However, as time has passed and their sense of civilisation has gradually disappeared the longer they are away from it, they have resorted to Jack for fun and a preferred lifestyle.

In some aspects Ralph and Jack are alike as leaders because they both want to get their own way. However their aims are different, Jack wants to hunt and Ralph wants to be rescued. Jack is the autocratic, less caring leader whereas Ralph is democratic and tries to do what is best for all the boys. In the end it turns out that the boys would prefer to be led by Jack. Golding is suggesting that it doesn’t matter who you are, even if you are from a privileged public school background, without the influences of society we will decline into savagery and our true natural instincts will emerge.