Lord of the Flies 2

I don’t know if William Golding meant for this, but I can’t stop paying attention to one thing while I read this book: the characters Jack and Ralph. I think about them as if they are the same person and each boy represents a different side of that person. Jack represents the adventurous and risk taking side and Ralph represents the more realistic side. For example, while Jack is busy exploring or hunting pigs, Ralph is focused on keeping the fire lit to make sure a nearby boat would spot them. In the last few pages of what I have read so far Jack says, “‘Let’s have a fort.’ ‘There’s no food here,’ said Ralph, ‘ and no shelter. Not much fresh water’”(Golding 148).

This is another scenario that I really saw the two sides come out in both characters. Even though Ralph is a young boy, he no longer becomes amused by forts and exploration, he only displays frustration from not being rescued from the island.

I looked up the meanings of each of the names and I found that (in most sources) Ralph means strength and Jack means rebellion. This expands my original meanings a little bit (though Jack’s makes more sense to me). As I was trying to figure out the purpose of having both boys represent something, I realized that it could be showing the state of the boys in comparison to civilization. I predict that the group of boys will end up following Jack more often than Ralph simply because he is more adventurous. As Jack becomes in charge, it will represent how they are drifting from civilization and becoming more savage-like.

Anyway, the book is still rising to the climax and I have a feeling that it is about to get really creepy/weird. I don’t really know what’s going on with this man that fell from a plane with a parachute. I think he is dead? And he will probably contribute to making this book really messed up. Well, I will find out as I continue reading, I guess!