the bird on fire

–by Chloe Sweeney

Ninth graders across the country and here at PVS are assigned to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. If you haven’t read this iconic story in a while or at all, Chloe Sweeney introduces us to its main characters Ralph and Jack.

Fair-haired Ralph, athletic and disciplined, at the age of twelve is chosen to be chief over all the boys on the island. The idea of order and structure has been instilled in his mind from early childhood by his father, a British Naval Commander. “You remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished?…All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 50). From the start, Ralph places his responsibilities ahead of more frivolous activities conducted by other boys. Ralph engages in hard work and commitment to complete tasks that will resemble the life he was accustomed to. But soon, Ralph could no longer resist the barbaric pull: “‘I hit him,’ said Ralph again, ‘and the spear stuck in a bit.’ He felt the need of witnesses…Ralph talked on excitedly. ‘I hit him all right. The spear stuck in. I wounded him!’ He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that hunting was good after all” (113). However, confident, independent Ralph is replaced by an insecure Ralph who searches for the validation of others. Hunting begins as a distracting and pointless sport, but Ralph begins to value the thrill of inflicting pain. “He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind” (110). As Ralph’s standards for himself slip, the glue binding the boys to the laws of civilization begins to melt away.
At home, Jack was the leader of a choir with voices like angels. This identity is soon squashed, as society fades from his conscious thought. In the beginning, Jack is a main supporter of order and structure. ”We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are the best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things” (42). He still holds on to the ideals put in place at home and has a desire to maintain his moral standards. However, as the story progresses, Jack becomes trapped in a bloodlust, losing sight of civilization. “[Jack] tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that which was swallowing him up. ‘I went on. I thought, by myself –’ The madness came into his eyes again. ‘I thought I might kill'” (51). The slaughter of pigs, then of people, is a fixation for Jack. His enthrallment with killing distracts him from tending the fire, causing a ship to pass unaware of the boys’ presence on the island.

“There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!…You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home,” (70) screams Ralph. Jack’s incompetence costs the boys an early return home, and consequently the lives of Simon and Piggy.

The leadership styles of Ralph and Jack are revealed in their rise to power, methods of control, and priorities. Ralph was elected by the other boys’ votes.
The clamor changed from the general wish for a chief to an election by acclaim of Ralph himself…There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart.
”Him with the shell.”
“Ralph! Ralph!”
“Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing.” (22)

Jack was never elected, but instead he broke away from the group to start his own tribe. Ralph controls the boys by using methods to which they are already accustomed. “And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school…Then I’ll give them the conch…He can hold it when he’s speaking…And he won’t be interrupted. Except by me” (33). Ralph’s system gives everyone a chance to speak and present their ideas and concerns. Contrasting to Ralph’s democratic system, Jack governs as a dictator, using fear and violence to control people. “[Jack’s] going to beat Wilfred. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up” (159). While Ralph’s first priority is a signal fire, assigning boys to keep it burning, in an attempt to be rescued, Jack’s limited perception keeps him fixated on the present moment, focusing only on what is “fun.” Jack maintains order by promising protection and feasts, while Ralph demands responsibility and a focus on leaving their corrupted island.
So, look about your own desert island. Are you a Ralph or a Jack?