Book Club entry #2

Dear book club members,

Our last meeting would have been much better if the tee wasn't cold...just saying. Anyway in the book there were two characters I really wanted to discuss. Jack and Ralph, these two characters are very different from each other. At the beginning of the novel Jack and Ralph are working together, side by side. Later on tension grows between them and finally towards the end they become enemies. Ralph is this typical boy, who wants to be in-charge, but also care about others. Jack on the other hand is a perfect example of human nature. Jack is a very strong and aggressive character. If he wants something done he will do it himself. He wants power and will do just about anything to get, he doesn't think of the circumstances. Jack is selfish, unlike some of the other boys, he doesn't care about any one, he only does what is best for himself. You see the person Jack truly is, once he is put in a bad place. Throughout the book Jack turns into this evil creature. "And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing-"(91). First he began by talking down to piggy and always telling him to shut up. He started hunting pigs for his own entertainment. Then began to challenge Ralph's authority and tried to get everyone against him. In the end he turned the boys into the savages and with his power helped them do cruel and unbelievable things. With Jack's guidance they killed Simon and Piggy. At the end overlooking his evil ways, Jack did good as a leader. He got everyone to obey him, by using the 3rd party rule, which as I have said before is the most effective form of government. Ralph had good intentions, but at the end he failed, all of the boys were against him and ready to kill him on Jack's command. Locke, I disagree with you when it comes to Ralph. Yeah, it is true that he was a good guy, but the longer he spent in the island the worse he became. Compared to Jack he was a saint, but he did do bad things. Both Ralph and Piggy, even if they don't want to admit it, were accomplices in Simon's death. Also at the very end of the book when Ralph was hiding from the other boys, he was about to strike anyone that came near him with his spear. I'm telling you when it comes to protecting yourself, people will do anything. Ralph knew it wasn't good to kill anyone, but when it came down to his own life, his morality wasn't strong enough. Human Nature is ugly, wake up and smell the coffee, there are no saints out there.

In The book there are many symbols like the conch, Piggy's glasses, and the pig head. The conch is one of the most important symbols, because it was what brought all the boys together in the first place. It represents power, who ever has the conch has the right to speak his mind. The conch also shows how at the beginning of the story the boys were civilized. They took turns listening to each other and respected the rules. As the book continued the conch seemed less important to the others boys, but Piggy and Ralph were still attached to it since they were the ones who found it. "'Let me speak...I got the conch!' 'I tell you, I got the conch!' He shouted" (179-180) . Towards the end of the book the conch has a different meaning. Right before Piggy gets killed he drops the conch and the conch shatters. "See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone-"(181). In my opinion this symbolizes the end of rules and hope and at the same time the beginning of brutality and evil. People can only be good for so long...

The beast is mentioned a lot throughout the whole novel. At first the beast is part of the littluns imagination (the smaller boys have nightmares about the beast). At meetings when the smaller boys claim that there is a beast Jack and Ralph get upset, because they think the littluns are just being stupid. Later the older boys start to believe in the beast also. The beast changes a lot according to what different people claim they see. The boy who went missing said he saw the beast and that it was a snake. Another littlun said the beast came from the sea. Simon said that the beast was inside them. "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.'"(80) Others said that the beast was from the sky, and some said they saw it from within the jungle. All this talk about the beast makes all the boys very scared and they refuse to go in the jungle at night. Jack starts to think that he is more important since he is a hunter who can protect the boys from the beast. Jack and Ralph begin to fight more...