Conflict in Lord of The Flies
Uploaded by jconner1997 on Aug 26, 2013
In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, there are many conflicts. Some are larger than others. Others draw out through the whole book. The character facing the most conflict however is Ralph. Not only does he face the most conflict, but he goes through the most important conflicts. He faces conflicts with Piggy, Samneric, and Jack.
The longest struggle Ralph faces is with Jack. Ralph is constantly trying to retain his power from Jack. Throughout the chronicle, Jack is trying to take power away from Ralph. At the beginning when Jack has just lost the election for chief, he finds it necessary to take control of the choir boys. Later, Jack volunteers his choir boys to be hunters, and then later, to keep the fire going. Ralph lets him take this all on but later is outraged when Jack takes all his hunters and lets the fire go out. And later Jack tries to get Ralph overthrown. Nobody does, but Jack leaves the group and makes a new tribe that everybody but Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric join. This effort to retain power is important to the story because it develops Jack’s personality as a power hungry dictator as he has absolute power in his new tribe. This struggle for power lasts through the whole book.
Ralph also faces a conflict with Jack’s tribe once he is an outcast. They are seeking to hunt him down and kill him. However, he gets an edge from Samneric and is able to escape for a while. At one point he is spotted and is able to escape when a man shows up on the island to rescue them because he saw their smoke. This conflict is at the climax of the story and shows that Jack’s tribe has nearly completed their transformation from human to savage.
Ralph also has inner conflicts. One is Ralph’s decision to stay with normal society and not to join Jack’s barbaric tribe. A few times Ralph almost goes over, but he never does. One example of this is when he joins in the “Kill the Pig, Slit his Throat, Spill his blood!” game. Another is when he participates in the dance that brings about Simon’s death. The resolution to stay with proper society is key to the story...