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In Lord of the Flies, what is the escalating conflict between Jack and Ralph?

In chapter 1, the boys determine that they need a leader. Jack is the type of boy who loves control, and simply expects others to look up to him.  He vies for their vote, saying “‘I ought to be chief, because I’m chapter chorister and head boy.  I can sing C sharp.’”  Instead the boys vote Ralph as leader, mainly because he is the one holding the conch shell, which Piggy had him blow to call all the boys together.  He has gathered them together, giving them a little bit of security. The boys are also swayed by his "stillness..., his size and attractive appearance."  When they all cheer for Ralph, even the choir boys, “the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.”  He feels humiliated by Ralph.  Thus begins his jealousy towards Ralph, which grows to a hatred as they struggle for survival on the island.  Ralph understands Jack's awkward position and tries to mollify him: “‘The choir belongs to you, of course.’”  This is Ralph’s first mistake, since Jack instantly makes the choir into hunters, who gradually morph into a savage army under Jack's controlling hand.  


Each time Ralph calls an assembly, Jack jealously sabotages it, encouraging talk of the beast, calling the boys to run from the meeting to build their first fire and later to do their hunting chant, “‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat.  Spill her blood.’” His hatred for Ralph grows in chapter 6 when they check Castle Rock for the beast.  Ralph subtly suggests that Jack should enter first, since he’s a hunter.  Jack goes red with embarrassment again, and he can’t do it. It isn’t until Ralph has stepped inside that Jack rushes in, pretending that he went, too. By this point in the novel it’s clear that the real source of the two boys’ conflict is within Jack himself.  He’s insecure, and tries to overcome this by being in control of all things.  To gain the upper hand he bluffs or reacts in overtly harsh ways to bully others into submission.


Jack’s jealousy grows in chapter 7 when Ralph sticks a boar with his spear, so he pulls the boys’ attention to himself, saying that a wound on his arm is from the boar’s tusks. Next they taunt each other about who is more frightened to check the mountaintop for the beast in the dark.  At moments they seem to want to like each other, but the need to impress and lead the other boys always comes between them. Eventually Jack outright challenges Ralph’s right to be leader.  He announces, “‘He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief...He’s a coward.’”  Once again Jack calls for the boys to vote him leader, but no one speaks up.  Jack is shocked and mortified.  “The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye.”  From this point on, it’s all-out war for Jack.  


A few at a time he lures the boys into his new camp, turning them into vicious savages who kill Simon in a fit of hysteria, stand by and watch as Roger kills Piggy, then join in the murderous hunt against Ralph.  Jack gives them orders to kill, with specific strategies to flush Ralph out and put his head on a stick “sharpened at both ends.”  By this point, Jack feels that the only way to be cleansed of the humiliation he has suffered at Ralph’s hands is to eliminate his competition. Ralph can’t quite wrap his brains around how it came to this.  He appeals to the twins, “‘What have I done?  I liked him--and I wanted us to be rescued...I only wanted to keep up a fire!’”  As a boy with no evil in his heart, he simply cannot comprehend the monstrous power of jealousy and hatred inside someone like Jack.

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