Lord of the Flies: Chapter 10

Dartmoor was wild and so were the ponies. 

But the attraction of wildness had gone.

This chapter made my heart hurt. Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are the only older boys left in the original tribe, and they're disturbed by the murder of Simon. They don't know how they're going to survive or what they're going to do, but they know going up against Jack and his tribe is useless. It seems they've lost all hope, and even though they still wish for rescue, it seems so far off now. At the beginning of the book, I think Ralph had such a clear vision of what their time on the island was going to be like. He wasn't the most caring or sensible of people when they first crash-landed, but he knew what he was doing to a certain extent. They were going to build shelters and have a band of hunters and keep a fire going at all times so that when a ship were to pass by, they'd be seen and rescued. Everyone was going to listen to him. It was going to be easy. 

And then Jack messed it all up.

In this chapter, we see that Ralph no longer has this vision; in fact, it almost seems as though he no longer cares. He tried his damned hardest to keep everyone under his control and be a good leader, but no matter what he did, they turned on him. I find this interesting, because in my last response, I talked about how Jack became defeated over the thought that no matter what he did, everyone was going to stay with Ralph. They've been struggling since the beginning of the novel for power over the island, and both of them have been defeated at one point. The tables have turned, and now Jack has the power -- but instead of lashing out, Ralph decides he can't do anything about it.

At the same time, we finally see what Jack is like as a chief. It's terrifying. He sits on Castle Rock with guards and watchers and hunters who will do literally anything he tells them to. He covers himself in red and white paint and he ties people up because he's angry at them and he's not afraid of anything. Jack is a dictator. (Somehow, I only love him more.) He doesn't seem phased at all about the murder of Simon, instead telling the other boys that it was simply the beast and it might come back again. He's almost delusional and so desperate to be able to assert his power over the other boys that he readily lies to them so they'll stay frightened. As long as there is a dangerous beast somewhere out there, he can control his tribe.

It's obvious now how different Jack and Ralph are. At the beginning of the novel, they seemed somewhat alike -- two boys who wanted power, wanted to be rescued, but mostly just wanted to have a spot of fun. Oh, how things have changed. I'm almost afraid for what will happen next.