This essay will discuss the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, in the book Lord of the Flies, as a representation of the struggle between Civilisation and Savagery. There are differences in opinion of the two boys on the topics of the signal fire, rules and order (and the conch), the issue surrounding the beast and their different leadership strategies.
In the first two chapters, it is apparent that Ralph still hopes that they would be rescued and returned to Civilisation. He insists that they make a signal fire with the possibility that a passing ship will see it and rescue them. On the other hand, Jack soon feels that their chances of being rescued are slim and that hunting is more important than keeping the signal fire going. Here, it already becomes clear that Ralph feels the need for Civilisation, but Jack is already more drawn to Savagery.
As soon as Ralph is elected as chief, he makes a few rules to keep some order. He, for instance, made rules like, in a meeting, a boy may only speak if he is holding the conch and that there should be a special group for keeping the fire going. Jack disregards Ralph's rules because he feels that the rules do not matter anymore: the conch is irrelevant, and everyone knows who should and should not be talking during a meeting. Here we can see that Ralph strives for orderly and democratic rules, while Jack tries to become a dictator and establish a hierarchy.
The issue surrounding the beast reveals a lot about both boys' leadership strategies. Whenever "the beast" featured as a topic, the little boys become terrified. Ralph insists that there is no beast and if there were a beast, that it would not hurt any of them. He also builds huts for the boys to sleep in so that they can feel safe and protected from the rain and "the beast." Through these behaviours, we see that Ralph is a very caring, protective and civilised leader. Jack has a very different approach: he uses fear to gain power and insists that there is no beast, but if there were one, he would hunt and kill it. In chapter 6, Jack and the group that is supposed to keep the fire alight went hunting, causing the fire to go out. Ralph and Piggy saw a ship passing by but soon realised that the fire was out. Ralph raced up the mountain to relight the fire, but it was too late: the boat had already passed. Ralph was furious, and he made sure that everyone knew how irresponsible they were for letting the fire go out, thereby dooming their (probably) only chance of being rescued. Jack apologised for letting the fire go out, but he shows dominance by getting everyone to eat the hunted meat.
By looking at the above statements, it is fair to say that Ralph represents a symbol for Civilisation and Jack a symbol of Savagery and violence. According to William Golding, Savagery is human nature, and Civilisation a learnt behaviour. People struggle to choose between human nature and a learnt behaviour (nature versus nurture; Savagery versus Civilisation.) In this book, it is clear that the struggle between Civilisation and Savagery is real. It is believed that when Civilisation and Savagery would come in confrontation, Savagery would conquer.
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