Even apparently rational and civilized people will turn evil. This is true with some characters in the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Jack and Ralph are two characters that demonstrate this theme in the novel.

In the beginning, Jack appears to be rational and civilized. He is first introduced into the story as the leader of the choirboys. It seems as though he has a good sense of responsibility. Jack, along with Ralph and Piggy, is a candidate for chief. The other boys see them as having the most leadership qualities of all the boys. Although Jack isn't chosen as chief, he still demonstrates responsible and civil behavior. Jack is placed in charge of the hunters, and shows rational behavior by not killing a piglet. He is not yet ready to cut into living flesh. This proves he still has his humanity in him. Jack begins to lose his civilized ways when a little boy introduces fear into the group, by telling them he saw a really big snake that comes out in the dark. Jack rallies the boys into the idea that they will kill the snake. Once Jack kills a pig for the first time, he becomes obsessed with h

Deep within every person, somewhere beyond the rational and civilized ways of man, there is a natural source of evil. This idea is strongly and successfully brought across in Lord of the Flies.

At the start of the novel, Ralph, the chief of the group, seems to be rational and civilized. The other boys elect him chief, because of his good leadership qualities. Ralph tries to create a sense of order among the boys, by using the conch as a tool of social order. He states that only the boy who holds the conch is permitted to speak. This idea works. In fact the boys are very much into taking care of themselves and being responsible without any adults around. Ralph shows responsibility by wanting to build shelters as soon as possible. He explains to the others that they need them for protection from the rain, and also from the "beasties." Ralph begins to become uncivilized when he chases a pig and kills it for food. Ralph gets a thrill out of doing this, and becomes interested in hunting. When Ralph starts to behave the slightest bit like the other boys, things begin to fall apart on him. Ralph eventually loses all control over the boys, and the conch no longer

Some common words found in the essay are:
English Novel, Ralph Piggy, Lord Flies, Ralph Ralph, Jack Ralph, Modern Novel, Frederick Karl, Literary Essay, Walter Allen, lord flies, rational civilized, jack ralph, Reader's Guide, novel lord flies, william golding, chief boys, frederick karl, kill pig, walter allen, ralph piggy, lose civilized,
Approximate Word count = 793
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)