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   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Although Jack was certainly the catalyst for many of the boys problems, he certainly cannot be blames for all of them. The major point that Golding is making is that the beast lives in all of us and, in order to to have a successful society, the beast must be controlled by an effective and strong government that is capable of creating laws and institutions powerful enough to control "the beast." Although he tried, Ralph was not a stong enough leader and never fully established his authority. Instead, he tried to placate Jack by letting Jack choose to keep a leadership position in charge of the hunters. He had no effective way of establishing consequences when Jack broke the rules by letting the fire go out and finally setting up his own group. This weakness ncouraged "the beast" in the other boys to emerge. Had Ralph been a better leader and had "the beast" not existed inside the other boys, they may have been able to establish a society like "Coral Island", the romantic book the boys thought they could emulate.

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Monday January 19, 2009 at 10:27 AM