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   amy-lepore Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   You are probably in the very beginning of this wonderful book.  The characters represent themselves and something beyond themselves--they are allegories.

   Piggy, the one with the glasses and who expects everyone to follow the rules and to think before they act and to be civil, represents logic and reason.  This is why Jack hates him.  Jack is spontaneous and "fly by the seat of his pants".  He doesn't want to live by rules...he's done too much of that already in his young life.

   Jack hates Ralph because Ralph is Piggy's friend.  Piggy is the thinker, and Ralph is the leader who carries out those ideas.  Ralph also insists that the boys keep the fire lit, that they collect firewood, build shelters, collect fresh water for drinking...all of this translates to civilization and work.  Jack wants none of that.

   Ralph didn't hate Jack at first, and probably didn't at the end.  Ralph resented Jack for forcing the other boys through lure of fun and games and later through fear to move from Ralph and Piggy's beach camp to Jack's cliff camp.  Jack is also responsible for Simon and Piggy's deaths, and planned to kill Ralph as well.  These are reasons for Ralph to dislike Jack.

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   Posted by amy-lepore on Monday January 28, 2008 at 12:45 PM