LOTF response

The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.  Once there was this and that; and now--and the ship had gone. [... Jack refusing to give Piggy the floor when he has the conch...]

"The rules!" shouted Ralph.  "You're breaking the rules!"

"Who cares?"

Ralph summoned his wits.

"Because the rules are the only thing we've got!"

But Jack was shouting against him.

"Bollocks to the rules!  We're strong--we hunt!  If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down!  We'll close in and beat and beat and beat--!" (91)

In this excerpt from Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph is upset because nothing is working the way he planned it to work. Ralph established a bunch of rules to try to make the island more civilized, but no one is following them. According to Ralph, rules are the only thing that the boys have to keep them organized. Jack is more worried about killing a pig so that they will have meat than about the rules. Jack has an urge to kill which is why he is more worried about hunting than the rules that Ralph established as leader. Jack and Ralph have different opinions about how things should be done on the island. Jack thinks hunting is the most important thing so that everyone can have meat, and Ralph thinks that having rules is the most important thing so that the island can stay organized.

This disagreement is an example of person v. person conflict which is used a lot in the book, considering that a bunch of boys are living on an island with not grownups and might have different opinions on certain things. This excerpt is significant because it gives the readers details as to what life on the island is like according to different people. This event is foreshadowing another event that will happen later in the book related to Jack’s immediate urge to kill. This also shows the readers that Jack and Ralph argue a lot and that Jack also wants to be chief over Ralph.