Exam Question: Describe an important conflict in the written text. Explain how the conflict helped you to understand an important message.
Conflict – ralph and jack.
message of this conflict: the conflict between the two characters ralph and jack displays the message that power can change in an instant and will change depending on the interests of the people (the people being ruled)
points: the beginning of the book when ralph is chosen to be chief over jack. When the conflict gets so intense that jack decides to make his own tribe. When everybody has left ralph and jack becomes the chief, hunting ralph.
At the beginning of the book we are introduced to the characters Ralph and piggy who are stumbling through a forest, after being in a plane crash. They reach a beach on the edge of the forest and find a conch shell. Ralph plays the shell calling all of the lost boys from around the island to one place. They then have a meeting and vote Ralph to be their chief. Jack disputes this believing he should be chief as he was the leader of the boys choir at school. “I ought to be chief, because I’m chapter chorister and and head boy.” Jack says this arrogantly because he is used to being in charge and getting his way. “…the freckles on jacks face disappeared under a blush of mortification.” The feud between begins by this disagreement of who should be chief. This beginning conflict shows how power, unless taken by force is placed in the peoples best interests. In this case the majority’s best interest was to have Ralph as the chief. This can be related to the real world, where politicians are voted in by the community. It doesn’t matter whether one is better than another as the point of view of the majority is the only thing which matters.
Jack and Ralph’s move further apart
This has many of the key elements required of an exam essay.
1) Be clearer about what YOU think of the events in the novel and why you think they are important to us today
2) Quotations that support the idea of conflict and power and their consequences will be more useful to you in the examination.
3) When you relate to the world – be more specific. Name situations, people, events.