Conflicts – Lord of the flies

External conflict

I feel like the biggest external conflict throughout the book is the conflict between Ralph and Jack. The conflict starts at an early stage in the book when all the boys are voting on who should be the leader between Ralph and Jack. Jack is envious of the power that Ralph receives when he is chosen as the leader. He is not really willing to except that anyone else has more power than him.

Ralph has the groups best interest at heart, and he thinks that the most important thing for the whole group is to have a fire burning at all times, so that they can get rescued if a boat passes by. Jack on the other hand is more selfish, and think that it is more important to hunt and get meat. The conflict between the two boys builds up during the book, but there are some events that make the conflict explode. One of those events occur in the middle of the book when a ship passes by the island, but misses the boys due to the fire being out. Ralph then realises that it is Jack that has left the fire to burn out, because he was out hunting. Ralph then gets furious at Jack and the conflict grows even bigger.

The biggest cause of the conflict between Ralph and Jack is Jacks thirst for power. He is not ready to give up any power or let anyone be more powerful than him just for the sake of the best interest for the group. He would rather sacrifice the safety of the group than be powerless.

Internal conflict

Considering that the boys are trapped on a deserted island, I would believe that they all are fighting with internal conflicts.

However, I do believe that one of the biggest internal conflicts is the one that Ralph has. He struggles with the responsibility that comes with being the leader of the group. He also has a hard time understanding how some of the other boys are thinking, when they for instance rather hunt for meat than keep the fire alive.