There are many different environments that people interact with daily, and in each different environment people are required to present themselves in a certain way. Most people might not notice this, but the environment that someone is in at a specific moment has a lot to do with what they will or will not do at that moment. In “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding, two characters, Ralph and Jack, both come into contact with the same environments, but they respond to them in different ways. They struggle against each other because Ralph holds to civilization and Jack has “the spark of wilderness” burning inside of him. The environments that are presented on the island cause certain responses to come out of the characters that would not have come had they been somewhere else.
The first environment we encounter is the beach. This environment controls most of the story. This is where the conch is found. Ralph blows this to summon anyone else who is on the island and everyone who hears it comes. This is the first place where all of the boys first come together. No one knows anything about anyone else, and there aren't any grudges formed. This seems to be the only place on the island that democracy can be held. Everywhere else on the island everyone does what they want; some sleep, others hunt and the rest play. Once Ralph is chosen as chief every meeting is held here, and for a time he has complete control. Every time there is a situation Ralph comes here to think about a way to solve it because he had much more confidence here. Here only Ralph and the one holding the conch can talk; this rule is very often broken by Jack. When Ralph is left alone because every one else has deserted him he comes here to think about what he should do. Then when he knows that nothing else can be done he comes here to hide.
This is also the area of the island that all of the fun takes place. Ralph and Jack “looked at each other baffled in love and hate,” when they came down to the beach after they had just gotten done having an argument. Everyone comes down to the beach to take a bath and sleep. This is the only place on the island where shelters have been built to sleep in and for protection. The littlums stay here for safety. This is the only place on the island where Jack can not be in control. He tries to run for chief twice, but he is not elected either time. He constantly rallies the children to forget about order, and he himself does not know what should be done. He leaves when he wants, and does not listen to anyone but Ralph, and this is only when they are on the beach. He leaves to go hunting when Ralph needs him to help build the shelters. He leaves the fire to go hunting and a ship comes and there is no signal to be seen. He leaves the final time because of the second election, and he makes his own tribe. He attacks Ralph on the beach for Piggy's glasses, but he never take this area from him. This area also servers as the place where the Navy officer finds Ralph. When this happens Jack has lost control of himself and he thinks about going out into the open to see the officer, but he changes his mind. Jack knows that he has much more control in the forest.
The next environment is the mountain. This is at the center of the island. This is where they have chosen to build the fire to allow the ships at sea to see that they are there. This is where the Twins see the beast. This is also close to the place where Jack finds the pig trails. From here everything else on the island can be seen. For anyone on the island to get to this mountain they have to go through the forest. In the forest is where all of the children allow their inner beast to get out. It is in the forest that Ralph helps Jack to kill Simon, and this is were Ralph goes on his first hunt to kill a pig. It is here that Jack rules and all who stay here for to long convert to being somewhat cannibalistic. They only want to have something to do with adventure and fun. Here “ they're innocent of their own natures”. This means that they really do not know what is going on. They just want to have fun and enjoy being young. They do not think that this might cause bad thing to happen, which in fact it does. It is because of this nature that Simon is killed. It was dark and stormy, but this setting does not change what happened. This would not have happened any where else on the island because this beast-like nature would not have been there.
When the ship comes and Ralph finds that Jack has gone into the forest to hunt instead of keeping the fire like he should have he calls for a meeting, and it is only on the beach that Jack calms down and does what he is told, but even this only last for so long. That brings the last environment into play and this is called the castle. This is actually a “half-cave of rock”. This area is only really described when Ralph and the others go looking for the beast. Jack sees it and he wants to use it for their new base, but Ralph is more worried about getting the beast. Jack was excited and said “ What a place for a fort!” Jack is more worried about the fun, and Ralph is more worried about the problem. This is where most of their contrast comes from. When Jack breaks away from the group this is where he makes his base. It is from this base that Jack takes control of the rest of the island. This is where Simon dies; this is where Piggy dies and where Jack is planning to kill Ralph. Ralph's “ various degrees of goodness... is no match for murderous Jack”. This change in Jack happened over time. In the beginning he could not even stab a pig and soon he began to kill people. He allowed himself to be overwhelmed by what he thought was just a game.
This island was a place that was uninhabited and this story very much could have turned out a different way, but it did not because the setting had a very strong effect on the characters. They are all young and easily manipulated by what they see and and believe to be true. Soon to Jack, Ralph is no different than a pig, but to Ralph they were still people. They both looked into the same situation, but Jack chose to live as the environment provoked him to, and Ralph chose to look to the future of being rescued.
