What do ralph and jack feel as they look at each other in the pool?

In William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies", during the scene at the pool, Ralph and Jack experience complex emotions when they look at each other. The pool scene is a reflective moment that highlights the growing tension and division between the two characters.

Ralph feels unease and concern when he looks at Jack. As the leader elected by the boys, Ralph is committed to maintaining order, focusing on rescue, and adhering to the principles of civilization. However, he senses Jack's increasing desire to dominate and the savagery beginning to take hold among the boys. Ralph is aware of the conflict between his vision of a disciplined society and Jack's more primal impulses. He probably feels a mixture of anxiety, wariness, and a recognition of the widening rift in their relationship.

Jack, on the other hand, feels a combination of resentment and competitiveness as he looks at Ralph. Despite initially accepting Ralph's leadership, Jack increasingly wants to assert his own authority and embraces the more brutal aspects of their existence on the island. The control and order that Ralph represents are at odds with Jack's desire for power, freedom, and his inclination toward savagery. Jack's feelings toward Ralph are likely tinged with envy and an intensifying hostility, as he sees Ralph as an obstacle to his own ascendancy.

The pool scene is a moment loaded with silent communication and unspoken conflict, as Ralph and Jack are both aware that their fundamentally different worldviews are leading them inevitably towards confrontation.

Extra: "Lord of the Flies" is an allegorical novel that explores themes of civilization, savagery, power, and the innate evil in humankind. Through characters like Ralph and Jack, Golding investigates how people might behave when stripped of the order and structures of society. Ralph represents order, law, and democratic leadership while Jack embodies anarchy, the lust for power, and the seductive nature of barbarism.

The novel is set on an uninhabited island where a group of British boys land after a plane crash. With no adults to guide them, the boys initially attempt to govern themselves with an elected leader (Ralph) and agreed-upon rules. However, as the boys' fear of a mythical beast grows, Jack manipulates that fear to gain influence and eventually leads a faction of boys who break away from Ralph's leadership to satisfy their darker impulses.

Golding uses the island as a microcosm for society and the boys as a representation of humanity, to explore how cultural norms and laws are what keep the darker side of human nature in check. When those are stripped away, Golding suggests that human beings revert to a more primal state, driven by instinctual aggression and the will to power. This tension between the impulse towards civilization and the lure of savagery is central to the novel and is vividly depicted in the evolving relationship between Ralph and Jack.