Jack could serve as an enforcer of rightful authority and necessary discipline, but he does not share Ralph’s civilized vision. He is fast losing the traces of civilization and tuning into his animal self: crouched “dog-like” and reacting to a sudden bird cry with “a hiss of indrawn breath . . . ape-like among the tangle of trees.” Jack seems to be losing his powers of rational thought, as well: Not only does he not share Ralph’s priority on rescue, he “had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was.” In trying to explain his feeling of being hunted while on the hunt, he finds verbalizing his experiences a great effort. The ability to express himself verbally is a skill necessary to civilization, not to hunting. His efforts go now to communicating with the nonverbal jungle, reading the signs left by the pigs. Where as Ralph can control his impulses for the good of the community, Jack puts all his focus on developing his impulses — in this case, his need to hunt.
Furthermore, neither boy can communicate his perspective to the other, and neither considers the other’s viewpoint. This lack of communication underlies innumerable conflicts, and the lack of understanding frequently has more to do with unwillingness on the listener’s part than on the speaker’s. Ralph and Simon’s reactions to Jack’s revelation about feeling hunted while hunting are true to form for both of them.
