Jack first appears in Chapter 1 on page 15 after Ralph had blown the conch. He appears at first to be a terrifying and haunting figure in the way he dresses, a long sweeping black cloak, from a distance looking like a fictional character.
Jack is introduced as darkness and shadow, “Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along... the creature stepped from mirage on to clear sand, and then they saw that the darkness was not all shadow but mostly clothing.” The image Ralph sees is actually Jack and his choir boys. When they are first introduced, “the heat of the tropics, the descent, the search for food, and now this sweaty march along the blazing beach had given them the complexions of newly washed plums.”
Jack wore “a long black cloak which bore a long silver cross on the left breast and each neck was finished off with hambone frill.” Each choir boy also wore a square black cap with a silver badge on it but Jack’s badge was golden.
Jack is “tall, thin, and bony: his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was...freckled, and ugly without silliness... .“ His eyes were bright blue and were ready turned to anger if necessary. He held himself upright and moved athletically and with authority.
The first thing Jack says when he meets up with Ralph, Piggy and the other crowd of boys is, “Where’s the man with the trumpet?” The way in which he says this shows his contempt for the other children on the island. At this point he only cares about himself, his own reactions to changes and his own feelings. This is visible through his none existent interest towards the boys. He disagrees with some of what is said, “This was the voice of one who knew his own mind.”
He has a disdainful attitude towards the other boys including the choir but shows a grudging respect and a shy liking for Ralph once Ralph is elected as leader and offers him continued control of the choir to be given which ever job Jack chooses.
At first Jack doesn’t seem satisfied that there isn’t a man and wonders why Ralph has summoned everyone if there is no ship. He is put out because he isn’t chief. He believes that Ralph isn’t able to control the boys and thinks that he has his priorities all wrong- Ralph should be ordering people to go out hunting instead of building huts and keeping fires going.
What was wrong with Ralph too was that jack ignores everything and try’s to do his own thing the whole time instead of working together with everyone. All Jack wants is his
...r hand, Jack attempts to murder Ralph because Jack has become so savage-like. Jacks plan to kill Ralph is to set the entire island on fire. Unfortunately, for Jack, Sam and Eric tell Ralph what is going to happen to him before it happens. Ralph escapes the fire unharmed. This is how Jack’s violence shows he is a dynamic character in the beginning of the novel.
He is skinny and has red hair. He is also wearing a black cap. He has freckles, a crumpled up face and his eyes are light blue. Jack does not seem pleasant, but like Ralph he seems to have the role of a leader. From the start Ralph and Jack get on very well.
He shows early on how he has no sympathy for anyone. For example, when Simon passed out from heat exhaustion on the beach Jack showed no compassion: "Let him alone.He's always throwing a faint."(20) Simon was not a stranger, he was a boy that Jack has spent a great deal of time with and yet he displays no feelings for him at all. He demonstrates a great deal of power over his choir. He orders them around as if they were puppets that he controls by working their strings and making them dance at will.
At the beginning of the novel, Golding describes Jack's physical appearance as "inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin and bony; his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled and ugly without silliness" (20). Jack's original intentions were to keep an organized group on the island. Jack agrees with Ralph when he brings the group together, saying, "I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are the best at everything. So we've got to do the right things" (42). Although originally portrayed as a pretty normal boy, evidence of his hostility begins to emerge. While Piggy is talking, Jack exclaims, "you're talking to much. Shut up fatty" (21).
When Jack and the others put on face paint, Jack begins “to dance and his laughter [becomes] a bloodthirsty [snarl]” (64). We can see from this description that Jack is turning into a devilish figure. His face paint can make people do a lot more things than before. Also, as Jack and the hunters were using violence, Jack stood over Piggy and says, “You would, would you? Fatty!” and then smacks Piggy in the head (71). This is where Jack loses his innocence and turns a lot more violent than the beginning. This shows that Jack is more savage than before. As you can see Jack’s action has become savage than when he first got onto the island. In addition, Jack can be civilized. For example, when he takes the responsibilities to “get food, hunt, catch things…” (30). This shows that he is reliable and has challenges to make everybody happy.
He tries to keep a democracy, but Jack's aggressive nature does not allow it to last very long. Ralph is probably the most likable person in the book, because of his good nature and his handsome looks, "His size and attractive appearance". Ralph means "counsel" in the Anglo- Saxon language, and he's the one who calls all the meetings by blowing the conch, and he's chosen as the leader. The conch is seen as a powerful symbol, and he holds it. Ralph does not specialize in any area of human behaviour, except maybe for having common sense (building shelters, climbing the mountain to see if it is an island) and Jack can be seen as his opposite.
Ralph shows what the boys need by the way he handles the then. Jack considers the boys lower to him, meanwhile, Ralph treats...
Jack says,“Ralph is like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief”(Golding 159). Ralph is obviously jealous, and also thinks that being smart is near to nothing in comparison to strength and ability to hunt when it comes to anything. Jack also says,"Come on! Follow me!"(Golding 20). This little quote shows that Jack is acting like the main leader and he thinks everything he wants is the best for the tribe. Jack states, "And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing—"(Golding 91). This again shows that Jack thinks the best quality to have is hunting and even singing is important to Jack. Singing is important to Jack because he was the leader of the choir. Being controlling and forceful. Anybody would list controlling and forceful as characteristics for a
Ralph is the novel’s protagonist and tries to maintain the sense of civility and order as the boys run wild. Ralph represents the good in mankind by treating and caring for all equally, which is completely opposite of Jack’s savage nature. Jack is the antagonist in the novel and provokes the most internal evil of all the boys. Jack is seen at first as a great and innocent leader but he becomes t...
When Ralph blows the conch, Jack is introduced to the reader for the first time. He is represented as an audacious and selfish boy who likes to order others around when he says "I ought to be chief, because I'm chapter chorister and head boy"(Goldberg p.22). It also confirms his hunger for power and wanting control over everything. His choleric and petulant personality can be seen when he says "Shut up, Fatty."(p.23), also revealing that he is rude and inconsiderate of others. Despite his obnoxious personality, his conscious of civilization keeps him from killing the first pig they see. He even recommends that the boys should have rules to keep things in order.
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos. Jack fails to realize that the boys need security, stability, and order on the island. Jack was a leader of the choir before the boys landed on the island. These boys, who were in the choir, still want to follow Jack; however, they have no discipline at all. The only thing that is on Jack’s mind is hunting.
When it comes to Jack’s fear of not being chief, it brings out the worst in him and it has an effect on others. For instance, when the boys are deciding on who should be the chief, Ralph wins by a landslide. “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Golding 19). That is the first physical evidence of Jack being humiliated by Ralph and judging by Jack’s personality, he is not used to failure so it has a big impact on him. This motivates him to destroy Ralph and the rivalry between the two begins. Another point is that Jack uses fear and threats to control the boys. For example, when Robert tells Roger “’He’s going to beat Wilfred.’ ‘What for?’ Robert shook his head doubtfully” (Golding 176) it shows that Jack is violent and is using his...
For the majority of the book, Jack is envious that the boys voted Ralph as leader; he wants to be the hero and lead the boys on the island. He does not act spitefully toward Ralph because he respects Ralph in the beginning of the book. However, he is resents the close friendship that Piggy and Ralph have and alienates Piggy. “We don’t want you,” said Jack, flatly. “Three’s enough.” (Golding 24) When Piggy wants to join the exploration of the island Jack rejects him out of spite. Another example is in Chapter 5, Jack says “That’s right—favor Piggy as you always do—” (Golding 91) during an argument with Ralph over the island’s rules. Jack is primarily angry at Ralph for taking Piggy’s side and coming to his defense. One of Jack’s biggest driving forces is his envy for what other people have, whether it’s a position as leader or as someone’s best