Julia Brennan Mr. Braidman English - 9 5/5/2018 A C-Sharp Killer In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack's character experiences a great amount of change. In the beginning of the novel, Jack is pictured as an arrogant choirboy that cries after losing the election for leader of the island. Jack gradually transforms into a savage murderer that has no respect for mortal life. Through multiple events, such as leading the choir and leading the hunting tribe, Jack turns from a normal, stubborn schoolboy into a savage monster. Towards the beginning of the novel, Jack’s physical appearance is described by Golding 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 …show more content…
Jack agrees with Ralph when he gathers a small group together saying, “I agree with ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. Were english, and the english are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things” (42). Although originally painted as a fairly average boy, signs of hostility begin to arise. While piggy is talking, Jack exclaims “you're talking too much, Shut up, Fatty”(21). As the story progresses, Jack’s character switches from a choir boy to a hunter. A key occasion in chapter four will solidify his ever growing savagery, when Jack makes the painted mask on his face, “a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self consciousness” Jacks savage side arises, ready to hunt and kill. “The mask compelled them” (64). Jack is known for his ability to do the hunting, he is able to take the savagery to the next level and kill the pigs. The other boys begin to fear and respect Jack, in a similar way they did for his singing abilities. However, it is now Jack’s obsession for violence that dictates his leadership, not his musical ability. By the end of the novel, Jack’s transition to savage is complete. At the death of piggy, Jack seems joyful with his amount of authority :
...eing savages must be jolly good fun,” and tries to convince Ralph and Piggy to go to “the feast.” I think that this shows how much Jack has influenced the boys, even making them think that being savages is a good thing. I wonder if this is the mindset the other boys have?
From the beginning of the novel Jack intimidates the other boys with his flaming red hair, his long black cape, and the brutal way he shouts orders to his choir. Although he is not a good-looking boy, he is amazingly arrogant. He always has to look good in people's eyes. Not that he cares if people like him, but more that they respect him. The only way he knows how to gain people's admiration is by getting them to fear him. He spots Piggy as an easy target and immediately starts to humiliate him in front of the others: "You're talking too much," said Jack Merridew. "Shut up, Fatty."(21) He sizes up Piggy right from the beginning knowing that Piggy wouldn't stand up to him and by making fun of him he was letting the other boys know that he not one to be messed with. When he feels that people are about to think him to be weak or gutless, he uses his knife as if it were a symbol of his superiority: "Jack slammed his knife into a trunk and looked round challengingly"(33). His knife gives him power, a weapon that he would use against anyone who dares to mock him.
Jack’s playful innocence is clearly shown on page 25. “Come on,’ said Jack presently, ‘we’re explorers.” His upbeat and inquisitive attitude shows that though he arrived on the island with a thirst for power and an inflated ego, he was still full the joy of childhood. Quickly, this naive innocence was lost, and Jack’s blood hunger grew. This transition into darkness can be noted when Jack and his boys let the fire extinguish to slaughter a pig. The fire was their connection to the outside world, but on Jack’s orders they abandoned it to kill an animal- when they already had enough food. They chanted “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”(p.69), as they were corrupted with primal instinct and adrenaline. This act was shortsighted and gruesome, but it was not the end of Jack’s violence. Towards the end of the book, he
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
The whole entire story could've had an entire different outcome if Jack didn’t have so many personality blemishes. Jack seems like he has something wrong with him as far as handling his emotions go. He is always very mean to Piggy and was the first to thirst for blood.
In conclusion, each of the theories discussed apply to the characters in the lord of the flies in some way. Jack shows his potential evil and stops suppressing his inner savagery, he responds to his id and his super-ego starts to have a lessened effect on his it, and he breaks both of the agreements in the social contract. Piggy and Ralph are able to suppress their inner savagery, and act as certain parts of the psyche, interacting together they are able to make ethically correct choices, and stay in the social contract they have entered.
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.
In Chapter 8 Jack says “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief.” He says this because Jack thinks his point of view is the right one, and it can only be the right one. This is similar to dictatorships in the past when people believe their right and anyone who doesn’t agree is the enemy. Later in the book Jack tries to get more followers by promising them psychological needs. Jack states “We’ve killed a pig and we’ve got meat. You can come and eat with us if you like.” Jack is trying to take away any of Ralph’s remaining supporters, so that Ralph is forced to follow him when all he has left is Piggy, Samneric, and a few clueless littluns. Later in this book Ralph is on his own a few hours after Piggy dies, he is considering joining Jack’s tribe because he will have food and protection. In the forest he thinks about the thought of eating fruit, and then remembering the feast and that maybe they would let him back. After that he realizes that the hunters killed Piggy and Simon, so they would kill him
Jack’s negative effects on others are shown when “Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him” (75). This quote displays Jack’s evil influence because he has made perfectly normal British boys act like mindless savages and participate in this sadistic ritual. The hunters seem to regress to more prehistoric times as they enjoy performing this act. Jack also changes the boys’ behavior when, “The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). This quote is essential because it conveys that Jack has altered the boys’ minds to such a degree, that they are blinded by their bloodlust and can’t even tell that the “beast” that they are mutilating is really Simon. It also shows how delirious Jack has made these once civilized children. As you can see, Jack is not a necessarily evil person, but he creates evil
People can do anything that involves fear including turning on someone and attempting to kill them. William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1952 during the cold war. This affects the novel because children were often killed during war.This novel is important because the novel shows how the boys communicate and survive on the island. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys on an island without any adults. In order to survive, they will have to work as a team. In the essay, I will talk about how Jack and Ralph comparison, how they have changed, and there purpose in the novel.
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
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...
Throughout William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies there is an ever-present conflict between two characters. Ralph's character combines common sense with a strong desire for civilized life. Jack, however, is an antagonist with savage instincts, which he cannot control. Ralph's goals to achieve a team unit with organization are destroyed by Jack's actions and words that are openly displayed to the boys. The two leaders try to convince the boys that their way of survival is correct.
Is everybody born purely good inside? Or are we all filled with certain amounts of good and evil? In Lord of the Flies by William Golding a plane full of school boys lands on a deserted island, killing all the adults. With no adult supervision or civilization the boys descend back into the madness and savagery that is human nature. In Lord of the Flies by william Golding his character Simon uses spiritual power by finding out what the beast really is, showing how he failed to warn the others, how his use of the power affected the book as a whole, and how spiritual power is in the real world.
but himself and how he can benefit. Jack simply wants to hunt and have a good time. He makes fun of Piggy, humiliating him, making him feel small and unworthy. "You would, would you? Fatty and Jack smacked Piggy's head" (Golding 78). Jack is a lost boy who begins to discover the evil within him. When he proposes to the group that he should be the new chief, they do not respond in his favor, and Jack runs away, hurt and rejected. He swallows his hurt ego and throws all of his energy into the only thing he seems to know how to do - hunting. He puts on face paint and hides his conscience. This changes him into a savage, evil, The colorful mask allows Jack to forget everything he was taught back in England. "The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (Golding 69). As the plot progresses he becomes less and less attached to any societal norms. Near the end of the novel, he feels no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, or his attempt to kill Ralph. & nbsp; Another difference found is that Ralph symbolizes innocence, whereas Jack symbolizes experience and the inner shadow that Golding believes Ralph, Piggy and Simon represent the good side of the boys. Simon is pure, and the only one who realizes what the beast really is. Piggy is the voice of reason and stands for the world the boys once knew- adults, discipline, rules and civilization. As chief, Ralph knows right from wrong. When everyone followed Jack except for Piggy, Samneric and himself, he did not just give up and follow what he knew was wrong, he tried to reason with the rest of the boys and tried to talk some sense into them. At the end of the novel though, he too realizes that man is not a kind creature by nature. "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man' followed, regardless of reason or morals. "