Even the most civilized people can become savage, this is especially so when there are no rules to keep them in line. Being in an isolated place can make a person’s true colors shine through, and brings out things in them that even they did not know were there. This is undeniably evident in the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In the novel, many boys are stranded on an island with no way to get back home. The boys slowly go savage and turn on each other, making the island fall apart. Some readers may think that Roger is to blame for the boys’ descent into savagery, but Jack and the fear on the island are really at fault.
Many people who have read Lord of the Flies are led to believe that Roger is responsible for the savagery
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Since the beginning of the story Jack had wanted to be the leader instead of Ralph, and he had a vendetta against him because of this. When Ralph started to lose control of the boys, Jack stepped up and made his own tribe of savages. Jack was not the best leader, but he was able to control the boys and make them do whatever he wanted. Jack was a very bloodthirsty boy. He was so obsessed with hunting to the point that it was all he cared about. When he killed his first pig he was very proud of it as displayed when he very proudly says “I cut the pig’s throat.” (4.64). After this, Jack realized how much adrenaline he got from killing. He would hunt any chance he got which eventually led to Simon, another boy, being murdered. Another one of Jack’s most used tactic was fear. Jack scared and threatened the boys to get them to follow him like here when he says “See? See? That’s what you’ll get.” (11.167). Jack says this after his tribe kills Piggy to warn the others what he is capable of in hopes to scare them into joining him. The last straw of the boy's civilization was lost when Jack hunted Ralph who was the last boy on the island who had not joined his tribe. All of the boys chased and hunted Ralph all over the island until they were finally rescued. Jack definitely had a huge impact on the boy’s minds and action, therefore being partly …show more content…
On the first day, the boys were on the island, Piggy said: “We may stay here till we die.” (1.12). Talk of death and being stranded for the rest of their lives sparked fear in all of the boys. The longer the boys were stranded on the island, the more fear they had. Each day the boys would become more and more paranoid because fear was the one thing that never went away. One day someone spotted a large figure on the mountain. They decided that the figure must be a beast of some sort. When all the boys found out about the beastie, they realized that they may actually have something to be fearful of. An assembly was called to sort out all the talk of a beast on the island. During the assembly, Jack said “The thing is- fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of on this island.” (5.76). Jack’s speech only made the boys think about the beast even more and made them even more paranoid. As the fear arose, the boys even became weary of each other. The boys were becoming more violent and forgetting about any of the rules that were set in the adult world. Piggy talking about Jack had said “I’m scared of him, and that’s why I know him. If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, an’ then when you see him again; it’s like asthma an’ you can’t breathe.” (5.86). Piggy was right and the paranoia was growing
eventually turns the boys into frenzied savages, undaunted by the barbaric orders he decrees. The boys focus more and more on hunting and exploring, neglecting their primary objective: returning home to their families and civilization. The island boys experience manipulation, intimidation, and brutality while under Jack’s authority, revealing that the impact on those under reckless control can prove to be extremely harsh and
“Piggy was...so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society that he helped to fetch the wood. ”(129) Piggy had started to believe that the boys were changing for the better and that the boys were going to start listening to him. Therefore piggy decided to help them out for the first time by helping them gather wood because he thought that the boys were going to start respecting him. Piggy was sorely mistaken when he believed this, the boys helped piggy for a little then started to follow Jack again and started to hunt and kill once again.
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.
The portrayal of the pig demonstrates his rationality of being a chaotic savage. He tends to cover up his actions with reasoning that only deems to be true through the eyes of insanity. “He rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on his face [...] A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly.”(Golding 63). There is no room for civilization on the island, and Jack takes advantage of this opportunity. Jack, compels himself to distance himself from social normalities through the exterior of the world. The paint on Jack’s face represents his cover up to society and to make himself believe that he is doing the right thing. Consequently speaking, Jack desperately desires confirmation of his actions from one of his peers. However, none of his peers condone of these certain actions, so, he relies on the tangible aspects of life to give him a sense of comfortability. “All that makes sense to him is his own need to control others and impose himself, and hunting, because it is a kind of power assertion” (Lord of the Flies, Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations). On the island, Jack’s role is the leader of the hunting party. Although, this seems
The Lord of the Flies - Savagery. William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel, Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes. At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack get on extremely well.
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.
Most children, especially infants, do not know what is real and what is not real due to all the scary movies they watch, the scary stories they are told, and the nightmares they have. Therefore, they need an adult to remind them of what is real and what is imaginary. But since there are no adults no the island to remind the boys of these things, they are scared. All the fear that evokes from the boys causes chaos. " ’He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an' came back and wanted to eat him--’ ‘He was dreaming.’ Laughing, Ralph looked for confirmation round the ring of faces. The older boys agreed; but here and there among the little ones was the doubt that required more than rational assurance,” (Golding 36). The little boy who said he saw a beast spreads fear among the crowd of boys, especially the little ones. Ralph tries to remind them that the beast is not real, but the boys don’t believe him since Ralph is not an adult. The fear that is still among the boys causes them to believe that there really is a beast and causes growing chaos throughout the novel. The growing chaos transforms the boys into savages and causes violent behavior. This factor and the other two factors, peer pressure and the boys’ desire to have fun, caused them to transform into
The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to
Piggy had an appetite to be needed and accepted as a person in the boys' society. Jack had to kill a pig; he saw no other way.
One of the things that changes Jack was his hatred and drives him to the point where he was willing to kill. In the beginning he was a choir boy who knew nothing much, but his hatred grew when he was not elected leader. In the book it quote “And you shut up! Who are you anyway? Sitting here telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing-” (91). This quote shows that Jack had
“‘I got the conch’ Said Piggy indignantly. ’You let me speak!’ ‘ The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain" Said Jack,’So you shut up’” (42). Here, is one of his first acts of antagonism towards his fellow human beings. The declaration he makes, claiming that Piggy has no right to speak out, displays how Jack tries to lower others in order to gain a greater authoritative position for himself. This is evidence for the statement that he uses the leadership he does have with little intentions of bettering the group as a whole.
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...
His message is portrayed three times throughout the novel. Firstly, it is evident from the beginning that Jack has some sense of proper order infused in him since the beginning. Progressing further in the novel, it turns out to be more clear that even though Jack had been trapped in the taboo of the old life for a while, mankind’s illness took over him. By killing Simon, it is confirmed that Jack and his tribe do not care about returning to their original life before they arrived on the island. Finally, it is clear towards the end of the novel that the great majority of the boys have turned savage, displayed by their wild hunt celebrations and their hunt to kill Ralph.
Jack begins the novel partially innocent, cruel enough to yell at the boys yet pure enough to hesitate when faced with the task of killing the pig. Jack obtains the tools necessary to kill the pig, yet claims to need help cornering the animal. Jack, not truly needing help to kill the pig but rather needing the support provided by the mob mentality, acquires the support of his choir and together the boys hunt and kill the pig, all the while chanting, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood”...