A reoccurring theme within many storylines is the will of one character to challenge the rules and organization of his or her society. In the novel The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, one of the main characters Jack, fiercely opposes the rule set in place while stranded on an island with many other boys and no adults. Jack’s capacity to defy the leader Ralph and to recruit other boys to follow him is tested by his desire for power and will to go against a society’s basic principles. In the novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, a similar opposition to society is attempted by the gifted Jonas, who has the power to understand the depth of his society deeper than other citizens. Golding uses symbolism, imagery and point of view to provide characterization
These two young boys, Jack and Jonas, both ignore the rules of their societies and show that there is a commonly occurring desire to oppose the rules set by society, and the moral and ethical consequences of acting against social order. Jack’s yearning to be the leader and have authority is reflected through his actions, directly `influencing the society and testing how far he is willing to push the boundaries for his own benefit before losing his own sanity.
Throughout the course of the book, The Lord of the Flies, Jack’s transition to become the ringleader of a force against authority is strengthened and progressively shown through his behavior. On many occasions he attempts to solve problems irrationally through violence and rash behavior. For example in the beginning the conch, a symbol of order and organization throughout “their community”, was enforced and obeyed. In one instance Ralph, who supported an orderly community argues with Jack about the importance of obeying the rules because he feels that it is the only thing they have left. However, Jack responds by displaying his clear disregard for the conch and what it represents when he says, “Bullocks to the rules! We’re strong- we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close
His behavior brings up the question of why he wants this control. It’s possible that he wants power over the other boys and wants to feel like he is superior in comparison. From the beginning Jack shows attributes of defiance and desire for personal gain, especially when he wanted to be a spearhead. On the other hand Golding expresses a side of Jack that wishes to be someone else with more power when Jack is described to look at himself in, “astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. (Golding 63)” Analyzing Jack’s point of view clearly illustrates Jack’s want to be something he is not, which motivates him to act out against the community later on. There is a part of Jack that wants to be more confident when he attempts to justify why he thinks he is superior when he says, “I ought to be chief…because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp too… (Golding 228-30)” Golding provides an understanding of why Jack feels he is greater and why he feels he should have more power through the perspective of Jack as well as his accomplishments and characteristics. This helps explain his likeliness to try to gain clout in this situation. Similarly, in another tale The Giver, a parallel theme is identified in the will of one person to go against the principles of the society they are part of.
Jack’s authoritative figure in the beginning of Lord of the Flies is one quality that shows how he is a dynamic character. To begin with, Jack shows he is authoritative by sabotaging Ralph’s integrity and rules. For instance, on pages one-hundred and one and one-hundred and two, Jack says, “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.” Jack is trying to get rid of the idea that the conch, or freedom of speech, is needed. This is another step away from civilized behavior because a newly established order of power replaces the conch. Another way Jack shows he is authoritative is by wanting to be a leader. First, Jack forms his own group that he calls the hunters. Then, Jack intimidates the other boys to join his group by talking about the beast. Jack tells the little ‘uns that are scared that they will forget about the beast. ...
Jack is the leader of the boys choir group in civilization and he is the complete opposite of Ralph. Jack wants to be leader and won’t let anyone stand in his way he rules through fear and shows signs of militarism and dictatorship. He is cruel, sadistic and preoccupied with hunting and killing pigs to help the rest signal for help. His sadism only gets worse throughout the novel, and eventually turns cruelly on the other boys. Jack pretends to show an interest in the rules of order on the island, but he views the differently because they only allow him to inflict punishment. Jack represents greed, savage and the anarchic aspects of man.
First of all, was when the idea of having a chief was brought forth in the first meeting, the narrator stated that Jack arrogantly nominated himself. Speaking of designating chief, when the idea of voting for a chief was brought forth he protested it. This presented his true intentions of being a leader, self-fulfillment and pride. Moreover, Jack was quite inconsiderate. According to the text, when Jack wanted to continue to move to find the supposed beast, Ralph told him to wait for the younger children. He replied with, "Sucks to the littluns!" How can one be a leader of he/she does not care about the welfare of others, especially those weaker than him? Nonetheless, in seek for the thrill of power Jack actually preyed on them; for example, everyone got a piece of meat from Jack's first hunt, except for Piggy, the hunter wanted to leave the younger child in doubt. He does this to intimidate and flaunt his power. In addition, he would do anything to gain it. In the eighth chapter, Jack twisted Ralph's words about the hunters, attempting to sway them on his side, rather than the actual chief. Also, he attempted a coup and forming an alternate group. Plus, when confronted by Ralph in the eleventh chapter, he stabbed him and eventually tried to hunt him down wishing to kill him, attempting to affirm himself as the "true" leader. Moreover, when Jack was chief, he could never be questioned; people solely followed him due to fear. When
In conclusion, we can see how Jack’s character changes through the novel and why this is so significant. Without these changes, Jack would not have been able to gain power over the boys and influence them into becoming more savage similarly to him. It is also very important that Jack’s character changes as Golding is able to show that he completely regresses from civilisation which represents that all humans can become savage and evil.
Katherine Paterson once said, “To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” William Golding, who is a Nobel Prize winner for literature, writes Lord of the Flies, originally published in 1954. Golding’s novel is about a group of boys who crash land on an island. All of the adults are dead and they are abandoned on an island. The boys try to set rules and create a fire in efforts of being rescued. The group of boys chooses Ralph to be their leader. This choosing makes a literary character named Jack, who doesn’t show his anger until half way through the plot. The novel shows the nature of humans and how fear can control them. The novel also shows the difference between good and evil. Golding experienced this when he was in World War II. There were many times fear controlled the boys in the island in Lord of the Flies.
Jack Merridew is the devil-like figure in the story, Lord of the Flies. Jack is wicked in nature having no feelings for any living creature. His appearance and behavior intimidates the others from their first encounter. The leading savage, Jack leans more towards hunting and killing and is the main reason behind the splitting of the boys. It has been said that Jack represents the evilness of human nature; but in the end, Jack is almost a hero. With his totalitarian leadership, he was able to organize the group of boys into a useful and productive society
Golding establishes the power and potential of government and its vulnerability to outside affairs. In “Lord of the Flies,” each of the older boys strive for power and authority. Their views and beliefs are all dissimilar, resulting in each boys to possess different elucidation on how the island should function. These representations of government are apparent in Ralph, Jack, and Piggy, and prompt the social unrest and inability to compensate for their own needs. The way in which a leader governs determines the path that he/she sets upon his
Even though they are the most vicious boys in the book they are also very well liked and are in sort of a higher class/ ranking than the other boys. When talking about how to reenact the hunting scene of the pig Jack says something deep down disgusting “Or someone to pretend- Use a littlun said Jack, and everybody laughed.” (Golding 115). Jack always disliked the little’uns and in the book it seems as if the reason was because they just simply didn’t do enough. He and his choir boys/ hunters always think that since they complete the task of providing lots of meat they are higher up than the other boys. They do help with feeding the group but also show disrespect and disregard for the little’uns. Many people who may be more respected and even higher up in the working class look down upon others and act as if they are better than them because they are more privileged or successful. When deciding basic jobs ralph suggests "Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be—what do you want them be?" "Hunters."(Golding 23). Jack has the ambition and drive for what he wants as a leader but lacks the selfless aspect and a regard for others. In the book he is always shown as the leader of the hunters, the chief or the head choir boy. The hunters and he even specifically turn into their own separate group when Jack starts his own dictatorship. Public in real life demonstrate similar behaviors
In viewing the aspects of the island society, the author William Golding's Lord of the Flies as a symbolic microcosm of society. He chooses to set the children alone in an unsupervised world, leaving them to learn ' the ways of the world' in a natural setting first hand. Many different perspectives can also be considered. Golding's island of marooned youngsters becomes a microcosm. The island represents the individual human and the various characters represent the elements of the human psyche.
The classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exciting adventure deep into the nether regions of the mind. The part of the brain that is suppressed by the mundane tasks of modern society. It is a struggle between Ralph and Jack, the boys and the Beast, good and evil.
Humans are inherently evil in nature and without law will unknowingly let this vile aspect of their own person be revealed. The depravity of actions in humans is expressed in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, by a group of English boys that are stranded on an island, and disconnected from society. The fear from violation of laws that holds people to their morals and rationality in their society vanishes, and a growth of savagery is present in all the boys. Savagery, an element innate to humanity, can only be repressed by the laws of society; the lack of regulation removes all inhibition, and therefore, exposes the beast representing evil from within.
Golding unveils the leadership characteristics that Ralph and Jack portray. Ralph has the sense of having responsibility and Jack has a sense of being a savage. Morality has imposed on children by their own society. When society is not there to guide and regulate rules to the children, they become primitive. In the beginning of the novel, these English boys come from a well-developed civilized society, and when they are taken out from their society, their animalistic instincts are divulged. As the story progressed, the boys try to maintain their own civilized society, but they try to vie power for themselves. Ultimately, through the use of conflict and symbolism, William Golding proves that when given power, one can be consumed by a controlling attitude.
Golding has made the two boys’ act similar at the beginning of the novel to show us how ‘normal’ they are. This demonstrates Golding’s view that absolutely anyone can be over ruled by power and become savage (like Jack) when civilisation collapses. After this incident, we can see a continual conflict between Ralph and Jack. We can see this when Jack proclaims that Ralph, “Isn’t a proper chief.” Golding is trying to show us that this conflict is very similar to the conflict between human inner barbarism and the living influence of reason.
An anonymous speaker once said: “A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. Alone, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world.” This subject is revealed in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the concept of power and the loss of power is a dominant idea on the island. This is significant because with little to no power, any order on the island becomes an uproar of chaos. This is demonstrated through objects on the island such as the conch, Piggy’s glasses, and lastly, the war paint.
Ralph spends some time contemplating over what must be said and done in the assembly because he knows that “thought was valuable” maturing from his inadequacy as a leader for allowing the group to become disorganized as it is. Ralph blows the conch to do as he has a plan and call the boys for an assembly. He intends it to be serious after the mishap of letting the fire go out which may have ruined their hope of getting rescued. He begins by telling the group that this particular assembly must not be for fun and games but to “put things straight”. He addresses the water with no one bothering to retrieve it in the coconut shells, the shelter that fell to ruins because few people worked on them, the whole island being used as a lavatory which is unsanitary and the importance of not letting the fire go out.