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The Transformation of Jack in William Golding's Lord of the Flies
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack is the character that experiences the most change. Jack begins the novel as a somewhat arrogant choirboy, who cries when he is not elected leader of the island. Jack is gradually transformed into a vicious killer who has no respect for human life. Through a series of stages, such as leading the choir, leading the hunting tribe, wearing the mask, killing Simon, separating from the group and intentionally killing Piggy, Jack degenerates from a normal, arrogant school boy into a savage beast.
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).
Jack is made the leader of the hunting tribe. He and his hunters have much trouble trying to hunt and kill a pig. Since he was raised as part of a sophisticated and wealthy family in England, he has not had any experience with hunting before. He struggles to become a hunter. But Jack is shown to have savage urges early. The author says, "he [Jack] tried to convey the...
... middle of paper ...
...a vicious killer who has no respect for human life.
Works Cited
Magill, Frank N., ed. Masterplots. Vol. 2. Englewood Cliffs: n.p., 1949. 3 vols.
Matuz, Roger., ed. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale, 1990. 68 vols.
Michel-Michot, Paulette. "The Myth of Innocence,". Matuz 175-7.
Comments
You have a solid discussion of Jack's transformation as well a good grasp of your language and grammar. Your introduction and your conclusion should be more detailed. In the introduction you should introduce the novel, itself, and introduce your topic. Why is a developing character important to the development of the novel? Your conclusion should discuss how the change in Jack's character has affected the rest of the group, how it has affected the plot, and perhaps, why Jack's character degenerated instead of improving.
In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding describes Jack as someone who promotes unity, someone who is skilled at manipulating people, and someone who idolizes violent actions. Jack has a lot in common with the World War II German dictator, Adolf Hitler, who had also demonstrated desires for unity, the manipulation of others and increased violence. All these similarities between them led to them destroying their society.
Jack’s authoritative figure, savage-like/instinctual behavior, and violence are three qualities that make Jack a dynamic character. In Lord of the Flies, Jack is the most important dynamic character because he goes through the most changes while on the island. Once again, a dynamic character is a character that changes throughout the novel. Unlike Ralph and Piggy, the id emerges in Jack because he believes that one’s desires are most important and should be followed, no matter what the situation may be.
How Ralph and Jack Change William Golding wrote the story "Lord of the flies". It is about a large group of schoolboys whose plane has crashed. They get stranded on a desert island. The story is about their survival and how they run their everyday lives. The two main characters Jack and Ralph are both from upper class
In the novel, “The Lord of the Flies”, the reader can see the change in Jack’s character as his obsession to hunt grows. As the leader, Ralph gives Jack and his choirboys the responsibility to hunt for food for the rest of the group. We see that in Jack’s first attempt to hunt, civilisation is holding him back so he does not hold the ability to slaughter the pig. This is shown where it says, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh, because of the unbearable blood.”. However, we see that his nature changes and soon his preoccupation with hunting increases dramatically. At the beginning of Chapter three, Golding portrays Jack to have animal-like traits such as “flared nostrils” and describes him as “dog-like” and “ape-like”. It can therefore be interpreted that Jac...
On the other hand, Golding tries to show the evil within man through Jack. Jack is a character in which he almost symbolizes cruel political leaders, such as Castro, Hussein, Hitler, etc. He is the leader of the hunters, the first time they find a pig, Jack stops, and couldn't kill the pig. That revealed how Jack was civilized, yet later on he would kill the pig without hesitation. "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.
William Blake focused on biblical images in the majority of his poetry and prose. Much of his well-known work comes from the two compilations Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems in these compilations reflect Blake's metamorphosis in thought as he grew from innocent to experienced. An example of this metamorphosis is the two poems The Divine Image and A Divine Image. The former preceded the latter by one year.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
In the novel, Jack began as a confident, adventuresome young boy, but as time progressed, he sunk to a level of savagery where he could hardly be considered human. The excitement was fresh on the first day when Jack, Ralph and Simon went out
Jack has always been an ill-natued boy even from the start of the book when he told Piggy to "Shut up, Fatty." (p.23). Dispite Jack’s unpleasent personality, his lack of courage and his conscience preventing him from killing the first pig they encountered. "They knew very well why he hadn’t; because of the enormity of the knife decending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood." (p.34)
In order for Jack to be a bully, the story has to hint at his flaws and issues at the beginning of the story. In the book Jack says stuff like,"You're always scared. Yah ---- Fatty!"(Golding 45). He also says,"A fat lot you tried......You just sat..."(Golding 42). These are an example of Jack bullying Piggy. Even though everyone takes part in
William Blake was one of those 19th century figures who could have and should have been beatniks, along with Rimbaud, Verlaine, Manet, Cezanne and Whitman. He began his career as an engraver and artist, and was an apprentice to the highly original Romantic painter Henry Fuseli. In his own time he was valued as an artist, and created a set of watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job that were so wildly but subtly colored they would have looked perfectly at home in next month's issue of Wired.
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.
“The Shepherd” is a very short two stanza poem in which Blake tells about a shepherd who stays with his flock morning and night praising them. The second stanza consists of the shepherd hearing the lamb’s innocent call and the ewe’s soft reply. The shepherd watches the lambs in peace and they know that he is not.
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. "
One way that Blake manifests the theme of a man being corrupted though experience is with imagery. For instance, in “The Echoing Green,” Blake creates imagery that portrays children playing “on the echoing green” with their families “sitting under the oak” (10, 13). The imagery paints a picture of a perfect