Diana Montes Mrs. Lawrence CompLit 2 P.5 10/8/15 Jack Merridew Being stranded on an island with a group of children the same age as you or younger; one regretful situation would be allowing the mean kid to slowly lose control and not do anything about it. What is worse is letting him gain a majority of the power and letting him cause chaos. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew is allowed exactly that. His slow descent into savagery is foreshadowed early in the book. Jack changes from a figure of civilization to a savage dictator because of no rules or adults and he challenges civilization by fighting Ralph with savagery winning in the end. Starting from the beginning, the reader can tell immediately that Jack is not …show more content…
The narrator describes Jack in the tribe party as “painted and garlanded,” and he “sat there like an idol” (149). Jack finally sees himself at the top tier. He accomplished his goal and is now a savage dictator. He sternly commands the other boys and impatiently yells “has everyone eaten as much as they want?” (149). He instills fear in the other boys and is now completely different than he was before. Jack is at the most savage and loses all civilization when he participates in the killing of Simon. He tells everyone to dance and then Simon comes in and then they “leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, and tore.” (153). Allowing someone to be murdered is the worst. After this tragic event, everyone but Sam and Eric and a few littluns join Jack’s tribe and they fight. Jack, “made a rush and stabbed at Ralph’s chest” (177). He is challenging civilization, represented by Ralph. With no rules, Jack becomes more violent and tortures Sam and Eric into joining his tribe and makes them tell him where Ralph is hiding to hunt and kill him. While Ralph is hiding from Jack’s tribe, “another double cry at the same distance gave him a clue to their plan” (195). Jack’s tribe lost all connections with civilization, and the narrator now refers to them as savages and not by their own names. In a frenzy, Jack goes crazy and completely breaks his chains with civilization and sets the whole island on fire, which is his last act as the dictator of the