How Did Jack Merridew Develop A Sense Of Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

A party of English school boys are marooned on an uninhabited tropical island, an island which is forgotten by the civilized world after a plane crash (#2). There are no adults on the island to act as an authoritative figure for them. At first, the children demonstrate civilized manners; they try to maintain order in a place where there are no rules or sense of civility (#5). However, the longer they live free from the constraints of society, the more they develop a sense of savagery (#7). How could children between the ages of six and twelve end up displaying murderous and torturous actions? Jack Merridew— a tall, thin, freckled, odd-looking, choirboy— is one of the survivors of the plane crash who demonstrates the savage part of human nature

Jack states, "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”. (Golding 42) He is aware of the fact that there has to be order among the boys. He follows the behavior taught to him as a school boy in English society. He’s still civilized (#1). A little later in the story, the dialogue between Jack and Ralph reveals that Jack is disgusted by the idea of blood: Jack says, “You cut a pig’s throat to let the blood out, otherwise you can’t eat the meat”. (29) Ralph asks, “Why didn’t you—”? (29) However, "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”. (29) At this point, Jack could not handle the idea of harming a pig. Killing animals, enjoying blood, killing for no reason— these actions are not acceptable in civilization (#8). Therefore, the instinct of savagery is still suppressed in Jack because of the order maintained by

Jack develops an obsession for hunting, not necessarily for the purpose of feeding the boys on the island, and devotes himself to killing a pig. After Jack establishes himself as the chief of the tribe, he leads the boys as they go hunting. They find a sow nursing her piglets. Contrary to the previous hunting scenes in the book, this hunt is extremely ferocious. Jack impales the pig by thrusting his spear up her anus. “The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream”. (149) Jack then rubs his hand on Maurice’s cheek to get rid of the blood. Afterwards, Jack’s tribe cut the head off the pig and attach it on a stick. Jack’s attitude has moved into savagery and he now enjoys killing. Following this, Jack decides to kill Ralph and insert his head on his spear too. An animal hunt now turns into a manhunt; therefore becoming an even more violent plan (#6). Samneric warn Ralph, “They’re going to hunt you to-morrow” (209). Jack’s thirst for blood is unstoppable. Now, only two concepts matter to Jack: blood and violence (#9). Jack is away from the control mechanism of civilization; he has turned into a sanguinary barbarian who wants to murder his peer