How Does Golding Present The Environment In Lord Of The Flies

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In William Golding’s suspenseful novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack, one of the main characters, is affected by his environment in a way that reveals a sense of savagery inside of him. His exposure to an environment free of adult supervision allows for something that was seemingly always in him to boil over and be revealed increasingly throughout the story. He gets more and more power-hungry, and with a superiority complex like no other, continues to make others' lives on the island as miserable as he can. The side of Jack that is slowly unveiled is too fierce and raw to be new, it is inevitable that it has been building up for some time, and this was his breaking point. From the beginning, it is clear that Jack is no good. He is a mean and hateful …show more content…

He has his priorities, and in his mind, nothing else matters. He is incredibly closed-minded and disrespectful to what others may find important. For example, Ralph repeatedly expresses the importance of keeping a signal fire running, if they want to be rescued. Over time, Ralph and Piggy’s efforts to emphasize the importance of the signal fire have grown. “The fire is the most important thing. Without the fire, we can't be rescued. I'd like to put on war paint and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning. The fire is the most important thing on the island, because-” says Ralph, but despite these efforts, everything he says to Jack goes in one ear and out the other. He is now only obsessed with the vicious hunting he wants to do, and the great gratification he will feel when successfully hunting. In chapter four, the book says “'I cut the pig's throat,' said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it.” This was quite the hoot with some of the other boys, and his intense attitude around killing only made for stronger ones in the rest of them. These savage tendencies that rub off on the others, shine through brightly in chapter 11, when Piggy is killed. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist... Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and