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How Does Golding Show Identity In Lord Of The Flies

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Everything experienced in life is used for personal growth and learning. However, these experiences can change the way a person thinks or behaves. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows how some of these experiences have the ability to strip a person of their identity, in particular, young and impressionable children. A young boy uses his appearance to hide his insecurities from those around him. Being stranded on an island is an experience that is beginning to change who this boy is. He eventually gives in to the temptations of savagery. Jack's experience of being stranded on an island has sparked an inner change from an insecure young boy into a savage. Appearance-wise, Jack looks like a tough and confident leader, but deep …show more content…

When he realizes that he is not elected leader, "the freckles on [his] face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again" (Golding 19). Jack is obviously hurt by the boys' decision to elect Ralph as leader, but is only willing to show them his shock rather than his pain due to his insecurity. He shows off to some of the other boys that he is a really good hunter by telling them how to kill, then draws his knife to do so but is afraid to actually slit the pig's throat. The other boys look at Jack, wondering why he did not kill the pig then and there but, "they knew very well why he hadn't: because of the enormity of …show more content…

Jack's influence is beginning to rub off on the other boys, causing them to believe that one of the other boys is 'the beast.' Simon crawls out of the jungle and, "all at once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws" (Golding 169). The fear of the beast that sits within the boys originates from the fear that Jack has instilled into them. This causes them to murder young Simon, believing that he is the beast. Now that Jack has become chief over the boys, he makes all of the decisions and punishes people when he feels like it. One of the younger boys is excited that, "'[Jack's] going to beat Wilfred... He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up'" (Golding 176). Jack forgets how to make decisions and now when he needs to make one, they are all very irrational. When the original leader, Ralph, becomes the only boy objecting to Jack's leadership, Jack tries to kill him. While in hiding, "something boomed up on the red rock, then the earth jumped and began to shake steadily, while the noise as steadily increased. Ralph was shot into the air, thrown down, dashed against the branches" (Golding 215). Under Jack's orders, boulders are being rolled down the mountain in an attempt to kill Ralph. Jack's identity has been replaced by savagery and now all of his actions are very

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824 Words | 4 Pages

Have you ever felt too scared to speak your mind because every time you do someone makes fun of you or calls you cruel names? Can you imagine getting stuck on an island with no adult to help me survive? Would you be able to survive? The book the Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding. In the beginning of the story a group of school boys from England are in a plane that crashes onto an island, but they all fell in different areas of the island.

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(153) The boys don’t think or scream when they see the “beast” emerge from the jungle. They all grab their sticks and start attacking Simon, and they even realize that it is Simon but they keep killing him because fear has

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Jack’s inhumane nature comes into display again after Simon’s death, as power completely shifts to Jack. He starts punishing boys because of will to show control over others. At one point of the novel, Jack to show off his power orders the boys to “tie Wilfred up and beat him” (Golding 159). Despite of the boys acknowledging the reasons behind, they still follow his order. To enhance his influence and power over the group, Jack uses the boy’s fear of the figures of the beast.

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856 Words | 4 Pages

His corrupt nature causes the boys to fear disobeying him and shows them that disobedience is answered with physical pain. Robert tells Roger of what Jack will do when he's angry: "'He [Jack] is going to beat Wilfred'" (159), and when Roger asks Robert why Jack will beat Wilfred, Robert says, "'I don't know... He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up'" (159). This shows that if someone manages to anger Jack he will not take to it kindly, and will use force to show that he is in control. Disobeying Jack makes him angry as well, shown when he tries to kill Ralph who is not with the idea of him leading during the entire time they are on the island.

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Jack has become almost a complete savage, challenging Ralph for power and separating off in his way. It creates more tension as Jack is shown to go off the tip of the cliff in terms of corruption. Jack is now lying, pushing Ralph off his throne, and is considered the leader. It is exhibited how Jack is now overpowering Ralph in terms of leadership. The suspense between Jack and Ralph arrives at a climax when Ralph humiliates Jack's hunters by referring to them as "boys with sticks."

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In this instance Jack tells the boys that he somehow has control over the beast. This shows how Jack uses the beast to draw the children towards him as the leader of the group. He always desires to rule over the boys and the beast is his scapegoat to do

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818 Words | 4 Pages

Jack lost his sanity and civility and this changed him in more ways than imaginable. Jack was a natural leader when the boys first came onto the island, but as time continued he became a horrible dictator. On the first day on the island, Ralph and Jack competed for chief of the island. Ralph won. Jack was unhappy with this result, but it didn’t yet throw him into a spiral of craze and anger.

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Every child comes into this world as a selfish, manipulative, cruel and stubborn being. It is the parents and society that teaches children how to function in a civilized world, and societal laws that keeps them under control. William Golding wrote this novel in the early years of the cold war and the atomic age. In William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Jack, a young savage who looks to lead a group of stranded kids on an island with no food, no rules, and no adults. The effect freedom has on Jack has turned him into a savage because he does not have to listen to anyone since there are no adults on the island.

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Human behaviors are easy to be changed by the experiences and environment. As the time passes by, the changed behaviors can be worse or better than before. However, most people become worse because of the specific experiences in their life time. In Lord of the Flies, the changes of behavior are occurred obviously in the characters of Jack, Roger, and Ralph.

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In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores the idea that human nature, when left without the regulations of society, will become barbaric. As one of the prevailing themes in his work, the dark side of human nature is represented through the novel, not only in symbols and motifs, but in his characters as well. The dark side of human nature is an integral part of the novel 'Lord of the Flies.' William Golding, a British novelist employs symbols, motifs and characters to create the idea that human nature, without civilisation will become barbaric.

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Lastly, Jack is known as the rebel of the story who disagrees with the leaders, and is pure evil from middle to end. Although Jack is evil, his bad character trait ensures his survival and alliance with the boys. The first example of when Jack’s evilness is shown in the story is when Jack hunts the pig and puts its head on a stick, the line says “ Jack held the head up and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick” ( Golding, 150). This shows Jack’s evilness because instead of fearing the beast he is offering him the head of the pig that he just brutally murdered.

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1257 Words | 6 Pages

Jack brainwashes the boys into thinking that hunting and killing are the most important priorities in their society. Eventually, the boys become crazed and obsessed with this idea. After the boys kill a pig or become excited, they begin to chant “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood!”

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This quote demonstrates how Jack's behavior becomes more animalistic and savage as the story progresses, which makes him a memorable and intriguing

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the book we witness the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, we watch as Jack undermines Ralph's authority and gains control of the boys on the island. Jack's leadership is powerful, he understands how to coerce others into following him and is exceptional at controlling his crowd. Take for example him leading the crowd of hunters, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 56).

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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding attempts to compare and contrast two opposite strategies of control. Golding portrays that while Ralph and Piggy’s government may have been a morally sound solution, the boys chaos is too strong to be controlled by a democracy. It must be controlled by a feared dictator. While the idea of democracy, represented by the conch, is a pure concept and can provide an equal opportunity for all of the boys on the island, the animalistic need for power and chaos that controls the boys can only be reined in by a powerful dictatorship. Democracy on the island could have provided an equal opportunity for all the boys on the island.

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