How Is Jack Civilize In Lord Of The Flies

Olivia Wirthlin
Todd
Honors English
3 March 2023

“the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness”. (Golding 64) In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, about 20 British boys crash onto an uninhabited island, and create a society and sense of civilization. But how civilized are these boys? Throughout the book, the majority of these boys begin to gradually become less civilized, resulting in death and chaos. The boys are said to be led by Ralph, one of the boys on the island, but another boy, Jack, uses an idea of a beast to manipulate the boys into following him. Therefore, Jack should be blamed for the chaos and eventual destruction of the island because he encouraged the beast

For example, the morning after Simon's death, Jack reminds the others that though they thought they killed the beast that night, he may have come disguised, and warned to keep searching for the beast, “He came- disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful.” (Golding 160) The story doesn't provide evidence that Jack believes in the beast, he manipulates his followers into violence with the idea of a beast that they have to kill. He isn't violent because of the beast, like the other boys, he makes the beast. He makes the beast as a creature to be worshiped, and feared, but he just ends up being worshiped and feared for the ‘safety’ he provides from the beast. Furthermore, when the boys are talking about the beast, Jack gets up and says, “There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island . . . Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!" (Golding 82) Jack doesn’t even believe in the beast, he yells to all the others about how they shouldn't fear the beast, then later tells everyone to join his tribe for protection from the beast, giving the beast “offerings”, and claiming the beast will come disguised. He contradicts himself, showing that he only believes in the beast for the control it gives him, causing more chaos. Therefore, Jack leads through

For instance, when the boys are praising Jack to Ralph, Robert explains that Jack has decided to beat one of the boys, Wilfred, and when asked why Robert explains, “I don't know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been”- he giggled excitedly- “he’s been tied for hours, waiting-” (Golding 159) This quote shows just how selfish Jack is. He isn't punishing Wilfred, he’s making Wilfred a puppet to his own entertainment. As shown by the way Jack doesn’t care to tell the boys why they are beating Wilfred, you can see he doesn’t care about how the others feel. He simply cares about his own time on the island. In addition, when Sam and Eric claim to have seen the beast, the boys talk about leaving for another spot on the island. Ralph asks who will look after the littluns, and Jack replies, “Sucks to the littluns” (Golding 101) Jack puts a priority on himself, rather than the others on the island with him. He doesn’t bother to make sure the littluns will be safe, he just makes sure that he will be safe. As a result, Jack creates chaos and disorder through his lack of empathy and his care only for