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How Is Jack Presented In Lord Of The Flies

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The image of choir boys makes many think of a group of young innocent boys, but as William Golding, in the Lord of the Flies, shows even the most angelic people can mentally change. Golding chose to make Jack and some of the other children choir boys to show that when people face fear and a lack of moral guidance even young “angelic” people will fall into a life of evil and savagery. Lord of the Flies presents the idea that innocence is lost not when you turn a certain age, but rather when you question authority and civilization. In an ironic twist it is Jack, one of the choir boys, who actually becomes a violent dictator. At the beginning of the book all of the boys took a vote to see who should be chief and Ralph won; but he knew that …show more content…

“He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.” (126). Jack is power hungry and becomes more and more obsessed with hunting. At the end of chapter one Jack was not able to kill a pig and actually thinks of the blood as “unbearable”, but later in the book he actually “giggled” at the sight of blood on his hands and did not hesitate to kill. “Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her…At last the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back, and Jack stood up, holding out his hands.“Look.”(135). Jack has not only killed a pig, but he looks upon the action as a pleasurable experience. Jack, the former choir boy, becomes more and more savage and is able to jump from killing a pig to actually killing a fellow choirboy. Indeed, under Jack's leadership, the boys become inhuman and like animals as they violently attack and kill Simon. “There were no words, and no movement but the tearing of teeth and claws.”(153). Golding uses this irony of choir boys who used to sing to God who now have no words at

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Imagine being stuck on an island, with no supervision, regulation or authority. Now imagie being forced into this type if situation as a young child. The human desire for power and supremacy is so evil that it was able to corrupt boys as young as 8 years old. Normal boys turned to savages because of an island. In lord of the flies a group of boys were stranded on a deserted island because their plane crashed.

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“He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy,” (Golding 31). “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages,” (Golding 42). (Ch)This is the turning point for Jack in the novel.

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In William Golding novel “Lord of the Flies” Golding juxtaposes Jack’s island and Simon’s to illustrate that when man is faced with a certain environment, he will chose to either make the best of what he has by staying positively calm or look at it in a negative aspect. Golding’s novel transpires when a bunch of kids plane was shot down. The boys all survive and land on an uninhabited island. The boys do not have an adult figure as their authority. The boys are split into two separate camps.

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855 Words | 4 Pages

Jack is disagreeing with Ralph on every topic, so he calls a meeting. During the meeting he insults Ralph and tries to make the boys promote him to chief. The boys will not do this which outrages Jack. Jack cannot deal with Ralph any more and declares, “‘I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot’”(Golding 127). Ralph is now not only obsessed with hunting, but is straying from their ‘government’.

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896 Words | 4 Pages

Lord of the Flies Jack represents being power hungry and disobedient for the incorrect reasons In the book Lord of the flies, there are several things that connect the earth right now and human expertise. In the book most of the boys go through a phase that they never went through before, through out the book they're going through a "animal-like" phase that I feel the reader does not expect from them. I decided a decision} to concentrate on Jack because I believe that he was a lot more animal-like then the other boys because of that I think he extremely stands out because of his actions and feelings he made the other boys animal-like. I feel this is often necessary as a result of the influence he created on the other boys is quite like

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764 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the entirety of William Golding's novel “Lord of the Flies” the boys on the island change every day, and overtime they are becoming savages. When all the boys first met, they all relatively liked one another, and there were no serious grudges. However, near the end of the novel, the boys split up and hated each other, which evolved into violence and even murder. Especially Jack who ends up becoming an evil ruler controlling everyone and torturing them for no reason.

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581 Words | 3 Pages

These events show that Jack’s strive for power changes him for the worse. Since the beginning of the novel, Jack has always been jealous of how Ralph was chosen as chief and not him. Jack’s jealousy over Ralph could be seen when he assures Ralph saying “Where’s the man with the trumpet……examined Ralph with interest. ”(Golding 20).

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He wants to kill the pigs so he can get meat to give to the boys, so they do not have to keep eating fruit from trees. In his desire to kill, the sound of the pigs’ hoofs are “seductive” because they enchant him into killing. The sounds of the hoofs are “maddening” because he is so close to achieving something that will give him pleasure - in this case the killing of pigs for food - that he is going crazy waiting to acheive his goal. At this point, Jack is becoming more overwhelmed with the desire to kill, that he does not have to give a second thought over whether he should kill the pigs or not. Jack, however, fails to kill the pigs, but that does not stop him from trying.

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Jack was corrupt, starving for power, and ruthless. But he didn’t always show it. In the beginning of the book, he was simply rude and uncaring. He was upset at not being elected leader, but was happy leading the hunters. Gradually, as order fell and Ralph’s control decreased, Jack gained more power.

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1286 Words | 6 Pages

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows a story that covers a group of young boys who have crash-landed on a deserted island. One of the older boys, Ralph, is voted as chief of their group. Piggy is Ralph’s close advisor and a keeper of wisdom in the group. Jack Merridew is the leader of the hunters who were once a choir group. Throughout their troubles finding food and keeping a signal fire going for rescue, the boys have a civil war of sorts when Jack and his group of hunters split off from Ralph’s group.

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2172 Words | 9 Pages

Shown at the beginning of the story, Golding presents the foreshadowing in Jack's reticence to kill a pig which is shown from the evidence: "he knew very well why Jack had not; because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood" (Golding 31). The hesitation from Jack in the story is significant as it designates that Jack possesses some good in him early in the story. However, in the following sentence, the evidence shown here explains the violent and evil nature that Jack is bringing forth to the island as Jack is already giving into his state of survival, therefore, savagery. " He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time, there would be no mercy" (31).

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979 Words | 4 Pages

In fact Jack stayed so calm that it actually seems like the murder was premeditated. Therefore adolescents do know what they’re doing especially when it comes to committing a crime. He should be guilty for his murderous actions. While Jack had premeditated this, he had the time to undergo any emotions before the killing took place, which would explain why he was so insensitive. Jack was not bothered by Piggy’s

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897 Words | 4 Pages

Following the desperate chase after the sow, “Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push...the spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands” (Golding 135). Unlike before, this scene conveys that Jack and the boys in his tribe are capable of killing and committing brutal acts. While Jack hesitates to kill a pig at the beginning of the book because of his fears of blood and death, he eventually becomes obsessed with hunting and violence, killing a sow by vigorously “stabbing downward with his knife” and slitting the sow’s throat.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

Jack has changed greatly, over the course of William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Crashing onto an island without adults and having to survive put a strain on all of the boys, but Jack’s personality altered the most due to this experience. He went from living as an ambitious choir boy, to being a vicious, brutal, beast. Many things changed Jack on the island, but most of all, he created the monster he became.

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583 Words | 3 Pages

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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