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Jack Lord Of The Flies Essay

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In the sci-fi novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of British boys are stranded on a deserted island in the wake of World War 3. These boys, ages six to twelve, attempt to preserve order and civilization, but that quickly fails, and chaos ensues. Two of the main characters are Ralph and Jack, 12 year old boys who fight for leadership over the island. Throughout the novel, although both boys are affected by their almost identical backgrounds, their actions and response differs greatly. Firstly, Jack is greatly affected by his cultural and physical surroundings while living on the island. On one of the first pages of the book, it is established that Jack is the leader of a choir. These boys fully obey Jack’s orders, not even …show more content…

Killing animals is one of the most primal instincts, stemming from the desire to hunt for food. However, though throughout the novel Jack claims this desire to be his reasoning, Jack really wants to kill a pig to demonstrate his leadership and dominance. This fact is clear from the first time the hunters go out to hunt, and Jack, in the moment being faced with the pig, fails to stab it. “" Why didn't you―?" 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. "I was going to," said Jack. He was ahead of them, and they could not see his face. "I was choosing a place. Next time―!" He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy. He looked round fiercely, daring them to contradict.” (pg 31) From this passage, we see how sensitive Jack is to others perceiving him as weak, as the second another boy mentioned his failing, Jack has a very visceral and tense reaction. Jack wants to kill the pig not simply just for meat, but to convey to the others that he is the ‘breadwinner’ and a true leader, who is capable of sustaining his people. To Jack, killing pigs attests to his power, and this obsession further exposes Jack’s power hungry

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David Schwer McCallon-5 ERWC 4 October 2014 Activity #1 Lord of the Flies, written by, William Golding, is a story about a group of schoolboys struggling for survival after a plane crash has left them stranded on an island. As the struggling continues, tempers flare and the group splits on each other. One side has a boy named Jack as their leader, who’s

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928 Words | 4 Pages

Imagine this. A group of boys crash land on a deserted tropical island and are now stranded with no supervision or adults. In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, he shows just what might happen in this situation. The boys are alone and must find a way to survive until they are rescued. In an attempt to govern themselves, they choose Ralph, one of the main characters, as the chief and the intellectual Piggy as his assistant.

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Jack just wanted to have fun on the island. There were no parents or adults there to stop him. He was more focused on being selfish and making sure he survived. Jack didn’t care about the other boys, they were just there to help him. Jack used the boys so he would be able to survive.

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851 Words | 4 Pages

In chapter 4 it states, “I cut the pig’s throat, said Jack, proudly”(69) illustrating that Jack enjoyed cutting and killing the pig. Jack now shows that he is capable of killing and the possibility for more cruel and harsh killing is very likely. Jack shows his cruelty by the animals he kills when he “held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth”(136) analyzing how instead of fearing the beast Jack is offering him the head of the pig that he just brutally murdered. When the boys kill the pig, they stick its bloodied head on a sharpened stick as an offering to the beast, which they believe is out in the forest somewhere and that they can please with an offering, showing cruelty and the lack of humanity inside Jack and the rest of the boys. After their first successful hunt, Jack chants “Kill the pig.

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577 Words | 3 Pages

Jack pauses before stabbing the pig and the boys realize what is really going to happen if they continue, and that they will be responsible for the death of a living thing. Later on they lose this naivety and that is evident in the quote “ Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands” (pg 135). Here it is shown how savage to boys have really become, and how much

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755 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, Lord of the flies written by William Golding, a group of boys get stranded on an island. The group of boys has to overcome obstacles that the island brings them. The boys elected their chief, Ralph during the first assembly that Ralph called. Then the boys split apart making Jack's tribe which focuses mainly on hunting, while Ralph's tribe's priorities are making shelter. The boys become civilized to savage when they create rules for each other when the hunters brutally slaughter a pig, and when they kill Simon.

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583 Words | 3 Pages

Jack’s pursuit of power on the island has transformed him from an innocent choirboy to a ruthless authoritarian figure. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys become abandoned on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. When on the island, the boys decide to elect a leader and choose Ralph, angering Jack, who starts his descent into becoming a power-craving, blood-thirsty, ruthless young man. Jack's pursuit of power changes who he is on the island tremendously. This is evidenced by his descent into brutality, loss of moral compass, and alienation from social norms.

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915 Words | 4 Pages

According to the author, Jack is realizing that the only way he can have power is by hunting for others, but the more he hunts the most violent he becomes, but since he does not think fondly of piggy he does not give him meat, but when Simon gives him meat, throws meat at him and yells, "Eat! Damn you!" (pg 67). This short quote reinforces my answer because it shows how jack has become more aggressive, violent, and power-crazy. The examination of this quote reveals jacks blood-lust for power, and I'm not just talking about jack, in the book Jack represents savagery in society, violent acts when no one is looking, he represents that anyone can feel bloodthirsty for power, so furthermore Jack is exposed by that quote showing that he becomes more savage and his true nature rolls in, but he is also aware of it, he wears a clay mask towards the end of the book to cover up his insecurity and how he feels about his actions so he can have the power to not realize his actions and do things without thinking realistically.

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1886 Words | 8 Pages

He begins to furiously command the others to eat the pig in Chapter 4 regardless of their wishes in response to his success as a hunter and their sole provider of meat. For the first time, Jack actually personally realizes his desire for more power and the ability to control

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1227 Words | 5 Pages

The evidence of this change in Jack can be found in chapter 4 when the hunters kill the first pig. Jack proudly says, “I cut the pig’s throat,” (Golding 69). Jack then continues to say, “There was lashings of blood,” as he laughs and shudders, “you should have seen it!” (Golding 69). This proves that by nature humans are barbaric.

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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

After a few days of hunting Jack became obsessed with this activity, and it was all he ever wanted to do. This fixation on hunting caused Jack to turn into a savage. He turned into a barbarian and didn’t show mercy to anyone, especially the animals. Goldings writes, "He [Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling" (pg. 58). This shows, Jack losing the civility he once had, his laughing uncontrollably becoming snarling.

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1619 Words | 7 Pages

To start, when the boys first arrive on the island after the crash, Jack had a knife that he carried around with him. He constantly hits it into nearby objects to instill fear in the other boys. For example, during a meeting the boys are all talking about what their plan should be while they are on the island. Jack suddenly stands up. On page 33, the narrator says, “Jack slammed his knife into a trunk and looked around challengingly.”

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984 Words | 4 Pages

The key word there is “almost”. They could have killed the pig, but they didn’t realize they had it in them until they replayed the situation in their head. Once they tasted blood at first, they couldn’t stop. The power their ability to hold the life of another creature in their hand eventually consumed them, and led to one too many people dying. Jack believed that “you are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.”, except his goal was all consuming power and anyone who stood in his way wouldn’t stand a chance.

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207 Words | 1 Pages

The story of ‘Young Goodman Brown’, is a story that is much deeper than what it appears to be on the surface. On it's surface, the story appears as nothing more than a tale of a man who experiences a hellish event. Upon further analysis, the story is a much deeper allegoric tale of the importance of faith, and how easily a person can be made or broken by an event. The ending of the story does put the readers mind at rest because in fact, it was just a dream. " A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did be become, from the night of that fearful dream".

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