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Jack Merridew's Darkness

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Golding gives the reader a glimpse of the creeping darkness within man by creating several internal struggles within the characters of his novel. For example, Diane Jenningfeld commented in her essay “An overview of Lord of the Flies”, saying “During the first trip into the jungle, Jack is unable to kill the pig with his knife; by the end of the book he is hunting human quarry”. At the start of the novel, Jack Merridew struggles with his reluctance and desire to kill anything. He falters because society has taught him to suppress any evil and violent urges, but now on the island there is no one to stop or reprimand him. By the end, Jack no longer holds back, but gives in to the mad pleasure of killing pigs and even hunting humans. Jack isn’t
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How does Golding present Jack throughout the novel? In William Golding's "Lord of the Flies," Jack Merridew's character is presented as a complex embodiment of savagery and the innate human desire for power. Golding uses Jack's transformation from a disciplined choirboy to a ruthless leader to explore themes of civilization, power, and human nature. Through Jack, Golding illustrates the fragile veneer of societal norms and the ease with which they can be discarded.

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The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a very mind thrilling, suspenseful read; anyone who has the chance to read this book they should! This novel is about a plane that crashed on an island and the only ones who survived are fighting for their lives. This is going to cause the fight between life and death. Throughout the novel, the boys are being traumatized by a ‘monster’ that is on the island with them. By looking at Piggy’s leadership abilities in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he undergoes the most change by becoming more straightforward and talkative when Jack is not around; his personality trait is ego because he knows right from wrong.

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The novel Lord of the Flies is one of the best examples of human instincts and the ability to become savage from one day to the next. All throughout William Golding’s novel there are signs of the characters changing from well behaved boys to complete savages. In the beginning of the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew is one of the best examples of a boy who goes from a civilized manner to a complete savage. One of the first things Jack does is insults Piggy, an overweight boy who cannot do very much.

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When civilized boys get stuck on a deserted island with no parents, they soon become savages. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys are stranded on a deserted island and gradually become savages and lose all civilization. The Penguin Group publishers think that the manuscript for Lord of the Flies is too long and that scenes that are not important to the theme need to be cut. Overall, the scenes with Jack putting on the mask, Simon dying and Piggy being killed are crucial to understanding the way the boys progressed into becoming killers and savages. There are many parts in this novel that are important to the meaning of the overall novel such as, when Jack starts to become a savage, when the boys kill simon, and when Roger becomes so ruthless that he kills Piggy.

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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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882 Words | 4 Pages

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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In The Lord of the Flies, after a diverse group of boys get stranded on an island due to a plane crash, their lives become repetitive and gradually intense. Most days involve bickering about priorities or leadership, teasing one another, and the occasional optimistic comment. Until, Jack Merridew, the head of the choirboys/hunters, sees a piglet, and the actions he takes imply that he realizes that dire circumstances require somewhat intense actions. Even though he reveals his reluctance to kill it for sustenance, the spark of his lack of morality can be detected once he promptly stabs a tree and clarifies that he will not hesitate again when hunting.

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Ralph gradually becomes an outcast and is hunted by Jack 's army of boys. Just as Ralph is about to be killed by the naval officer arrives on the island to rescue them. Golding 's novel shows the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, by showing the groups of boys falling out of civilization and into savagery. With the groups of boys falling out of civilization, one can see that no matter how civilized people are the nature of animal instinct still remains because even though the human race is evolved people still have animal-like roots.  “Lord Of The Flies” shows that humans can revert to savage ways, which is backed up with psychological studies on humans reverting to savages, also known as out first instincts way in order to survive.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

Humans in this world are essentially evil at its core. Golding shows in his novel that humans are evil. Throughout history humans have showed how they are evil. When people are given power over others they will abuse this power. There is also rebellions which may lead to death, violence, and chaos.

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1397 Words | 6 Pages

Everyone has this underlying darkness within them that is hidden away deep inside the nooks and crannies of their hearts. Golding demonstrates this through the use of his major characters, Ralph and Jack. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding utilizes character development to suggest the idea that when individuals are separated from civilization, dark forces will arise and threaten unity and harmony. Golding presents the protagonist, Ralph, who is decently intelligent and completely civilized, to demonstrate how once individuals are pulled away from civilization, the dark forces within them will arise and change how they are for the time being.

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431 Words | 2 Pages

As the novel develops, the boys are left to their own devices and morals to survive on the island. Golding implies that when this happens, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery and a human evil that he believes is in everyone. When Jack kills the mother pig, he is in great triumph over outwitting a living thing. This shows that he has become a savage through his time on the island, and his inner evil has taken over him. It also shows that Jack has become more violent over time, as if killing pigs is normal to him.

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1292 Words | 6 Pages

In many novels, the characters often challenge the reader through their actions and beliefs. Lord of the Flies by William Golding demonstrates this through the characters of Jack and Simon. In this novel, Jack challenges the reader because he shows that you should never be as savage as him. However with Simon, he challenges the reader to be more like him and to be brave and do things to benefit other people. This is achieved through the use of themes and techniques such as power, innocence, narrator, omniscient, foreshadowing, descriptive language and allusion.

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.

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658 Words | 3 Pages

Golding portrays mans evil through the boys' need to undermine others. In the beginning of the book Jack becomes obsessed with hunting the wild pigs that live on the island. “Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth … Then dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort,

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