Jack Merridew

Jack got embarrassed when Ralph and Simon made fun of him so he is trying to find a way to redeem himself. Jack was trying to hunt for a pig to show Ralph and Simon that he isn’t afraid of killing pigs, but that didn’t work out since the pig escaped. This made Jack upset since he was unable to show Ralph that he can kill a pig. He had nothing to show Ralph and Simon that he was capable of being a hunter. He is now frustrated and won’t be satisfied until he can kill a pig to show Ralph and Simon.

“‘He’s a proper chief, isn’t he?” Robert nodded” (Golding 159). All the boys respect Jack because he has tricked them to thinking there was a beast. In the start of the book Jack was immature and he was envious of Ralph. Later in the book he began to take charge and step-up as a leader and a non-civilized role model for the littluns.

First of all, Jack prioritizes savagery over order and civilization unlike Ralph. He is the main catalyst that sparks the boys’ descent into savagery with the exception of Ralph, Simon and Piggy. He is able to make the boys addicted to bloodlust, in a short matter of time. Without the rules and regulations of society, he never considered the protection of both the litteluns and the rest of the biguns, and continued to ruthlessly murder pigs. He doesn’t hunt pigs for food essential for survival, but rather for the joy of seeing the anguish of the pigs and their blood spilling all over. The quote, “Jack began to dance, and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling,” (Golding, p.64) shows that Jack is indeed becoming a savage monster with the laughter of a beast rather than a young innocent, choir boy. He is only concerned about his cruel desires, and becomes unable to see the others boys as human beings. He harms one of the boys

Jack Jack is placed on the very top and leaning left on the political spectrum. In the story, he craves and thirst for power, and he goes as far as to hurting someone else for what he wants, as in Chapter 1 and 2, he suggested himself to become chief and leader, especially because he was once “head boy” in school, and he snatches Piggy’s specs to start a bonfire. He ignores the rules of the conch yet he also uses it for his own advantage, like when he tells Piggy to shut up when he has the conch, but uses it to call an assembly to impeach Ralph along with twisting Ralph’s words in chapter 8 and bashed him to make himself look more like a desirable leader for the littluns, as he said “He's like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper

After unsuccessfully trying to take away Ralph's power Jack states, “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs.” (Golding 145). This quote holds significance in Jack’s struggle for power. Jack finally found the power in himself to break away from a place where he felt oppressed. This quote also shows how Jack felt his hunting was very important to Ralph and their overall survival. Jack, from the beginning believed hunting was the most important thing no matter what everyone else said, and from this belief Jack created many conflicts like not maintaining the fire. By leaving Ralph to hunt for himself Jack believed he was leaving him to die. Golding uses this to illustrate Jack’s need for power. When all structure was lost he found structure in hunting and thought those who didn't were still lost. By breaking away he created the ability to build a life that made sense to him and invited anyone who wanted to join. When Jack realizes this he very abruptly changes from someone who is fighting for power to someone with strength and courage. Jack paints a mask of his face and almost instantly changes. “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling… The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (Golding 68). Almost instantly Jack was a different person to not only the people around him but also to himself. Like the conch Golding uses the mask as a symbol for power. With the mask Jack is someone who doesn’t have to follow rules and obey the conch. He shows his break away from the government by breaking the conch. “The conch exploded into a thousand white pieces and ceased to exist,” (Golding 209) and just as simply so did any power Ralph had over

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack tries to assert his power with violence. As the hope of rescue and going back home fades, he becomes hostile towards other members of the group. “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror: “My specs!”’ (Golding, 71). As Jack’s personality fades, he gains a violent temper. He lashes out against Piggy, who was merely offering a suggestion. Some boys agree with what Piggy said and Jack is worried he’s losing the control he wants over the boys.

Throughout the story, Jack becomes aggressive, having the urge to kill. In the text, it states, “I cut the pig’s throat” (Golding 69). This shows how Jack is proud to kill the pig, he is the only boy on the Island who is confident enough to kill, foreshadowing that he might even kill more than a pig. As the story goes on, Jack and Ralph now have their own groups and are both chiefs. Ralph cares more about surviving and getting off the Island, while Jack is more interested in hunting and having fun on the Island rather than worrying about surviving, this shows how immature and careless he is.

Jack was one whose personality caused the civilization to come tumbling down. When we first discover the boys on the island and get a mere glimpse of their personalities, it is quite apparent that Jack is going to be one who is power-hungry. He already has a group of followers, the choirboys, of whom he has the utmost power over. He has a very controlling personality that cannot be subsided by the obstacles that are shown in the novel. Jack suffers from wanting to be the best. When he is not chosen as the chief and supreme ruler in the very beginning, it is proven that he will find a way to claw up to the top and take the spot that in his opinion is his right. Jack has quite a reckless personality, and will risk all to be standing alone at the top as king or leader. Jack is also guilty of envy, which goes hand in hand with power. He is envious of everything that Ralph has. Ralph is the chief, and has much common sense. Jack senses this and is jealous of the fact that Ralph can command attention and a following that easily. I also believe, when reflecting back, that Jack is in a sense jealous of Piggy, without being aware of it. Piggy is the complete intellect on the island. While Jack is quite smart, he certainly is not as gifted as Piggy. Piggy can interpret any situation and be the lone voice of knowledge of the masses. Jack not only gets jealous

As Jack’s capricious behavior becomes violent, his speech seems to turn into a tirade, threatening the boys as oppose to warning them. "Suddenly Jack bounded out from the tribe and began screaming wildly.'See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone--' He ran forward, stooping.'I'm chief!'” He is willing to inflict physical harm onto others to secure his position on top. By creating ostentatious displays, Jack made sure all of the boys knew that he held the power. He recruits other boys to join his fight to overthrow Ralph, as he is becoming power hungry. The boys side with Jack because they are scared of being killed or ostracized from the group. He ends up killing Piggy, since Piggy did not give in to fear and sided with Ralph. Jack put Piggy’s head on a stick; however, he finally realize how ridiculous and overzealous he looks and how far he is taking the situation when he sees the naval

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, Your Honor, a terrible crime has been committed. Around five months ago, an aeroplane crashed into an abandoned island. This plane was carrying children and the only adults were the pilot and copilot who died on the scene. The children that survived created a society that kept them alive for two months, give or take a few weeks. They established a society where everyone had a place; a society that was ruled by a single chief, which was one of the elder boys. This boy tried to the best of his ability to keep everyone safe and keep peace among all the children. Ladies and Gentlemen, not all of the boys survived, some were killed by their fellow island mates. One of these boys was named Simon. Simon was killed

Jack has no care for the actions he commits and he thinks about things after they have already been done, after he punches piggy he tries to say that he apologizes so they will forgive him and everyone will forget about it. Jack's efforts for doing the right thing are minimal, he is

The need for civilization, innocence and loss of power is shown through the impaled pig's head. In order for the group to survive, animals must be killed in order for the boys to eat. Jack takes on the role of hunter because he enjoys killing living things, as seen when he states, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (104) Ralph is a more calm person and does not enjoy killing as much as Jack, although he takes a small part in killing the pig. However, in the end, Jack gains all the power because everyone looks up to him as leader because he attempts to hunt the pig throughout the novel and is successful in the end. “We’ll take the meat along the beach.” “Pick up the pig,” Jack said. (150) Meanwhile, Ralph doubts Jack's abilities to kill the pig, and constantly mocks him about being successful. “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.”(51) Jack proves Ralph wrong and kills the pig. “Jack begins to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."(58) He celebrates

After a few tries, Jack and the hunters finally catch a pig. The boys and Jack brutally attack it and kill it. This is the first step of Jack's decent to primitive savagery. We see the loss of innocence because Jack has killed his first living creature, and also had a loss of innocence sexually. Now we see Jack become very confident in his hunting ability and we start to see him act more like a hunter. He now wears a mask over his face and always wants to hunt. The author has this to say about Jack and his mask, "the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (62).  With the aid of the mask, Jack is now transforming into a different person. He seems to be happier as a hunter. The author also lets us into Jack's mind, for his thoughts on his first kill, "His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink" (70).

Jack shows that savagery is like an illness and only gets worse over time. After Jack kills the first pig, he proudly says, “’I cut the pig’s throat’” (Golding 69). In this quote, Jack is proud of killing a defenseless sow; this proves that by nature humans are savage because a young, innocent child like Jack killed a mother pig who was nursing her young. Without a real man to look up to, Jack thought being a man meant acting as though he was tough and killing everything he saw. This is a mindset of a savage person. In addition to this scene, Jack leads the charge that killed Simon. This also proves that humans are savage by nature because Jack had no

Ralph notices this and tries to stop him by yelling “‘Jack! Jack! You haven’t got the conch! Let him speak.’”, and tells him in front of everyone, saying he’s “‘breaking the rules’” (Golding 129). Jack, however, furiously retorts that he “‘[doesn’t] care!’” (Golding 130). It is because of this behavior that he starts to chip away at the conch’s power over Ralph and the other kids. Along with this disagreement, he also outright refuses to concede with the rules, but instead acts immature and thinks the rules are “‘[Bollocks!] We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat!’” (Golding 130). Jack goes even farther with this later in the book, even going so far as to to “tie Wilfred up…and beat Wilfred” (Golding 229) due to a mistake. This makes Jack a very strong leader, not unlike that of a dictator, using force to keep people in line.