How Was Jack Responsible For The Fire

In the book, the readers can tell that Jack only cares about savagery and hunting pigs. Jack feels that he can replace Ralph as leader, because Ralph does not take much of responsibility. He falls into the savagery category because when he puts on the mask to kill the pigs, it hides his inner inhibitions. “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”(pg. 69). This quote shows Jack’s evil side when it comes to the death of their first pig, and it is also a political allegory. “The conch doesn’t count on the top of the mountain… so you shut up.”(pg. 42) Jack feels like he is a dictator, so he decides to take control of Piggy. “You should have seen the blood!”(pg. 70). This shows Jack’s loss of innocence, and the savagery inside him and the

He planned and eventually took Piggy’s glasses from Ralph’s group, and the glasses were the only way the boys knew how to start a fire. Ralph and Piggy were one of the few left who were not savage and cared about keeping a fire alive to be saved. The author writes, “You go away, Ralph. You keep to your end. This is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone.’ … ‘You pinched Piggy’s specs,’ said Ralph breathlessly. ‘You’ve got to give them back.’ ‘Got to? Who says? ” (176). Jack did not realize the importance of keeping the fire going, and by not giving the glasses back to the few people who still cared for the fire, makes their chances of being saved even slimmer than before. Jack’s decisions will only benefit himself and keep him in power, another act of being selfish, but does not want his actions to be

Towards the end of the novel, as the change in leadership from Ralph to Jack occurs, Jack becomes extremely powerful and takes control over most of the boys on the island. As chief, Jack decided to raid the huts where Ralph, Piggy, and a few little ones were sleeping to steal Piggy’s glasses to aid in the formation of a fire. “Then there was a vicious snarling in the mouth of the shelter and the plunge and thump of living things . . . Piggy’s corner became a complication of snarls and crashes and flying limbs” (149). Instead of simply asking to borrow Piggy’s glasses, Jack used his power to manipulate his followers to not only steal the glasses, but also fight Piggy and Ralph in the

Jack stole Piggy’s glasses, and without them Piggy wasn't himself. He could barely see and he couldn't think straight. Ralph decided they needed the fire if they wanted to be rescued and Piggy and the boys risked their lives to go and get them from Ralph. “Which is better—to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is? . . . Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (Golding. 11) After sticking up to Jack and his pack, the boys were laughing at Piggy, they didn't take anything he said seriously. We see once again Piggy acting as the parent, and coming up with intelligent things to do and say unlike

He has a disagreeable attitude toward them and uses Piggy’s glasses to his advantage. “Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks.” (71, Golding)  When Jack slapped Piggy and broke them, that resembled the full disorder and chaos experienced on the island. It showed how far the group has come from orderly civilization when the glasses are misused and not being used for smarts or reason anymore. The glasses are also one of the last remaining tools from the outside world. The boys use this tool, instead of more primitive means, to light the signal fire which shows the initial desire for order. But the glasses, like the conch shell, are broken by savagery. When the glasses break, the last link the boys had to their past society is broken.

Piggy’s responsibility set him apart from the other boys, like Ralph. When Piggy cried out, “I don’t ask for my glasses back, not as a favour. I don’t ask you to be a sport, I’ll say, not because you’re strong, but because what’s right’s right” (190). For a moment, Piggy’s anger with unfairness and helplessness he felt took away from his logical reasoning but returned as soon as he was confronted by the savages. When Piggy asked, "Which is better- to be a pack of painted niggers like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?"(200) it demonstrated a change in Piggy's nature. Piggy learned to stand up for himself against Jack and the savages. He was able to think clearly and plan ahead of his encounter with the savage boys. The cruelty Jack showed towards him taught Piggy how much more pain there was in the

One day while one of Jack's hunters were supposed to keep watch over the fire, they went on a hunt with Jack to kill a pig. Meanwhile on the beach, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are building forts when they realize that a ship is passing over the island. Then, they realize that the fire is out, so they sprint up the mountain but by the time they get there, the ship was gone. At the same time, Jack and the hunters had just come back from the hunt. They see Ralph and know exactly what their mistake was. So, Jack tries to lighten up the mood by saying to Ralph that he should have been there because it was so much fun. Ralph gets very angry at them and says that they could have been rescued if they had been watching the fire. In retaliation to Ralph's anger, Jack takes Piggy's glasses and breaks one of the specs. Then they try to rebuild the fire while Ralph is blocking them, and Ralph doesn't move. (Golding 65-75). "No one, not even Jack would ask him to move and in the end they had to build the fire three yards away and in a place not really as convenient. So Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought for days. Against his weapon, so indefinable and so effective, Jack was powerless and raged without knowing why. By the time the pile was built, they

He often compares Piggy to pigs and tells everyone how irrelevant and silly he is. When Piggy gets the conch and tells how he has a right to speak just like everyone, Jack shuts him up with rude comments about his intelligence and appearance. As a result, he punches Piggy leading to the fall and break of his glasses. ‘You would, would you? Fatty! … He went crouching and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got there first, found them for him. Passions beat about Simon on the mountaintop with awful wings.” [Page: 75] Jack snatches the conch from Piggy and starts to talk about his own ideas and opinions to the assembly. When Piggy finds Ralph alone, he explains how he thinks Jack doesn’t like him. He says how he spends most of his time thinking about it. As Jack respects Ralph and his ideas as a chief, he won’t hurt him. They also understand each other and appreciate their ideas and help. However, certain times, Jack hates Ralph too when he listens to Piggy’s ideas and try to follow according to it. Once if Ralph is out of Jack’s way, the next person he will want to kill is Piggy. “He [Jack] hates me. I dunno why. If he could do what he wanted-you’re all right, he respects you. Besides-you’d hit him…. ‘I been in bed so much I

Piggy has an external conflict with jack in the novel. Jack is bully’s piggy; therefore, piggy has a controversy standing up for something’s he would like to say. For example, piggy states “ I

When Jack slaps Piggy and purposely breaks his glasses, Ralph calls it "A dirty trick." (p. 76) This shows Jack's selfishness and his failure to respect other people, while at the same time Ralph's concern is understand others. Ralph manages to treat each boy equally with his own form of control while Jack treats the boys, especially Piggy lower. After hunting, the group sits down to eat and Jack gives everyone a share except for Piggy. When Piggy asks for some, Jack says, "You didn't hunt." (p. 78) Neither Ralph or many of the littluns hunted but they still got their portion of meat. This was only being directed to Piggy. Jack's behavior towards Piggy shows that he is unable to understand other people. A good leader would have taken care of all his/her group. Ralph understands that he must treat everyone equal or he will not be respected and is a better leader than Jack because of this knowledge.

Jack had finally killed the pig and he knows it. The show of twitching can be shown as the lasting exhilaration from the kill. It is supported by this quote “He danced a step or two, then remembered his dignity and stood still grinning.” (Golding 69). That shows that jack enjoyed the killing of the pig. Jack now has had a taste in vitally harming another living being physically. This experience influences jack’s action to be more bolder with his new found confidence. Before he was restrained by his consciousness of killing another living being, but now all that has been lost. He starts to act like a savage becoming more domineering and careless of his actions towards others because of the skill experience that he has gained of hunting down an animal. “Jack smacked Piggy’s head.” (Golding 71). Jack’s action becomes more unrestrained and vicious. Before he would only verbally abuse Piggy because society restraining him from any physical violence. But after the killing of the pig, Jack begins to get violent and physical. As shown in the quote when he smacks Piggy’s head. This is one of the two main points of jack’s turn from civility into savagery. These actions without laws and persecution lets jack’s savagery flow out. He begins to act more unrestrained without the punishments voiced criticism of society. And as the leader of hunter’s he begins to influence others to act the

The next thing that Jack’s tribe was guilty of was the theft of the fire and Piggy’s glasses. The tribe had raided Ralph, Piggy, Sam’n’Eric and the littluns. When they got raided Ralph had felt “Crashes and flying limbs… A fist” (Golding 184) and then saw “Dark figures” (Golding 185) leave. As they get themselves back together they notice that in Jack’s “Left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses.”(Golding 186) This shows that instead of Jack’s tribe trying to divert Jack from his plans and taking fire and Piggy’s glasses by brute force, they went on with his plans and had injured Ralph, Piggy and Sam’n’Eric in the process. They did not think about their actions and seemed to have also put a lot of effort into executing the plan which shows the boys involvement with Jack’s

(Golding 72) This recurring chant illustrates the savagery and belligerence of Jack’s character. In the same chapter, Ralph and Jack have a heated confrontation about the unattended fire. In the midst of this argument, Jack throws a blow to Piggy’s stomach, which leads to breaking his glasses. Jack’s anger is uncontrollable which leads him to resort to physical violence.

While the fire is out, Ralph sees a ship passing, since there is no fire or another way of telling the crew that the boys were on the island the ship goes passed the island. Jack and the hunters come back with a sense of triumph as they have killed the pig, only for this triumph to be squandered by Ralph, who is blaming Jack for the fire going out. Piggy begins to speak to Jack and tells him he should not have let the fire go out. Jack retaliates in the worst way, “This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his blue eyes.

Secondly, in the novel, Jack and Piggy’s relationship was fairly better than the relationship they had in the movie when they were trying to figure out how to start a fire it was Jack who noticed piggy's glasses and told them they could use them. On the other hand, in the film, it was Ralph who had the idea to use his glasses, because Jack’s relationship was very weak with “the boy who had asthma.” And they surely didn’t get along.