Diana Montes
Mrs. Lawrence
CompLit 2
P.5
10/8/15 Jack Merridew Being stranded on an island with a group of children the same age as you or younger; one regretful situation would be allowing the mean kid to slowly lose control and not do anything about it. What is worse is letting him gain a majority of the power and letting him cause chaos. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew is allowed exactly that. His slow descent into savagery is foreshadowed early in the book. Jack changes from a figure of civilization to a savage dictator because of no rules or adults and he challenges civilization by fighting Ralph with savagery winning in the end.
Starting from the beginning, the reader can tell immediately that Jack is not
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The narrator describes Jack in the tribe party as “painted and garlanded,” and he “sat there like an idol” (149). Jack finally sees himself at the top tier. He accomplished his goal and is now a savage dictator. He sternly commands the other boys and impatiently yells “has everyone eaten as much as they want?” (149). He instills fear in the other boys and is now completely different than he was before. Jack is at the most savage and loses all civilization when he participates in the killing of Simon. He tells everyone to dance and then Simon comes in and then they “leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, and tore.” (153). Allowing someone to be murdered is the worst. After this tragic event, everyone but Sam and Eric and a few littluns join Jack’s tribe and they fight. Jack, “made a rush and stabbed at Ralph’s chest” (177). He is challenging civilization, represented by Ralph. With no rules, Jack becomes more violent and tortures Sam and Eric into joining his tribe and makes them tell him where Ralph is hiding to hunt and kill him. While Ralph is hiding from Jack’s tribe, “another double cry at the same distance gave him a clue to their plan” (195). Jack’s tribe lost all connections with civilization, and the narrator now refers to them as savages and not by their own names. In a frenzy, Jack goes crazy and completely breaks his chains with civilization and sets the whole island on fire, which is his last act as the dictator of the
Prompt: Choose a character. How does this character change over the course of the novel? I chose Jack Merridew. He is a red head choir leader. My assertion is that over time without society helping him do the right thing he starts to become savage.
In the first three chapters Jack seems to change personalities from when he was in school to when he landed on the Island, he changed from responsible to trying to be the alpha male. When Jack was in school he was more responsible by helping other kids, but when he landed on the island all his responsibility got thrown out a window since all he wanted to do was a hunt and not get rescued. Jack is the kind of person that would judge people based on their size and appearance ever since he landed on the Island. The reader should see that Jack is an unkind person. The readers should see that Jack has been making fun, and trying to put Piggy down.
While it is true that in doing so, Ralph would have been able to prevent the reckless actions of the boys and the savagery in which joining Jack’s tribe would instill in them, it is evident that Ralph was unable to stop the boys on the island from joining Jack’s tribe. This is demonstrated when Jack utilizes both the bribery of food that his tribe hunted and violent punishments for those who do not follow his orders to force the boys to stay in the tribe. An example of the force Jack utilizes to maintain his authority in the tribe is when Samneric are forced to join. Roger, influenced and rewarded by Jack for his savagery is given the job of terrorizing Samneric, describing their fear as, “The yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror” (182). The words “looking up” show that Samneric experience a power imbalance that causes them to be at a disadvantage.
Jack believes establishing fear, asserting dominance and his urge to unify the boys of the island will prove he is worthy. Jack Merridew represents evil and all things vicious. After not being elected chief by his peers, Jack feels he must fight for any sort of power. He is unable to convince the boys to elect him as chief and quickly realizes the only way to achieve the role of leader is by branching off and forming his own tribe. Jack decides the best way to expand his tribe is by manipulating the boys into fearing a bloodthirsty beast.
He does not want to help out on the island to benefit them, he would rather go hunting trying to kill pigs. Jack declared himself as chief and lead the hunters. When he came across a pig he wanted to kill it but he held back because he had no hunting skills. His ambition to kill a pig built up in him that he did not take orders from anyone anymore and moved on. He created his own tribe just so he could hunt for “meat.”
With Jack’s new mask on play, he believes that he can do or say anything. Like he can endure some sort of power or confidence from the mask. Which results him making his own “tribe” taking ¾ of the boys society along with him. But, his thirst for power becomes too intense leading to the savagery and killings of Simon and
Resulting in irresponsible Jack gaining power over everybody. Jack's role as a leader has disastrous consequences on the island, leading to death and destruction. In the novel "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, Jack is to blame for the demise of the island due to his selfish nature and cruel leadership. To begin with, Jack is
Ralph screamed of fright and anger and desperation. His legs straightened, the screams became continuous and foaming.” ( Golding 221). When Jack has finally had enough of Ralph he decides that the best option is to hunt him and kill him. He gathered his tribe and they make up a plan.
This action causes the boys to go into a savage frenzy , screaming, yelling, and mass chaos, all because Jack told them to do their dance. Their dance turned into ritual killing where all the boys, including Jack, ruthlessly stabbed and beat Simon repeatedly to death. Jack had caused the mass chaos and if he had never done that, Simon would still be alive and not a corpse at the bottom of the ocean. Jack and his tribe committed murder and only Ralph recognized it for what it was: “that was murder…. I wasn’t
“It’s easy to become anything you wish….so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul.” pg. 29. Jack is a representation of how humans must be willing to sacrifice their identity to
Leadership Abuse in Lord of the Flies The famous 17th century poet Jean de la Fontaine once said “Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.” When the children in Lord of the Flies find themselves stranded on a distant island with no adults to be found, they encounter many forms of power, hence encountering many forms of abuse of power as well. This power abuse can be organized by the two leaders who each ruled the island during their own periods. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes these leaders, Ralph and Jack, to illustrate how people in positions of power will abuse their power for personal gain when given the opportunity.
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
Jury’s Verdict Society must fight against those who rip society apart by breaking laws and acting unethically. Citizens must make the right decisions in order to maintain a healthy community for many years to come. As jury for the trial of Jack Merridew, we have concluded Jack Merridew to be guilty, for he is responsible for the deaths of Simon and Piggy. When deciding an accused person’s fate, there should be no bias involved, since members of the jury have to look at the case from multiple points of view. The factors that suggested Jack Merridew’s guilt include why he and his tribe had not used traps rather than spears, his attempt to murder Ralph, and how the leader should be the one responsible for a group's actions.
Character Analysis: Jack Merridew Jack Merridew is introduced as the “choir leader” in chapter one of “Lord of the Flies”. Jack has a power demeanor which causes him to be intimidating and influential, instilling fear in the other children. Often in the novel, his desires to be in control and primitive behaviors are reflected in his actions on the island. Jack can be seen as Ralph’s antagonist which contributes to conflict on the island because he undermines Ralph’s authority and influences savage behaviors among the other boys. From the beginning of the novel Jack is introduced as intimidating and influential, “ Piggy asked no names.
Jack lost his sanity and civility and this changed him in more ways than imaginable. Jack was a natural leader when the boys first came onto the island, but as time continued he became a horrible dictator. On the first day on the island, Ralph and Jack competed for chief of the island. Ralph won. Jack was unhappy with this result, but it didn’t yet throw him into a spiral of craze and anger.