Jack Merridew Analysis Jack Merridew is a key character in The Lord of the Flies. Without him, the protagonist Ralph would have no adversary, and the savage boys would have no leader. Near the beginning, Jack appears to be a scrawny, unattractive boy but it soon becomes clear that he is a powerful and manipulative figure one should fear. When Jack first comes out of the foliage with his choir group, he seems fairly confident and prideful. He is able to lead the choir comfortably as if he were born to be a tyrannical ruler. "I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance. (29) Jack is the sort of boy who takes advantage of the fact that he is alone on an island without any grownups. Instead of becoming proactive by helping Ralph look after the littlun's or devise a way off the island, he makes a game out of hunting the wild pigs. As the lost boys fall into a routine, it is clear that Jack and many of his followers are becoming more savage-like. …show more content…
At the beginning of the story, Jack is a simple school boy, looking to be part of the group and go exploring with Ralph, while waiting to be rescued. "We'll get food," cried Jack. "Hunt. Catch things... Until they fetch us." (41) But soon, Jack takes hunting too seriously, and he attains a thrill by killing pigs. He becomes more violent and aggressive and now this mean character is Jack's lifestyle. Jack changes into this harsh, impatient person because he is tired of always coming in second place to Ralph.
Soon after organizing statuses and the children, Jack states that he and his peers in the choir will hunt for food. Since Jack has obtained the status of the chief and a hunter, he starts to undergo some character building changes. Further in the story Jack and his hunters transform into bloodthirsty savages who hunt for the thrill of slaughter. This all began with the death of a pig, the thrill of the hunt, and the murder of a fellow survivor.
AN HONOURABLE LEADER An honorable leader has many characteristics and these characteristics differ from one person to another. In the extravagant book The Lord Of The Flies written by William Golding young boys get stranded on an island. As time progresses some of the boys turn more and more into savages. The book demonstrates how our society would be without rules, regulations and laws.
In the novel, “Lord of The Flies,” the author, William Golding, relies on the characterization of Jack to develop the central idea that it is the natural evil and immorality in all humans that ultimately leads to the destruction of a society. Before Jack is even introduced as a character, he is compared to a creature of darkness when Golding describes, “the eye was first attracted to a black, bat-like creature that danced on the sand.” This comparison foreshadows Jack’s true darkness before he was made known to the readers. Jack’s archetype as “The Ruler” is established right from the moment he is introduced. One of the boys, Roger, suggested that they vote for chief but “Jack started to protest”, which demonstrates his desire for control.
Jack as an innocent little boy until the island broke him. Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon and multiple other boys get stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. They are all alone without any adults or signs of getting off the island. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the theme of loss of innocence is shown through the character Jack.
Lord of the Flies In the novel Lord of the Flies, the main character Ralph is a static character because throughout the characters’ fight for survival, he remains calm and takes leadership. In the very beginning of the book, the narrator introduces Ralph as a survivor of a fatal plane crash that resulted in the deaths of a few schoolboys and the pilot. After he meets his new friend Piggy, Ralph listens to the schoolboys about their stressful situation: being stranded on an island with no adults and no idea if and how someone will find them.
Jack is disagreeing with Ralph on every topic, so he calls a meeting. During the meeting he insults Ralph and tries to make the boys promote him to chief. The boys will not do this which outrages Jack. Jack cannot deal with Ralph any more and declares, “‘I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot’”(Golding 127). Ralph is now not only obsessed with hunting, but is straying from their ‘government’.
Jack is a naive head choir boy before he arrives at the island; by being stranded, Jack begins to adapt to the new environment and takes on characteristics of an animal. After Ralph tells Jack everyone's names and asks what his name is, Jack states, “Kids’ names, why should I be Jack? I’m Merridew” (Golding 21). In other
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.
In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding the ultimate one responsible for the destruction of the island is Jack. In the novel Golding has wrote about how a group of british boys crashed on a plane and landed on a island where there are no adults,just little british boys stranded on a island .In the beginning one of the boys Ralph was the responsible leader where he knew what to do an how to manage. But of course there was this one cureles jealous boy that wanted to be a leader,the one in charge. Because of how ruthless and savage Jack was he took the fear that the boys had within them and used it against them to make them join his tribe which started the destruction of the island.
Near the end of their time on the island, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are the only ones left with Ralph, and Jack, who appears as “a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear” (Golding 168). Jack starts to get violent, and what was fun when they first got to the island become attempts to kill. At this point, Jack has fully taken over, and the only thing left for him to do is kill Ralph. Lord of the Flies exemplifies how when one person has all of the power, there is always somebody else that wants it more than that person. Ralph is not against Jack, nor does he want to fight with him for the chief position, but ambition and violence overtakes Jack, and he turns into a dangerous savage.
Lord of the Flies Essay No matter how civilized humans, when they are taken away from society, they tend to return to their animalistic ways. Being away from civilization causes a person to inhibit certain characteristics or habits that lead them to become more savage. In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, ack serves as a foil to Ralph which illustrates Golding’s theme that when humans are taken away from civilization, they are detremented to the effect of becoming savage and wild .
L.O.F- Character analysis: Jack Merridew Jack Merridew is a bull headed lead chorister at his former academy in England who obtains people's loyalty through control and sadistic rules in Lord of the Flies. What Jack Merridew does is he makes violence out of every situation and degrades people for a hoot. Furthermore, he acts as a dictator from the governmental standpoint for his thirst for power. He loves the sense of chaos and trouble. He is willing to do anything to have a good time and won't let anything stand between him and fun.
Jack, especially, is blinded by his pride. He believes he should be treated like a god, and the boys obey his every command. After they kill a pig, the boys are eating and partying. He receives this treatment, "Before the party had started a great log had been dragged into the center of the lawn and Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol. There were piles of meat on green leaves near him, and fruit, and coconut shells full of drink" (147).
Throughout Lord of the Flies, Jack proves himself to be a very aggressive and forceful leader who always seems motivated by self-interest. From the beginning of the novel, Jack instills fear within the boys to maintain control. For example, during the scene in which the boys are to vote on a leader, Golding clearly coveys that although the boys do not really want to vote for Jack, but they reluctantly do so. “With dreary obedience the choir raised their hands. ‘Who wants me?’
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.