"Jack represents evil and violence, the dark side of human nature." Out of all the characters in Lord of the Flies, Jack is the characters that sticks as having the strongest personality. Jack is ambitious. He has numerous examples of this throughout the book: Lord of the Flies. Jack is always the person that challenges everyone about their choices, but doesn't make good choices himself. He challenges authority, doesn't care who he hurts to achieve his goal, and doesn't follow the rules of society. Jack doesn’t care about what other people think of him as long as he accomplishes his goals.
Jealous, immature, aggressive, hostile, emotionless. Are these things you would look for in a leader? The majority would say no, but it worked on the island for one reason. In the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jack led by intimidation and controlled by fear. He was corrupted by his own need for power. Jack’s conflicts with humanity and himself heavily contributed to his corruption and the downfall of the society on the island.
Machiavelli said it best in his book The Prince, "It is Better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." The main characters of The Lord Of The flies by William Golding, Jack and Ralph, both share the similar goal of becoming leader. As Jack being feared and Ralph being loved, throughout the book you perceive that being feared as a leader maintains order, causes stability, and embodies a sense of respect. Love comes, and it goes. The fact that it's fickle causes it to be an untrustworthy ground to build leadership on. Throughout the book it is exhibited through many events that as a leader being feared lets you accomplish more and causes a loyal relationship with the people surrounding you.
If an adolescent were to commit a horrendous crime such as murder, should they be convicted as guilty or not? Kids at the age 12 should realize what is right from wrong. They obliviously know that if they were to be in a position where they were killing another human, that is just a murderous crime and should be guilty for their actions. In the book Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a boy named Jack had committed two murders on the island where everyone was stranded. Some people agree that if adolescents were to do something irresponsible and regretful it's because “their brains just haven’t physically matured yet.”(healthychildren.org) It is true that the adolescent brain is still developing and not fully mature, but they should
He becomes one of the prominent leadership figures and his interest in establishing a society aligns with Ralph’s, the first elected leader, but he shows a propensity for aggressive behavior by yelling that it would "serve [them] right if something did get [them], you useless lot of cry-babies!" (Golding 64). Choosing to attack the young boys for their fears plays into Jack’s fanaticism about his nearly-embraced island life. Becoming defensive about what he is doing for the group, he attacks the same people he attempts to govern. Later, the ideological differences between Jack and Ralph prove too great, and Jack sets fire to the island in his bid to kill him, “smoke...seeping through the branches in white and yellow wisps, the patch of blue sky overhead turned to the color of a storm cloud” (152). The moment that Ralph opposed Jack, he became an enemy, no matter that he and Jack had worked together before. Jack’s own bloodlust also sabotaged his goal of never returning to their past lives since it alerted a passing ship to their presence. In essence, Jack wasn’t a destructive character, but rather a leader who compromised his morals to a point where he had almost
In the beginning of the novel, Jack’s only goal is to hunt and kill a pig. He is “the most obvious leader”, and thrives on the need for violence(16). Jack states that he “ought to be chief”, just like the id believes it must be in control (16). The id, as represented through Jack, needs violence to survive and see itself as superior. The defectiveness of human nature and the desire to hurt is overpowering and Jack represents this darkness in humans.
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, over a dozen boys are stranded on an island with no adults and to fend for themselves. One individual in Jack Merridew, a boy who is turned cruel and ruthless, is being charged with 1st degree murder for the deaths of two boys, Piggy and Simon. First degree murder is characterized as deaths that a person committed was the individual either plans and commits the murder conscience of their actions. Jack is guilty of first degree and should be charged with 1st murder degree murder because of his direct involvement in Simon’s death, his dictatorial of leadership leading to the other boys’ savage behavior, and his disregard for human life.
A microcosm is a representation of the world on a much smaller scale. Sometimes, this can be represented as an island, where nothing can escape, much like earth itself. In Golding's novel, “Lord of the Flies”,a small group of boys crash land on a desert island. They have no idea what to do at first, but eventually start to build a society. The main characters, Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon often fight, and during their fights, the other children take sides. Each of the groups, instead of acting as separate people, act as one. People have called this mob mentality. Mob mentality brings out the evil in man, as shown when Jack and the choir boys left to make their society, when they killed “the beast” who turned out to be Simon, and when all the
Many authors rely on symbols as literary devices to convey themes and underlying meanings within their works. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the conch is a symbol of unity, bringing the boys together at the beginning of the novel, and it is used to establish rules and a society among the boys. William Golding uses the conch as a tool to express the theme of good versus evil through the relationship between Jack and Ralph. In addition, because of the organization and civil habits that emerge when Ralph has the conch, Golding can display a connection between Ralph and morality. When Jack begins his own tribe and spreads savage behaviours across the island, the
This is a key moment because the conflict between Ralph and Jack has grown from audible disputes, to a physical divide between civilization and savagery of the boys. “Later in the novel, he even breaks away from Ralph’s newly formed society, forming his own tribe of hunters.” (Neighbors,1) This split shows the growing tension between the boys because they are now also splitting the other boys between the two sides. Ralph states that getting rescued should be their priority while Jack thinks hunting is just as important. Jack says that he is unwilling to be a part of Ralph’s group any longer. This goes to show that he has left the civilized part of him behind in favor of his savage side. If Jack had stayed with the civilized boys, then the two groups would still be as one and the conflict between the Jack and Ralph would not have reached the high peaking point of which it
The character in the novel Lord of the Flies that represents the Id, is Jack. In the Psychoanalytic lens, the Id is defined as the basic desire, or the fundamental root of what each person strives for. Expressing several characteristics of the Id, Jack continually leads the reader to infer Jack is the Id. Additionally, Jack has an enormous desire for control and leadership. As well as a difficult time keeping his desire, “in the background.” Thus, often interfering with Ralph’s leadership and views. Frequently, Jack attempts to turn the boys against Ralph, only caring for his own desires. For example, “He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey him for nothing. All this talk—” (Golding 126). Jack shows an example of his furor demeanor and his irate temper. A second reason to support the idea is that Jack portrays his desires against Ralph. The id of Lord of the Flies does not view the world
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?’ Every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air” (23). Another defining moment of Jack Merridew is when he apologizes to Ralph for letting the fire go out. “‘I’m sorry. About the fire, I mean.
This boy was only dreading his trip to his new private school 30,000 feet in the air before blacking out and finding himself stranded and alone in a deserted island. But within the short time span of five weeks, he’s innocence was taken from him. I am lucky to interview Ralph Bradshaw, age 12, after weeks of silence, of his deadly, horrifying experience in the stranded island he would call “Hell” itself.
In the realistic fiction novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a plane crashes, leaving a group of young English boys as the only survivors. The boys become stranded on the island and lose their sense of humanity, becoming savage and uncivilized. Some boys committed greater acts of malice than others, all having submitted to their primal instinct, nevertheless. I believe Ralph, whom is twelve-years-old, should be convicted for voluntary murder, while Jack, whom is the same age as Ralph, should be convicted for voluntary murder and assault
Evil has always been evident, throughout the history of man examples of evil are apparent, so why would our literature be any different? Written in 1959 William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies is no different, as its theme explores the natural evils of man through the plot. The book tells of the events that occur after a group of young boys are marooned on an island, the main characters Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon, grapple with finding food and water while they struggle with the return of more animalistic instincts without the guiding hand of civilization. The intrinsic evil and unavoidable sins of man are are exposed through William Golding’s characterization and overlying themes in Lord of the Flies.