The primitive behavior Jack showcases are amplified as he continues to hunt for pigs and neglect the opportunities to get off the island. This behavior then begins to come in the form of human savagery as he tortures those in Ralph’s camp and kills Simon and Piggy. Ultimately, the murder of Simon and Piggy is the peak of the Jack’s savagery. To imagine a group of children ages 6-14 murder two children out of sport is chilling. The book describes the murder of the children without even identifying who it is by describing the victim like an animal or beast, “The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed.
It also showed how Jack’s leadership lead them nowhere and was no help in actually starting the fire. Jack starts to develop this obsession with hunting and murdering a pig in chapter 3, “ At the length he let out his breath in long sigh and opened his eyes. They were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad” (48). However, his obsession with hunting is shown as early as chapter 2, “ But if there was a snake we’d hunt and kill it. We’re going to hunt pigs to get meat for everybody” (36).
Jack’s desire to become the chief over the tribe causes him to harm Ralph with his spear: “Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph” (181). It represents a symbol of power for Jack, causing greed to overcome him, making him think that he’s capable of killing the beast, but in society, evil cannot kill evil, showing that corrupt politicians will always exist within our government. In addition, the spear symbolizes the evil does when the controls of civilization are released, ultimately resulting in the downfall of society. Although the savagery use of the spear is also established by Ralph during the pig hunt, Ralph is more repressed and despite his ideas towards the civilization, he also has an evil side. Jack’s complete savagery regarding the dominance of power through the spear replaces Ralph’s disciplined community on the island.
Simon ends up having an imaginary dialogue with the pig head. In the dialogue it tells Simon that it symbolizes the evil that lies within every human being. It also says that it, metaphorically speaking, will have fun with Simon, meaning that the evil in the hunters will end up killing Simon. This pig head is called lord of the flies, because of its allurement of flies. Just like the flies are allured towards the pig head, the boys are allured towards the evil.
The key word there is “almost”. They could have killed the pig, but they didn’t realize they had it in them until they replayed the situation in their head. Once they tasted blood at first, they couldn’t stop. The power their ability to hold the life of another creature in their hand eventually consumed them, and led to one too many people dying. Jack believed that “you are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.”, except his goal was all consuming power and anyone who stood in his way wouldn’t stand a chance.
Although, as we see on this page, Ralph successfully kills a pig and is weirdly (compared to previous reactions) excited about it. This is contrasting to the way he behaved before. He is giddy and filled with adrenaline because of the kill. This to me symbolizes the change from civil to savage. It shows us that even though Ralph had continually been the one who tried to bring order and civilization to the island, even he was overcome by savagery in order to satisfy his inner needs.
In a general way we mean how our species’ excessive predatoriness has made the entire planet our prey” (Martel 38). He implies that human atrocities are excuses for survival, which, in his views, justifies the evil deeds that he commits against the wild animals on the boat. Additionally, the fear of dying plays a huge role in Pi’s decision to become violent, “I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.” (Martel 214).
This is the first sign of the devolution of Jack. The way he is bent over whilst hunting for prey is similar to how our ancestors behaved. Another signal is when Jack argues with Ralph stating that "We want meat" (Golding 53). This shows that Jack is starting to lust for blood. The exact opposite happened to him earlier in the story when he could not kill the pig because he was too scared.
Jack was always determined to kill a pig and bring it back for a feast. After Ralph scolding him multiple times for only trying to kill a pig and mainly failing he formed his own tribe where people could have fun and eat
In an atmosphere where the beast is real, policies and human morals lose their values and become utterly useless. The democracy that Ralph initiated disappears and yields to a chaotic dictatorship, with Jack at the head, which represents evil and the beast viewed as both a dread and a symbol of worship and reverence. The boys’ increasing allegiance to the existence of the monster is demonstrated in their impalement of the sow’s head on the stake given as an offering to the beast. Thus, Jack slowly gains power and authority by feeding on the islanders’ consternation. As the story evolves, the children’s dread of the beast increases.