The Ultimate Demise Could you imagine a child being a manipulative and violent leader that caused the deaths of other children? In the novel The Lord of The Flies by William Golding, a character, Jack, portrays just that. While a group of boys are left stranded on an island and are left to fend for themselves, their initial sense of morality and order deteriorates. Jack, one of the boys, becomes the cause of the island's demise through his acts of violence and unchecked ambition. Although some may argue that the fear of the beastie caused the island's downfall due to the erratic behavior and chaos it created but ultimately, Jack was the root because he became too swallowed by the obsession of killing and hunting to remember real moral values …show more content…
This highlights how violence and cruelty leads to harm, not only to others but to oneself as well. When boys who have lost their parents, like Jack, engage in violent acts it leads to further aggression and lack of empathy towards others, like what Jack experienced. In conclusion, Jack's actions played a significant role in the demise of the island. His obsession with power and violence led him and the hunters to chaos and destruction of the …show more content…
For example, the fear of the beast created a sense of mistrust and chaos among the boys. This is shown in the article “Why Boys Become Vicious” when Golding explains, “Add to this heady cocktail the other element—fear—and you get a mixture that is more than doubly terrifying. When people are afraid, they discover the violence within them and when they are afraid together they discover that the violence within them can be almost bottomless” (Golding). Fear of this superstitious beast creates paranoia and mistrust around the boys. This causes the boys to group together and all become more frightened as they discover the violence within them. However, Jack is still responsible for the island's overall demise because of his complete disregard for the safety of the boys. “You wouldn’t care to help with the shelters, I suppose?” “We want meat—And we don’t get it.” Now the antagonism was audible. “But I shall! Next time! I’ve got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs”(Golding 71). This shows how Jack is focussed on one thing at all times and one thing only: hunting. So as Ralph points out the importance of shelters to keep everyone safe at night, Jack becomes defensive and
The book follows a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and left to fend for themselves. As time passes, the boys become more savage and violent, eventually turning on each other in a battle for power. This theme is further explored through the character of Jack, who becomes increasingly authoritarian and manipulative, ultimately leading to the death of several of his peers. The novel suggests that without the constraints of society, humans are prone to violence and destruction.
Although society was completely ripped away from the boys in Lord of the Flies, they are still to blame for their actions that took place on the island, as they act on the seven steps to evil, the five fears, and display psychotic and sociopathic behaviors the longer they stay on the island. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are cast away on a remote island. As time passed on the island, each of the boys exhibited the seven steps of evil all in different ways. Focusing on Jack's character, we see the way he changes throughout the book. He goes from being a school boy with a big ego, to an out for blood evil dictator.
Jack having no empathy for the animal and feeling fulfilled after killing the sow so brutally is not a normal feeling that a normal human being would experience. Usually hunting will generate some remorse but Jack feels pride and accomplishment after killing the sow which are not normal feelings. Although Jack possesses aggression on his own involving hunting, there were factors that fueled it along the way. One of the first few times Jack hunted, he had nearly killed a piglet, but at the last second it had gotten away, leaving Jack frustrated and angry. “Jack, knife in hand, reflexively hesitating long enough on the downward stroke to allow a trapped piglet to escape.
Throughout the novel, Jack consistently demonstrates a disregard for rules and a desire for dominance and power. When he leads the boys in hunting and violence, he taps into their savage and primal instincts - including Ralph’s. As Jack proclaims, "The conch doesn't count at this end of the island" (Golding, 150) it becomes evident that he prioritizes dominance and power over order, authority, and the established rules on the island. In the midst of their destructive rivalry, Jack’s failures teach Ralph important lessons. Witnessing Jack’s inability to maintain the signal fire makes Ralph recognize the value of collaboration, communication, and planning for survival.
Jack just wanted to have fun on the island. There were no parents or adults there to stop him. He was more focused on being selfish and making sure he survived. Jack didn’t care about the other boys, they were just there to help him. Jack used the boys so he would be able to survive.
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.
As the story progresses, Jack begins to gain more and more power over the tribe, causing the boys to become more savage and behavior irresponsible. Although conditions in the island has downgraded with Jack in charge, Golding shows that conditions can worsen under more savage leaders. As Roger begins to gain power, the island descended into a destructive place that grows in savagery. Throughout history civilizations have crumbled and prospered depending on those in power. Under the control of savage individuals, societies can derail into a pool of
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.”
Throughout the entirety of William Golding's novel “Lord of the Flies” the boys on the island change every day, and overtime they are becoming savages. When all the boys first met, they all relatively liked one another, and there were no serious grudges. However, near the end of the novel, the boys split up and hated each other, which evolved into violence and even murder. Especially Jack who ends up becoming an evil ruler controlling everyone and torturing them for no reason.
Ralph and Jack do not have the same values. This is reflecting onto the productivity of the boys and flow of the island. “We want meat.” “Well, we haven’t got any yet. And we want shelters.
Jack facilitates the growth of their violent behavior, leading to the boys' loss of civility. Through the character Jack
In the book “Lord of the Flies” Jack isn’t the only one that started the destruction of the island but in my point of view the ultimate cause is Jack is the main cause of the destruction of the island the one that led to the destruction he is careless that only cares about himself and that wants to be the one everyone listens to the one everyone looks up to. In the beginning Jack has always had that ruthless look in him,that feeling of evil I mean he had red hair kinda symbolize as a devil,he saw himself powerful when he sees weak in people he takes advantage of them and makes fun of it without even realizing. One way of Jack seeing himself powerful and better than the others is when he automailty saw himself as chief because he is leader of the choir,and can sing a c sharp “A
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
After a few days of hunting Jack became obsessed with this activity, and it was all he ever wanted to do. This fixation on hunting caused Jack to turn into a savage. He turned into a barbarian and didn’t show mercy to anyone, especially the animals. Goldings writes, "He [Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling" (pg. 58). This shows, Jack losing the civility he once had, his laughing uncontrollably becoming snarling.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the wilderness forces a group of young, abandoned boys to turn against each other. The boys are left on the island after a plane crash. When the boys first come to the realization that they are alone and trapped, they are not sure of what to do. One boy in particular, Merridew (later called Jack), is determined to get power from the current leader, Ralph. Influenced by new leader, the boys become irrational.