All about jack in the lord of the flies

All about jack in the lord of the flies

The opening chapter begins with two boys, Piggy and Ralph, making

their way through the jungle. We learn, through their dialogue, that

they had been travelling in an airplane with a group of British school

children. The plane had presumably been shot down and crashed on a an

island in the Pacific. It is hinted that the rest of the world is at

war, and that most of it has been destroyed by nuclear

attacks--possibly explaining that the children were being evacuated.

A storm has come and gone, washing the wreckage away. Ralph and Piggy

meet and revel at the prospect that they are alone on a tropical

island with no adults. They make their way to the beach where they

find a large conch shell. Using the shell as a horn, Ralph summons any

other children that may be on the island. They begin to come from the

jungle and Piggy tries to take names.

Along the beach two marching files of black-clad children approach.

This is the first we see of Jack Merridew (who, oddly enough is the

only child, besides Percival, whose last name we will learn). Piggy is

immediately singled out by the group and made fun of. The children do

not like him and never will.

Being children, and at first thinking that survival is a game to be

played and that rescue is inevitable, they decide to vote for a chief

"to decide things." It is obvious the only two contenders are Jack and

Ralph. Ralph is voted in; he had possession of the conch--already

magical in quality to those present--and seemed the most able. Jack's

black-clad choir are designated as hunters upon Jack's

insistence--already revealing his need to hunt and kill.

Ralph's first decision as chief is to send a party out to investigate

whether or not they are really on an island. Himself, Jack, and Simon

leave to scale the mountain. As they climb the pink granite, they take

time to have fun and roll a large boulder off the edge to watch it be

destroyed "like a bomb." This need to destroy begins with this

innocent rock-rolling and will eventually culminate with the killing

of a sow, Simon, Piggy and the hunting of Ralph later in the story.

They reach the summit and indeed discovery they are on an island,

apparently uninhabited. A new friendship developes between Ralph and

Jack. They savor the "right of domination," and Jack comments about

how they will have fun and hunt "until they fetch us." Jack believes

rescue is inevitable and these thoughts will contribute to his