Corruption In Lord Of The Flies Essay

604 Words2 Pages

Without social constraints, Jack, the leader of the choir and hunters, quickly descends into corruption. When the boys first arrive on the island it is decided that Jack, Simon, and Ralph are to explore the island and to scope it out. As the three are marching through the jungle, they hear the the squeaking of a piglet. Just as Jack raises his arm to plunge his knife into the pig. Jack hesitated, “He raised his arm in the air. There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream and the creepers to jerk, an the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm...The knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into a living flesh; because of the unbearable blood” (Golding 31). When Jack “pauses” before killing the …show more content…

Jack knows that to kill a defenseless piglet is not acceptably by social standards. The “enormity of the knife” is so daunting to Jack and he fears killing the pig. The “unbearable blood” of the pig puts terror into the heart of Jack. The thought of slashing into the flesh of a helpless animal and having it’s blood on his hands terrifies Jack. He is not yet the monster that he evolves to be when he later detaches himself from civilization and order. In a short amount of time, without the constraints of society, Jack went from fearing to kill a pig to not thinking twice about the act of murder. As the boys go with Jack to hunt, they come across a defenseless sow with piglets. They pursued her through the jungle until at last, the sow could no longer go on. The boys proceed to murdering her, “Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife...Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands” (Golding 135). When Jack is “on top” of the sow it is described as a man raping a women. The sow was helpless and unable to defend herself to stop Jack’s actions. This is what takes place when a person is being

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