Jack's Power in Lord of the Flies

Jack's Power in Lord of the Flies

At the beginning we see Jack as a well-dressed choir leader, " each

boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge in it." suggesting

that he is civilised. We see also from this first point that he is

introduced, that he has a slightly mean streak in him as he gives 'an

order' to the other choir boys to "stand still", even though the heat

is far too much for them. They are in fear of him as they obey his

order. The boys also did as Jack said when they "raised their hands"

"with dreary obedience" to vote him for chief.

This mean streak also occurs when he is constantly dismissing Piggy

and telling him to "shut up".

When Ralph brings in rules about the conch and shelters Jack becomes

defiant and would much rather be exploring or hunting. Ralph and Jack

have some confrontation about the shelters and also about the rule

with the conch as "Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing

Ralph". Jack thinks that the conch rule is a silly rule and when Ralph

tells Jack that he is breaking the rules he simply replies with "who

cares?" or "sod you!"

Jack is also unsympathetic towards the littluns' and refers to them as

a "useless lot of cry-babies".

Jack becomes fearless and some of the other boys respect him as a good

hunter because he has "been everywhere". The other boys also think

that he is more fun because he just hunts and doesn't care about all

the rules. The first instance when we see Jack becoming savage is when

he paints his face as a disguise "like moths on a tree trunk" and

starts wearing few clothes unlike the boy with the " square black cap"

that we were introduced to at the start. When Jack becomes disguised

he intrigues the other boys because he starts...

... middle of paper ...

...Ralph has no one left

they nearly kill him too, except that they are rescued.

Jack's rise to power meant that he became the most fearless and

fearsome character. The boys respected him for his hunting, but after

the death of Simon he became even more feared by Ralph and Piggy.

The resentment for Ralph that Jack carried from near enough the

beginning was the fuel for Ralph's attempted death. Jack's power went

straight to his head and the tribe became completely uncivilised and

out of control. There were no rules and the boys did as they pleased

and all though they enjoyed themselves we are left wondering what

would have happened if the boys were not rescued when they were. I

think we can say that Ralph would have been killed but would further

separation have been on the cards? I think that perhaps Roger may have

wanted more power if given the chance.