Even the most civilized people can become savage, this is especially so when there are no rules to keep them in line. Being in an isolated place can make a person’s true colors shine through, and brings out things in them that even they did not know were there. This is undeniably evident in the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In the novel, many boys are stranded on an island with no way to get back home. The boys slowly go savage and turn on each other, making the island fall apart. Some readers may think that Roger is to blame for the boys’ descent into savagery, but Jack and the fear on the island are really at fault.
Many people who have read Lord of the Flies are led to believe that Roger is responsible for the savagery
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Since the beginning of the story Jack had wanted to be the leader instead of Ralph, and he had a vendetta against him because of this. When Ralph started to lose control of the boys, Jack stepped up and made his own tribe of savages. Jack was not the best leader, but he was able to control the boys and make them do whatever he wanted. Jack was a very bloodthirsty boy. He was so obsessed with hunting to the point that it was all he cared about. When he killed his first pig he was very proud of it as displayed when he very proudly says “I cut the pig’s throat.” (4.64). After this, Jack realized how much adrenaline he got from killing. He would hunt any chance he got which eventually led to Simon, another boy, being murdered. Another one of Jack’s most used tactic was fear. Jack scared and threatened the boys to get them to follow him like here when he says “See? See? That’s what you’ll get.” (11.167). Jack says this after his tribe kills Piggy to warn the others what he is capable of in hopes to scare them into joining him. The last straw of the boy's civilization was lost when Jack hunted Ralph who was the last boy on the island who had not joined his tribe. All of the boys chased and hunted Ralph all over the island until they were finally rescued. Jack definitely had a huge impact on the boy’s minds and action, therefore being partly …show more content…
On the first day, the boys were on the island, Piggy said: “We may stay here till we die.” (1.12). Talk of death and being stranded for the rest of their lives sparked fear in all of the boys. The longer the boys were stranded on the island, the more fear they had. Each day the boys would become more and more paranoid because fear was the one thing that never went away. One day someone spotted a large figure on the mountain. They decided that the figure must be a beast of some sort. When all the boys found out about the beastie, they realized that they may actually have something to be fearful of. An assembly was called to sort out all the talk of a beast on the island. During the assembly, Jack said “The thing is- fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of on this island.” (5.76). Jack’s speech only made the boys think about the beast even more and made them even more paranoid. As the fear arose, the boys even became weary of each other. The boys were becoming more violent and forgetting about any of the rules that were set in the adult world. Piggy talking about Jack had said “I’m scared of him, and that’s why I know him. If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, an’ then when you see him again; it’s like asthma an’ you can’t breathe.” (5.86). Piggy was right and the paranoia was growing
The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to
Most children, especially infants, do not know what is real and what is not real due to all the scary movies they watch, the scary stories they are told, and the nightmares they have. Therefore, they need an adult to remind them of what is real and what is imaginary. But since there are no adults no the island to remind the boys of these things, they are scared. All the fear that evokes from the boys causes chaos. " ’He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an' came back and wanted to eat him--’ ‘He was dreaming.’ Laughing, Ralph looked for confirmation round the ring of faces. The older boys agreed; but here and there among the little ones was the doubt that required more than rational assurance,” (Golding 36). The little boy who said he saw a beast spreads fear among the crowd of boys, especially the little ones. Ralph tries to remind them that the beast is not real, but the boys don’t believe him since Ralph is not an adult. The fear that is still among the boys causes them to believe that there really is a beast and causes growing chaos throughout the novel. The growing chaos transforms the boys into savages and causes violent behavior. This factor and the other two factors, peer pressure and the boys’ desire to have fun, caused them to transform into
They often obey his destructive orders just to avoid being punished. Jack tells Ralph, after Roger kills Piggy, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—’ -He ran forward, stooping- ‘I’m chief!’ ” (Golding 181) Jack threatens Ralph and the boys by reminding them of the consequences of not succumbing to his authority. They are physically and emotionally tormented, forced to participate in Jack’s violent acts. As time goes by, they willingly join in on Jack’s brutal endeavors, such as hunting Ralph down in an attempt to sacrifice him to the beast. He
Piggy had an appetite to be needed and accepted as a person in the boys' society. Jack had to kill a pig; he saw no other way.
One of the things that changes Jack was his hatred and drives him to the point where he was willing to kill. In the beginning he was a choir boy who knew nothing much, but his hatred grew when he was not elected leader. In the book it quote “And you shut up! Who are you anyway? Sitting here telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing-” (91). This quote shows that Jack had
Noticeability of this from the boys on the island increases, mostly with Piggy, Ralph, Simon, and Samneric. Ruthlessness depicted through Jack begins to stand out to them. Piggy quotes, “I been in bed so much I done some thinking. I know about people. I know about me. And him. He can't hurt you; but if you stand out of the way he'd hurt the next thing. And that's me”
The Lord of the Flies - Savagery. William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel, Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes. At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack get on extremely well.
...so much that anything that they see in the dark, they imagine it as the beast. Therefore, the fear of the beast is the most dangerous and destructive force on the island.
Once this happened Piggy started to care less and less about the boys and more about his own safety and getting himself off the island with or without the boys. Jack had taken Piggy’s glasses to start his own fire and Piggy was very upset and he took Ralph and the twins over to Jack’s tribe and demanded his glasses back, but Ralph got a little sidetracked so Piggy brought him back. “‘Ralph remember what we came for. The fire. My specs’”(177)
Jack fails to realize that the boys need security, stability, and order on the island Jack was a leader of the choir before the boys landed on the island. These boys, who were in the choir, still want to follow Jack; however, they have no discipline at all. The only thing that is on Jack’s mind is hunting. He doesn’t care about anything else, except capturing and kill the pigs for some food.
From the beginning of the novel Jack intimidates the other boys with his flaming red hair, his long black cape, and the brutal way he shouts orders to his choir. Although he is not a good-looking boy, he is amazingly arrogant. He always has to look good in people's eyes. Not that he cares if people like him, but more that they respect him. The only way he knows how to gain people's admiration is by getting them to fear him. He spots Piggy as an easy target and immediately starts to humiliate him in front of the others: "You're talking too much," said Jack Merridew. "Shut up, Fatty."(21) He sizes up Piggy right from the beginning knowing that Piggy wouldn't stand up to him and by making fun of him he was letting the other boys know that he not one to be messed with. When he feels that people are about to think him to be weak or gutless, he uses his knife as if it were a symbol of his superiority: "Jack slammed his knife into a trunk and looked round challengingly"(33). His knife gives him power, a weapon that he would use against anyone who dares to mock him.
The portrayal of the pig demonstrates his rationality of being a chaotic savage. He tends to cover up his actions with reasoning that only deems to be true through the eyes of insanity. “He rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on his face [...] A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly.”(Golding 63). There is no room for civilization on the island, and Jack takes advantage of this opportunity. Jack, compels himself to distance himself from social normalities through the exterior of the world. The paint on Jack’s face represents his cover up to society and to make himself believe that he is doing the right thing. Consequently speaking, Jack desperately desires confirmation of his actions from one of his peers. However, none of his peers condone of these certain actions, so, he relies on the tangible aspects of life to give him a sense of comfortability. “All that makes sense to him is his own need to control others and impose himself, and hunting, because it is a kind of power assertion” (Lord of the Flies, Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations). On the island, Jack’s role is the leader of the hunting party. Although, this seems
Jack begins the novel partially innocent, cruel enough to yell at the boys yet pure enough to hesitate when faced with the task of killing the pig. Jack obtains the tools necessary to kill the pig, yet claims to need help cornering the animal. Jack, not truly needing help to kill the pig but rather needing the support provided by the mob mentality, acquires the support of his choir and together the boys hunt and kill the pig, all the while chanting, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood”...
In order for Jack to be a bully, the story has to hint at his flaws and issues at the beginning of the story. In the book Jack says stuff like,"You're always scared. Yah ---- Fatty!"(Golding 45). He also says,"A fat lot you tried......You just sat..."(Golding 42). These are an example of Jack bullying Piggy. Even though everyone takes part in
His message is portrayed three times throughout the novel. Firstly, it is evident from the beginning that Jack has some sense of proper order infused in him since the beginning. Progressing further in the novel, it turns out to be more clear that even though Jack had been trapped in the taboo of the old life for a while, mankind’s illness took over him. By killing Simon, it is confirmed that Jack and his tribe do not care about returning to their original life before they arrived on the island. Finally, it is clear towards the end of the novel that the great majority of the boys have turned savage, displayed by their wild hunt celebrations and their hunt to kill Ralph.