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Jack's Transformation In Lord Of The Flies

Decent Essays

Have you ever thought of what could happen to a human when he/she survives on a deserted island? Jack has changed character over the course of the novel. Emotionally, physically, and psychologically due to the conflicts throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies. Jack has changed from being innocent to a savage through his needs for survival.

When Jack was in that survival situation, his emotions shifted. In the times when he was in a life threatening situation, he disregard other people and do believes what he thinks is the best. “We want meat” and “We need shelters. Suddenly Jack shouted in rage” (Golding 71). Jack dissents from piggy and he feels like his authority and power is being threatened. In this situation, Jack confronts Piggy and …show more content…

“They don’t smell me. They see me, I think.” (Golding 88). This shows Jack’s obsession with hunting and even going as far as masking his face to camouflage with the environment. Moreover it shows a good representation of humans adaptive to their environment, both physically and psychologically. When jack was on the island, he turned blood thirsty. He suddenly had an obsession to kill pigs. At the beginning of the novel, Jack hesitated to kill the pig because he never killed an animal before. Which lead the pig to escape. “...Jack drew his knife again with a flourish. He raised his arm in the air. There came a pause, a hiatus…”. Because of the hesitation and letting the pig slip away, Ralph was embarrassed and felt impotent. To sum up, because of Jack’s hesitation Jack is becoming more bloodthirsty he promises that the next time he sees a pig he will kill it. No mercy.

In conclusion, Jack was a classic example of humans being in a life threating survival situation and his actions and thoughts showed. For example his failure of not being able to kill the pig to being painting his face to blend in. These events is an sample of how in such a short amount of time humans could turn from a civil person to savage

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