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Lord Of The Flies Pride Character Analysis

Decent Essays

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the character Jack shows excessive pride which leads to conflict on the island. He shows pride by talking down to others, promoting himself to chief, and by talking himself up. Jack’s pride cause much of the conflict in the book. Jack’s pride represents how people are evil and immoral when all rules are taken away.
Jack shows pride by electing himself to be chief so he can be in charge. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.’” This quote exemplifies how Jack volunteered himself to be in charge. Jack wanted to be above everybody, so he tried to convince everyone to let him be chief. He wanted to have power and authority. “We’ll hunt. I’m going to be chief.” This is yet another quote that shows how Jack was stubborn about how he believed he deserved to be chief. He did not bother to ask the others about their opinion on who should be in charge. Instead he just appointed himself. “His tone conveyed a warning, given out of the pride of ownership, and the boys ate fast while there was still time.” This quote shows how Jack was obsessed with the power of being chief. Jack scared the other boys into respecting him as a leader. Jack shows pride in these quotes, because he shows that he believes he should be chief, because he is superior to everybody. All of the other boys chose Ralph as their leader, so Jack creates conflict by challenging Ralph as chief. Jack trying to usurp Ralph as chief shows how he was putting his needs before those of the entire group. Jack was too prideful to allow Ralph to be in charge, and constantly challenged him as a leader. This conflict gets in the way of the boys being able to work together to try to survive and get rescued.
Jack shows pride by talking to his peers as if he is above them. “You’re talking too much. Shut up, Fatty.” This quote was spoken by Jack to Piggy. This quote shows how Jack believed he had more of a right to speak than Piggy. He intended to put down Piggy to get Piggy to submit to him. “Give me a drink.” This quote shows how Jack forced others to serve him, because he believed that being a leader meant be should be treated better. He ruled

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