In Lord of the Flies, Jack uses the beast to gain power on the island.
In Lord of the Flies, a novel about the inner-workings of civilization, the distribution of power is something that is discussed multiple times. The person or people who are given power defines all of the components of a civilization (economy, government, social structure, etc.) When all of the boys in Lord of the Flies crash onto the island, the fight for power is initiated almost immediately. Ralph, who has all the characteristics of a good leader, wants to gain power in an honest way. Jack is more power hungry, and isn’t reluctant to manipulate the other boys just to become the leader. Jack frequently uses the Beast as a way to get the other boys on the island to
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He is using his knowledge of savage actions that will impress a lot of the boys. A lot of his tribe sees him as a noble leader, and Jack is often the one to show no fear. The large amount of boys who joined Jack on his hunt are still overcome with fear. While exploring the island for the beast, “the hunters bunched a little by fear of the mentioned beast, while Jack quested ahead” (160). Jack makes it obvious that he is not afraid to impress the boys and also to assert his authority against them.
Jack is one of the oldest of all the boys on the island, and he tries very hard to use how naive the younger ones are to his advantage. When the tribe encounters and kills a wild boar while exploring, Jack tries to pass it off as him killing the Beast, saying “I walloped him properly. That was the beast, I think!” before Ralph corrects him and states that the “Beast” “was a boar” (163). Jack is embarrassed about Ralph correcting him and about being exposed to the rest of the boys. He still uses the fact that the boys are naive, however, and as they continue on one of the boys, Maurice, asks “supposing the beast’s up there?’ to which Jack responds “we’ll kill it.” Jack, being old enough to understand that there isn’t a such thing as a beast, uses the other boys’ unknowingness and curiousity to make himself seem more confident in his own leadership skills, assuring them that the beast will be killed if they encounter it.
Jack Merridew in Lord of the Flies uses the idea of
This quote portrays how Jack is speaking to all boys particularly little boys who are afraid and believe that the beast is in the island. Jack says little boys begin the anxiety and create rumour about the beast and his hunters and he promise to the little boys that they will guard all by killing the beast. However, the evil within Jack make him speak like a savage by saying that because the little boy do not contribute in the hunting or making of the smoke, so this would lead them to be attacked by the beast. This shows how Jack is heartless and selfish.
By using their fear against the tribe, he makes them feel like Jack can protect them. Jack is very manipulative for that reason. Jack taunted Ralph into doing something with
Power is key part of the book “Lord of the Flies”, the topic of power in the book can relate to a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr., “I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right, and that is good.” In the book there are two characters that can somewhat relate to this quote, one character affirms the quote and one refutes it. Ralph is the character that affirms the quote he uses his power to help the community not use his power to command the community. Some actions that Ralph takes that shows are “If we have a signal going they'll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down here.” This shows how Ralph tries bring the
Jack uses the beast to gain power and promises of protection for the boys; from the beast. Jack uses the boys’ fear of the beast to manipulate them to his own advantage. He knows it doesn’t exist; however he uses its hypothetical existence to ensure the compliance of the other boys and follow his commands. Fear is the source of Jack’s power. The other boys don’t flock to Jack for his personality or leadership; instead, they gather around him for the solace he promised them.
Evil, the act inflicting pain on others, and the desire to always want to hurt someone physically or emotionally. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are placed in strenuous circumstances that cause them to perform ruthless acts on each other. In Dr.Zimbardo’s Ted Talk he claims that when an individual is placed under the proper circumstances, he or she is competent of pursuing malevolent behavior towards someone. It is clearly demonstrated in the novel when the boys show dispositional factors (bad apples vs good apples), situational factor (bad barrels), and systemic factors (bad barrel makers).
One of the major themes of Lord of the Flies, deals with the struggle between right and wrong and the moral integrity of a society. As soon as the boys realize that they are alone on the island, the battle between right and wrong begins. Ralph emerges as the chief and plans to begin a civilized society. When the boys are left to their own devices, chaos ensues. Some of the boys would rather hunt and kill than build shelter, so Jack’s tribe becomes increasingly popular. Without the existence of rules and refinement, there is little hope for the future of the boys. The beast plays a big role in this theme because it lurks inside everyone. The evils lie within and choices have to be made to survive, whether through smart thinking or
Take for instance, Roger, a character from the novel, Lord of the Flies who is a sadistic person, finding pleasure in hurting others. Do you really believe that even if he was in a group where he finds himself to be part of a dangerous situation and he is needed to save one of the other boys, say Piggy for example, that he would do it? Of course not. He has proven to us that he enjoys inflicting harm on others, especially someone like Piggy. Golding himself states in Lord of the Flies, “A full effort would send the rock thundering down to neck of land. Roger admired.” (Golding 159). What Golding is saying is that Roger wants to harm Piggy so with that in mind, he finds that the rock is the best thing to achieve what he wants. It follows then that the kind of personality that the person has will either get them to help someone out or get them to harm them as well. Someone like Ralph and Piggy, who have more sympathy towards those that get hurt would be more willing to help out than someone like Roger and Jack. Roger and Jack are more of the kind to not help others out unless it benefits them or gives them pleasure in inflicting pain upon someone else in Roger’s case, but this is where we can see every person is different. It is not just that responsibility has been unconsciously passed on to someone else. Nevertheless, it would have been beneficial in Darley’s and Latane’s case to include both external and internal contributions as to why people decided not to aid another
The image of the beast is introduced by Golding as a physical being, however, it is merely a fictional symbol of the darkness within. The beast is immediately associated with the decay of the makeshift society on the island. In chapter five, Jack shares his thoughts on the state of the island during an assembly: “‘Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well; we were happy. And then-’ He moved the conch gently, looking beyond them at nothing, remembering the beastie, the snake, the fire, the talk of fear. ‘Then people started getting frightened’” (Golding 82). Here, lines are drawn directly between the dilapidation of the island society, and the growing fear within it. This fear of the beast, or
Jack had tried to lead the inhabitants of the island by terror and savagery instead of by order and civilization when he had declared himself chief of his hunter-driven tribe. Both his lust for blood and lust for power had aided him in becoming the savage tyrant and an antagonist of the book. Jack’s widespread fear would not have been substantial enough to build his stature in the hierarchy if the “beast” was not included in the story. The beast has been portrayed to the readers as a dead parachuter from the world war happening beside them. The characters, however, had no clue about the outside world or the parachuter who fell on the island. Therefore, the beast became a part of their fear on the island. The beast was the main antagonist in the middle of the story. It caused the most discord in the already terror-ridden state of the boys. The internal fears of the characters, the feeling of terror towards the other characters, and the nightmarish imagination of the youth, had all shown the dominating abilities of fear taking over the vulnerable sense of
When you have one child or even multiple “children living without adult protection [they] are often frightened. Add to that the sudden fear… one can see how horrors come about.” (Golding). Many children would freak out if left without adult supervision or protection for an undisclosed amount of time. Adding that fear to the stress of having to survive on your own with other children that do not know what to do can be a dangerous combination. The boys with Jack used to always have a parental figure, but now all they have is Jack. This puts even more pressure on Jack and this causes him to become power hungry in some moments. When telling the boys to come do their dance he does it pleadingly as to hold onto that power. As the boys see the figure crawling out of the forest Jack thinks that if he can show them that he helped kill the beast he could have his power back. Because of this he helps kill Simon with the boys.
All our personalities compare to a character from Lord of the Flies, and I found myself to be an ENFP or an idealist; someone most comparable to Simon. An ENFP or an idealist personality displays characteristics of being extroverted, intuitive, feeling and perceiving which. Furthermore, passionately concerned with positive improvement, being kind, warm, sympathetic, distracted and motivated were all trait described in the personality test for the ENFP. Due to our selflessness, how introverted and extroverted we are, and how we can think both logically and emotionally, makes Simon and I most similar.
“Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well. We were happy.” (Golding 87). In this statement, Ralph realizes that his life, and those of the others’ on the island, is going to hit rock-bottom. All goes terribly wrong when the beast is introduced by the littlun with the mulberry patch on his face in Chapter 2. The beast is the reason for all the chaos in Lord of the Flies. The beast is an imaginary creature that frightens all the boys, and yet, it stands symbolically for the savagery that exists within all human beings. As the boys develop their fear and grow more and more certain of the presence of a beast, they also become more and more savage. William Golding uses the beast as a way to show the demise of the boys while they are on the island. The beast represents the irrational fear that exists within man, the savage monster within us all, and the ability for man to use intimidation to gain ultimate power.
In this quote, the reader is shown to what extent Jack has been affected by living on the island. He’s been affected to the point that he is now described in words that would normally describe an animal. You would never think of a 12 year old boy having a “bloodthirsty snarl” as oppose to the innocent giggle or chuckle of a young child. He is literally becoming “one with his prey.” Along with some of the other boys, he has lost his morals, innocence, necessity for rules and order and turned into a bloodthirsty monster capable of killing, like he and the other boys killed Simon.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right in saying that the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Jack Merridew’s evil ways are evident as he uses fear to control the boys on the island. In the beginning of the book, his presence itself at the election of chief instills the first of the fears within each of the boys. Jack uses his personality as a menace to the boys on the island. Although Jack garners support from the majority of the group, they assist him only through fear of what he is capable of doing to them if they do not do as he commands. As one can see multiple times throughout the book, Jack deems it necessary to hunt down pigs on the island, but why? Jack carries a demon inside of him that allows him to do such acts. If things are not done as he wishes, his fury is unleashed on everyone around him. While the others find hunting as a chance for adventure, Jack practices it as if it were a ritual. This ritual extends beyond the pig caught between the “creepers”; pigs are eventually replaced with human flesh. The boys’ fear keep them in the circle of dancing for they are afraid that one of them will be the next in the center of the dance. This outlook on violence is what drives the fear inside them. Later on, Jack uses the belief of the beast to further enlarge the terror of the schoolboys. The idea of the beast was originally brought up by a “littlun” but Jack uses the little boy’s fear to his advantage. The sacrifices made, the spears, and the face
Towards the end of the book Jack gets an uncontrollable state of control and savagery. “Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph”. (Golding 181). He is the Cheif at this point and feels no need to play nice any further. He goes to extreme lengths to ensure his power; in a way I would even say that he is the beast. In an earlier part of the book the “Lord of The Flies” states,” Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!... you knew, didn't you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”.(143) the pig explains exactly what the beast is. It is the beast in all of us, and Jack is a shining example of someone who has let their beast come