How far do you agree that Jack represents disorder and savagery in the novel? You should refer closely to his words, to events and to actions and opinions of other characters in your answer. (Chapters 1-4) In this book, Lord of the Flies, we see young boys stranded on an uninhabited island. As the story progresses the boys more savage sides starts to show. I agree that one boy in particular, Jack, seems to represent savagery and disorder more than the other boys.
In chapter 1, Jack is portrayed as a judgemental, arrogant, patronizing older boy, “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “Because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp. ” This tells the reader that Jack enjoys being admired and sees others as idiots and thinks they are beneath him. This also shows how much pride Jack has and how he likes to flaunt his achievements in the faces of those that haven’t achieved much.
This can also be seen when Jack says, “You’re talking too much, shut up, Fatty. ” This presents Jack as a bully and supports the idea that Jack feels he is superior to the other boys. Jack hates being humiliated in front of other people and he is starting to feel threatened by Ralph, ‘With dreary obedience the choir raised their hands… Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. this shows that Jack is manipulative towards the choir boys and if Jack were to be chief he would end up being a real dictator and wouldn’t always make the best choices for the boys survival. Jack seems like the pleasure-seeker, “Come on,” said Jack presently “we’re explorers. ” And “come on-” But not ‘come on’ to the top. The assault on the summit must wait while the three boys accept this challenge. The rock was as large as a small motor car. ’ This shows that Jack is hedonistic and also destructive at the same time.
He finds pleasure in sabotaging things. In chapter 2, Jack shows a need for bloodlust in killing the pigs, “Before I could kill it – but – next time! ” Jack slammed his knife into a trunk and looked around challengingly. ’ And this definitely emphasises Jacks hedonistic, savage and bloodthirsty side. As I previously stated, Jack finds pleasure in bringing devastation to other living things and this is why Jack is represented as disorder and savagery in the novel. This trend is seen all through the chapter and when Jack says, “We’ll have rules!
Lots of rules! And if anyone breaks ‘em -” this supports and highlights the fact that Jack enjoys causing destruction and inflicting pain on others to get his way. When the boys first light the fire Jack is mesmerised by it and he loves it, “Jack dragged his eyes away from the fire. ” This reveals that Jack tries to control himself and tells the reader that he is reluctant to look away, as if the fire has a control over him and shows us that Jack loves the flame and treats it like a god.
Jack becomes a posing threat to the boys and their survival rate because he keeps interrupting Ralph when he is holding the conch, he is bossing people about and gives off a rebellious and violent attitude, “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain,” said Jack, “so you shut up. ”… Jack turned fiercely. “You shut up! ” This shows how violent and repulsive Jack is and how he picks on Piggy and sees him as an outcast or non- worthy and feels that he has a greater power over everybody because he sees himself as a celestial or godlike being but his arrogance deceives him.
In chapter 3, it gives a lengthy description of Jack whilst he is hunting and it gives a very violent and animalistic, ‘Jack was bent double’ this gives a sense of primitive behaviour and how it is like Jack has become so savage he has de-evolved back down into an animal or ‘ape-like’ creature, like there has been a reversion. The animalistic and Neanderthal qualities can also be seen when he described as, ‘Then dog-like… he stole forward’ using animal imagery Golding has represented Jack as disorder and savagery to tell the reader that Jack is early being possessed by the idea of bloodshed and taking ‘away its life like a long satisfying drink (chapter 4)’ which implies that he enjoys seeing others suffer and enrages the bloodlust within him. When Jack, ‘Hurled the spear with all his strength’ this highlights the fact that Jack is a very explosive and violent character. This illustrates to the reader that Jack has a propensity for violence and that he is uncivilised, philistine and crude.
When Golding describes Jack as, ‘Like a shadow’ this shows that there is a much darker, more primeval side to Jack, ‘stained’ and ‘swearing’ portrays to the reader that Jack isn’t perfect, impure or unclean. It also suggests that he is unclean because he killed a pig and spilled its blood, like he is blood-stained. In chapter 4, Jack gets very excited because he killed his first pig and this presents to the reader that Jack is becoming a bloodthirsty, merciless barbarian, ‘He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. This use of animal imagery, ‘blood thirsty snarling’, illustrates that ‘the beast’ inside Jack is taking control and turning him into some sort of ruthless murderous monster. Just like Jack is decreasing on the evolution scale, back down to caveman, ‘Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day’s hunting. ’, Jack loses all vanity in his appearance like a crazed animal and loses all responsibility and control. He only seeks pleasure in killing and does what he wants, whenever he wants, just like a maddened beast.
When Jack finds paints and makes a mask he hides behind it and it gives him power, ‘The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and consciousness. ’ It’s as if Jack is hiding behind the mask. It gives Jack the ability to seek his goal; killing the pig. And the mask acts like an alter-ego, hides away his good side and completely dehumanizes him. The mask relieves Jack of civilisation and he doesn’t feel regret, ‘At last able to hit someone, Jack struck his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Because of the influence of the mask, Jack hides behind it, and this gives him the power to show no mercy and gives him the courage to not hold back. Jack now doesn’t care if people pass judgement on him because the absolute evil inside him has fully consumed him. In conclusion, I completely agree that Jack represents disorder and savagery in the novel because I feel that he is dictatorial, unstable, unreliable, volatile and hazardous. Many of the other boys, including Ralph, Piggy and Simon, feel intimidated and slightly scared of Jack because of his bad tempered and Neanderthal nature, a barbarian.
