In Lord of the Flies, Jack represents the savagery that exists within all humans. The boys on the island are supposed to be innocent and pure children, but Jack is shown to have violent tendencies, and he uses those tendencies to gain power over the other boys. When they first arrive on the island, Jack is the leader and instigator of many violent acts—he is responsible for killing Simon and starting a fire by burning Piggy’s glasses. He also uses fear to control his followers; when Ralph tries to leave for help, Jack threatens him with violence if he does not stay on the island and continue hunting pigs for food.
Jack represents the power of the group over the individual in Lord of the Flies because he is able to convince other boys that his ideas are wise ones that should be followed blindly. When Simon suggests building shelters instead of staying in one place where they could easily be attacked by wild animals like snakes or tigers, Jack convinces them that this idea would make them weak targets for such predators because they would not be able to move around easily enough during an attack or escape quickly enough afterwards (ch). Jack also convinces most of these boys that all adults are untrustworthy so no help will come from any adults who may happen upon.
