Jack Flashcards
-Jack is the main antagonist (villain) in Lord of the Flies.
-He was the head chorister at school and is an upper-class boy.
-Because of this, he appoints himself leader of the hunters.
-He neglects the signal fire and enjoys acting savage and hunting, eventually hunting Ralph.
-One of the first things Jack does in the novel is show his arrogance and lack of common sense.
-‘‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.’’
-He argues that he should be elected leader of the island, purely because he can sing the highest note.
-He has no real understanding of what leadership is, but simply expects to be leader because of his singing skill.
-Jack illustrates a severe slide from civility and proper behaviour to savagery and loss of humanity.
-At first, he tells the choirboys that they must wear their uniform robes at all times and he is unable to kill a pig.
-However, by the end, he encourages the boys to wear very little clothing, paint their faces & bodies and is obsessed with killing animals and people.
-By the end, Jack hides the civilized part of himself behind the face paint. ‘Jack planned his new face… he looked in astonishment no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger.’
-With his identity hidden, he feels as if he can behave however he likes because he is no longer the same person. ‘The mask compelled them’.
-Despite his failure early on, Jack becomes obsessed with killing the pig. ‘The madness came into his eyes again. ‘I thought I might kill’’.
-When Jack successfully kills a pig later on, ‘he giggles and flecked’ the other boys with blood.
-Murder has become a game, something funny, which shows us that Jack is finding the idea of killing living things easier and easier, giving the reader a warning.
-Very early in the novel, Jack is described in very violent, animalistic ways. He ‘began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling’.
-Golding uses this behaviour to foreshadow Jack completely losing his humanity.
-Strangely, as Jack becomes more and more savage, he seems to have more control over the rest of the boys as they listen to him and are eager to be part of his tribe.
-Golding uses Jack to show how dangerous it can be to blindly follow someone who takes control.
-Because they follow Jack, the other boys also fall deeper into savagery and enjoy causing fear and pain more.
-Jack uses the boys’ fear of the beast to control them.
-He takes control of the hunt for the beast, offering to save the boys from this threat.
-The boys see him as strong and powerful, as someone who can help them, so they leave Ralph’s group to join Jack’s tribe.
-Golding could be referring to how people can manipulate religious and superstitious beliefs to cause fear and danger to others.
-There is irony at the end of the novel, as even though Ralph had been focused on and obsessed with saving the boys with a signal fire, it is Jack who saves them all by starting a wildfire to smoke out Ralph for the boys to kill.
-He decides that his choir boys will be hunters.
-He steals Piggy’s glasses to make fires.
-He kills the first pig and encourages dancing and chanting.
-His urge to hunt and kill becomes an obsession for him.
-He doesn’t care about Ralph’s rules (because he thinks he should be in charge).
-With his own tribe, he is a cruel and evil leader.
