Lord of the Flies - Jack and savagery

Question 1

How is Jack presented throughout the novel (points)

Answer 1

beginning - antagonist, accelerating violence
middle - monomaniacal, savagery and primal
end - individualistic, tyrannic, power hungry

Question 2

Intro

Answer 2

In Golding’s novel of ‘Lord of the Flies’ the novels antagonist Jack Merridew is portrayed as a complex and evolving character who represents the darker side of human nature.
Initially introduced as a disciplined choir leader, Jack’s personality undergoes significant changes as he adapts to life on the island. As the story progresses, he transforms from a figure of authority into a symbol of savagery and primal instincts, ultimately becoming the driving force behind the group’s descent into chaos. Through Jack’s character, Golding explores themes of power, control and savagery highlighting how easily these boundaries can be blurred in the absence of societal structures. Throughout the novel he becomes symbolic role in illustrating humanity’s potential for violence and moral decline.

Question 3

Beginning

Answer 3

Jack is immediately established as an unsympathetic character from the start
He is also presented as an experienced leader who is used to exerting control over others - especially choirboys as the choir master, ultimately representing dictatorship

Question 4

‘black cloak circling’ ‘dark little boy’

Answer 4

connotations of darkness ultimately foreshadow Jacks inner savagery and the evil acts he will commit
‘black’ - death/evil
‘cloak’ - as a verb means he’s hiding or concealing his evil personality for later in the novel -> could also suggest sense of order and discipline which juxtaposes his later traits
‘circling’ - animalistic, animal circling prey, forshadows his obsession with hunting

Question 5

“I ought to be chief,” …

Answer 5

“because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”

Question 6

‘after all, we’re not savages

Answer 6

were English, and the English are best at everything’

Question 7

‘after all, we’re not savages, were English, and the English are best at everything’

Answer 7

‘savages’ - foreshadows as jack is the first of the boys to embrace his primal instincts -> contrasts the British values he proposes here
‘English being best’ - reference to naive nature of children believing propaganda and patriotism -> nazi similarity

Question 8

‘he hadn’t because of the

Answer 8

enormity of the knife’

Question 9

‘he hadn’t because of the enormity of the knife’

Answer 9

He is still confined by society rules and wants to be seen as good
‘enormity’ - struggles to murder a living thing
At this point Jack still wants to follow normal rules and think hurting things is wrong
However the idea of killing is seen ‘swallowing’ him up -> masculinity and power, ‘compulsion’ - suggests an uncontrollable desire, Golding uses this moment to suggest that, without societal limits, the desire for power and dominance can lead individuals to forsake moral boundaries.

Question 10

‘there came a pause,

Answer 10

a hiatus’

Question 11

‘there came a pause, a hiatus’’

Answer 11

the sentence structure using a comma mimics Jacks hesitation and acts as a pause as he’s still conditioned by the civilised world

Question 12

‘Merridew’

Answer 12

He goes by his last name as a way to assert his authority and dominance over the other boys
- seem older and mature -> power hungry

Question 13

‘out of this face stared two light blue eyes …

Answer 13

turning, or ready to turn, to anger’

Question 14

‘they were bright blue, eyes that in this

Answer 14

frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad’

Question 15

what is the significance of the link to chapter 1:
‘out of this face stared two light blue eyes …turning, or ready to turn, to anger’
‘they were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad’

Answer 15

‘ready to turn, to anger’ -> ‘nearly mad’
- change in jack is so important because it demonstrates the beginning of his savageness and shows him losing his morals and pulling himself away from society and civilisation

Question 16

‘he looked at astonishment,

Answer 16

no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger’

Question 17

‘his laughter became a

Answer 17

bloodthirsty snarling’

Question 18

‘his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling’

Answer 18

Golding uses it to emphasise how Jack’s animalistic behaviour is almost beast-like/ loss of control
The idea of ‘laughter’ and the idea of ‘ blood thirsty snarling’ juxtapose each other like good and evil do
Perhaps Golding is using this to show how the ‘beast’ is inside jack and the others much as Simon suggests later in the story
Reader: horrified, uncomfortable at how easily jack has become savage and primitive, they question the benefits of freedom without society’s rules

Question 19

‘the mask

Answer 19

compelled them’

Question 20

‘the mask compelled them’

Answer 20

He used to be the boy who controlled them -> Jack uses mask to disassociate him with society and cover up his actions (bad actions done by mask not him)
-> suggests how he shows his true self that society didn’t let him be, therefore he uses being head boy/choir leader as a way to fit into society standards for people around him
-> no people around means he can show his true actions and personality
-> loss of civilisation
-> suggest he might enjoy the island more than home
-> the face paint acts as a physical and psychological barrier, allowing Jack to embrace his darker impulses without guilt or fear of judgment.

Question 21

‘bollocks to

Answer 21

the rules!’

Question 22

‘bollocks to the rules!’

Answer 22

• He breaks rules to further his power base, foreshadows when he kills Simon
• He refuses to respect the symbolic value of the conch -> loss of civilisation and order
• He has an understanding of morals and is Amoral but is happy to break rules since there’s no consequences for his actions
  -> power structure falling apart aswell as link to society

Question 23

What is the significance to the link to chapter 2
‘bollocks to the rules!’
‘We’ve got to have rules and obey them’

Answer 23

Ironic statement as it foreshadows the tribalism that develops later on

Question 24

Jack in middle of novel

Answer 24

His violent acts from Chapter 4 onwards accelerate:
The hunters have their first successful hunt
They also begin to take part in ritual ceremonies,
He begins a reign of terror on Castle Rock, torturing any boys who disobey him

Question 25

‘except for a pair of tattered shorts held up

Answer 25

by his knife belt, he was naked’

Question 26

‘except for a pair of tattered shorts held up by his knife belt, he was naked’

Answer 26

school uniform at beginning represents civilisation -> his shorts are ‘tattered’, a clear indication rules of school disappearing
Inclusion of knife suggests the belt is not part of uniform but to help him with his violent and destructive hunting

Question 27

‘flared

Answer 27

nostrils’

Question 28

‘considerably

Answer 28

longer’

Question 29

‘flared nostrils’

Answer 29

develops an image of Jack as an animal not a boy

Question 30

‘a stick sharpened

Answer 30

at both ends’

Question 31

increasing bloodlust of Jack is evidenced when

Answer 31

he kills the pig + simon, shows his suppressed primitive feelings has been revealed
- he is becoming more tyrannical and ruthless and has no empathy

Question 32

How is Jack presented at the end of the novel

Answer 32

By the end of the novel, Jack is standing as a stark contrast to the disciplined figure he was introduced as.
The brutal murder of Simon marks a critical moment in Jack’s complete moral decay. Golding’s description of the boys in a “frenzy” as they “leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” captures the collective madness incited by Jack’s leadership.
This imagery, filled with visceral language like “bit” and “tore,” creates a vivid picture of the chaos and bloodlust that have overtaken the group. The violence unleashed under Jack’s rule signifies the utter destruction of the values of civilization, revealing Golding’s bleak view of humanity’s inherent savagery.

Question 33

conclusion

Answer 33

Jack’s character serves as a powerful vehicle for Golding’s critique of human nature. Through Jack’s journey from rule-bound leader to savage dictator, Golding illustrates the ease with which societal norms can be dismantled in the face of fear, power, and primal instincts. Jack’s transformation highlights the darkness that can emerge when individuals are left unchecked by the structures of law and morality. In presenting Jack as a multifaceted character who symbolizes the potential for both order and chaos, Golding ultimately suggests that the veneer of civilization is thin, easily shattered when humans are left to confront their own nature. Jack’s character is not merely a boy lost to savagery, but rather a reflection of the brutality that lies dormant within all of us.

Question 34

How is Jack monomaniacal

Answer 34

Jack is obsessed with the idea of killing a pig
For Jack, although he claims that he is hunting to provide food, it is much more about a primal and savage desire to kill another living creature
He ignores all of his other responsibilities (such as tending to the signal fire and building huts) to hunt:
Not tending to the signal fire (as he was supposed to) leads to a missed chance of rescue, but Jack firmly defends his actions
Golding is perhaps suggesting, therefore, that the human impulse towards savagery is much stronger than that of civilisation (which rescue would represent)

Question 35

Stevensons intention of using Jack to demonstrate savagery

Answer 35

Jack is used by Golding – in contrast to Ralph – to represent autocratic and authoritarian rule:
The fact that the majority of the boys choose Jack over Ralph’s style of government suggests that Golding believed that authoritarianism dominates democracy, given the opportunity

Question 36

‘like an

Answer 36

idol’

Question 37

‘worshipped’

Answer 37

religious allusion