Essay Question:
Describe at least one important character in the written text. Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text.

In the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, many characters changed due to the circumstances. Jack was one of the main characters in the book and was portrayed to us as a harmful dictator who valued power and leadership. He showed these traits through 3 significant ways. To Jack hunting was important and was the start of the dramatic unveiling of his savage ways. His desire for power was also a large part of why he was reflected as a dictator and why he fought with Ralph. Lastly, his bad intentions took a toll on the novel and caused a lot of damage which gave us a final hint on who Jack really was.

Jack was revealed to us from the start when he was given the task to hunt for food. He put his duties before anything else and insisted that hunting was more necessary than getting rescued. His job to hunt became more of addiction as he consistently wanted to kill animals and eat their meat. Ralph the leader was more focussed on the civilization side of things and getting rescued, but for Jack savagery and hunting was a higher priority. He shows his first signs of aggression and his willingness to hunt when he comes back empty-handed from his first attempt to kill a pig. The scene where they first hunted the boys had explained the pig had escaped, and Jack quoted” Before I could kill it—but—next time!” Jack slammed his knife into a trunk and looked around challengingly”. This gave us a clue that Jack was more interested in the killing side of things and his eagerness to try again as he says “…next time!”. His anger was portrayed as he aggressively ‘slammed’ his knife into a tree trunk giving us a better understanding of Jack as a person. Another example is when Jack was clearly more interested in meat than getting rescued in chapter four. Jack and his hunting crew abandon the fire to hunt and miss the chance of being rescued by a ship that was passing nearby. When Ralph tries to explain this all to Jack his response was nothing but “We needed meat” which is another example of Jack putting hunting before rescue. The author made Jack this way to represent the Id, the superego and the ego parts of the mind. Jack is related most to the Id part of the mind. This is because he is focussed on short term arrangements rather than long term. He is focussed on survival rather than being rescued as said above and only cares about hunting and food.

Jacks desire for power revealed to us that he was willing to do anything to get it. Right from the start when Ralph was elected leader, Jack was envious. He got the role of being in charge of his choir group but this was not enough for Jack, he needed more. Jacks anger grew from the moment when ‘every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately’. These hands were all raised for Ralph and Jack was not happy about it. He never agreed with Ralph and wanted to run things himself. Power was important to him. Another example of Jack wanting power was when he makes the statement in chapter eight “I’m not going to be part of Ralphs lot—” he leaves the group and makes his own. He was forceful with his actions and ending up threatening people to join a new group that he was in charge of. He gained more followers than Ralph but this was only due to the number of people who were afraid of Jack. This proves that he was hungry for power and the only way he could take control was to leave Ralphs side. Once the group had split it created many problems and was the start of an ongoing battle between Jack and Ralph. Jacks want for power only grew and grew.

Jacks bad intentions had a major effect on the book as a whole. Whatever Jack did had a bad purpose behind it and usually ended badly. There were many boys who had been damaged mentally and physically by Jack in the book. Some even murdered. Jack was behind the murders of both Piggy and Simon. He was the leader of the chant and the circle of boys that beat Simon to death and he was the one who ordered Roger to release the boulder that knocked Piggy of the cliff to his death. After Piggy is struck with the rock Jack screams wildly and says “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—”. What he says clarifies that he intended for someone to get hurt and that all had gone to plan. By killing Piggy his intentions were clear that he was willing to kill for power. To gather even more control and to limit the competition against Ralph, he tried to kill him next. After Samneric explained to Ralph that Jack was coming for him it was obvious what would happen next. Ralph was going to be killed. Golding’s main message in the book that he is trying to get across, is that humans need order, civilization, and rules to be able to survive and maintain a healthy environment. Jack is the main reason behind this idea as he does not value civilization and order. Jacks bad intentions led to many conflicts and deaths in the book which revealed that he was a savage.

In conclusion, Jacks character was revealed to us shockingly throughout the book. He was selfish and focussed on what he wanted rather than what was best for the group. His love for hunting and savagery brought death to two of the boys that had started out on the island. His actions were shown first through his hunting at the start of the novel and as the book progressed they intensified. His mind was set on being the leader of the group and gaining power which led to his bad intentions. Overall Jacks character in the novel was dangerous and savage but it just shows how much people are willing to do in order to gain power.