Lord of the Flies -Symbolism and the Character of Jack.

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‘Lord of the Flies’- Jack symbolism essay.               Rachael Brogan.

        ‘Lord of the Flies’ is an allegorical adventure novel by William Golding. Golding wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ to convey his pessimistic view of mankind, and to prove his opinion that man is innately evil, using techniques such as symbolism to do so. The novel is about a group of English schoolboys who have been stranded on a desert island. The story follows the events that take place during the boys’ stay on the island, and their gradual descent towards savagery. Jack,  is one of the main characters in ‘Lord of the Flies’, and is one of the main reasons why the boys eventually turn to savagery.

Throughout the novel, Jack is on a constant quest for power. This shows Golding’s pessimistic view of mankind, as it suggests that the majority of our society is power hungry. The boys decide their main priority is being rescued. They appoint a few boys at a time to keep the fire lit. One of the early signs of the boys losing grasp of civilisation, and giving way to savagery, is when Jack and some of his hunters are appointed to keep the fire lit, but instead leave the fire to go hunting. Whilst they are gone, a ship passes. When Ralph, sees the ship, and realises the fire is out, he goes to investigate. Jack and the hunters come back, carrying a freshly slaughtered pig. Ralph confronts them, telling the there was a ship and they let it pass. Jack and the hunters are too caught up in the fact they successfully caught a pig to realise the importance of what they have done. This shows his savage, and selfish nature, and how, even though it may not be deliberate, Jack is destroying the boys’ link to civilisation. Later on in the book, Ralph and his ‘advisor’ Piggy call an assembly. Piggy tells Jack he’s breaking the rules. Jack does not care.

‘“Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat-!”’

This shows how Jack has realised that there is no higher power on the island to stop him from doing what he wants. This is a key moment in the boys’ descent to savagery. As Jack does this, others realise they can do the same. Even though Ralph and Piggy are trying desperately to stop savagery from taking over, as more and more of the boys realise they don’t have to obey the rules, their attempts become more and more unsuccessful.

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        On the island, Jack is the only boy with a knife. In relation to Golding’s pessimistic view of mankind, the knife represents evil, intimidation, violence, power and control. After the boys arrive on the island, they decide they need to find out if the island is in fact an island. Whilst trying to decide who is most suitable to go, Jack uses his knife to intimidate the others.

‘Jack snatched from behind him a sizable size sheath-knife and clouted into the trunk. The buzz rose and died away.’

Jack knows knife will intimidate the boys, and make them realise his ...

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