Lord of the Flies

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With reference to chapters 1 and 11, compare the ways in which Jack changes during the course of Lord of the flies. You should refer in detail to character development, events, actions and language used.

‘Lord of the flies’ is a book written by William Golding in 1954. William Golding’s first novel, ‘Lord of the flies’ is a book that offers a disturbing insight into real human nature, particularly young boys. This book was written by William Golding, in order to show the population that law and order is a need in the society. In Lord of the flies, the innocence of children is placed with cruelty and barbarism that emerged within these children, because of the absence of law and order.

This view of life by William Golding was shaped by his wartime experiences. He was also a teacher which allowed him to observe the behaviour and actions of young boys, in different situations. He learnt that for a vast majority of individuals, it is law and order that keeps them away from the evil acts within them. ‘Lord of the flies’ covers and concludes this idea of the society, and realistic view of human nature using the character ‘Jack’. William Golding uses the character ‘Jack’ in comparison to ‘Hitler’ in the World War two, showing that they had many similarities in their leadership qualities in terms of ‘dictatorship’.

I will be comparing the ways in which Jack changes during the course of Lord of the flies, by referring to chapters 1 and 11. In my coursework, I will give a detailed analysis referring to the character development of Jack, the events, actions and the language used by William Golding to show this.

William Golding’s use of language and themes in the book shows and describes the difference in the character of Jack, when compared in chapters 1 and 11. There are many themes in Lord of the flies, some of which are: Innocence and the loss of it, Fear of the unknown, Survival, Civilisation, The basic needs of society, Law and order, Leadership and Bullying. He uses a lot of imagery: adjectives, similes, metaphors and personification, and many stylistic techniques such as, punctuation, connotations, onomatopoeia, alliteration, repetition, rhetorical questions and standard/non-standard English. His use of abstract nouns, modal verbs, imperative verbs and pronouns also show the difference in the characters altogether, and Jack in different situations.

My coursework will be divided into a few sections in terms of different character developments of Jack. I will be using a particular theme or character development of Jack to explain the different view of Jack in chapter 1 compared to chapter 11, according to this theme.

In chapter 1, Jack’s physical appearance is described, showing his unpleasant appearance and indirectly showing the danger of his character.

‘…he was tall, thin, and bony: and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness. Out of his face stared two light blue eyes…’

William Golding uses many negative adjectives to describe Jack’s appearance. He describes Jack as to having ‘red hair’, which shows many connotations including ‘danger!’ Jack’s red hair was ‘beneath the black cap’ gives the reader the connotation that the danger of Jack has not yet shown because it is hidden. The colour ‘black’ is used which gives connotations such as, ‘fear’ and ‘darkness’. These connotations are there to tell the reader that the danger that is to come is very ‘fearful’ and ‘dark’. The connotation of the ‘darkness’ is shown obvious further in the book, when Simon is killed in the ‘dark’. William Golding uses these connotations as though he is warning the reader about Jack from the beginning of the book, in chapter 1. ‘His face was crumpled…’ gives the connotations that he is not a very happy character; instead he is moody and looking for trouble. The abstract noun, ‘silliness’ is used to describe his ugliness. This tells the reader he is not a very pleasant character, and giving the connotations that his ugly appearance is an insight to his ugly character. The commas used in ‘…tall, thin, and bony…’ are used to list down the adjectives used for Jack’s appearance.

In chapter 11, the rock that is thrown on Piggy, is described using the adjective ‘red’, which is also the colour used for Jack’s hair.

‘Then the monstrous red thing bounded…’

This also gives the reader the connotations including ‘danger’. By using the colour red for both Jack and the rock, shows a similarity in the characteristics of Jack and the rock (metaphorically). The rock is used in comparison with Jack, which shows the reader that the rock can kill and did become a killer, and in the same way Jack is as monstrous as the rock and is also a killer.

Also, in comparison to Jack’s appearance, William Golding has also described the physical appearance of another character called, ‘Ralph’. He has used a positive adjective to show there is no danger in his character.

‘The boy with fair hair…’

‘Fair hair’ gives us the connotations that oppose to Jack’s appearance which was ‘danger!’ It gives us the connotations of a lovely character that is kind and gentle. The reason William Golding used this comparison in chapter 1, was to give the reader an implication that these two characters are opposite to each other in, in terms of character, leadership and behaviour. Ralph was used in comparison to Jack to show what a dangerous character Jack will soon be.

In chapter 1, after the plane crash, the young boys are introduced to the reader through the character’s conversations. Jack is introduced along with his choir as, ‘the boy’. The introduction of his character in the book showed that he was presented as a ‘prefect’. Although some negative points were made about him in chapter 1, they were not directly shown, but rather were shown through the language used to describe him.

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‘The boy who controlled them…’

At the beginning, Jack is seen as a role model and an example to younger boys. William Golding uses the word, ‘controlled’, which indirectly tells the reader that Jack is a character that did not consider his choir’s point of view towards his orders, and rather he told them what to do without their view of whether they wanted to or not. This gives the reader a hint from chapter 1, that Jack is a person who has the power to take control over a group of boys which makes him a character ...

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