Question: Describe at least one important character in the written text. Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text.
Character: Jack
Segments: Jack at the beginning, middle and end
Lord of the flies by William Golding is an age old classic that hits right at home with any morally inclined person. One important character in the text is Jack, who is revealed through the stories beginning, middle and end. These are the points I will highlight in this essay, as they are best at showing jacks descent into villainy.
During the beginning part of lord of the flies, Jack is a relatively positive character. While being very arrogant and leader of the choir. In chapter one, The sound of the shell, Jack says “I ought to be chief…”. “because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp” Despite disagreeing with Piggy and Ralph on most subjects and letting the fire go out, Jack isn’t necessarily a villain yet in the first 4-5 chapters of the book as he still agrees that shelters and the like must be built and jobs given to prevent a fall into savagery.
In the middle of the book, Jack begins to change. he becomes more psychopathic and senseless. Some say he becomes the embodiment of Sigmund Freud’s Id, a senseless, reactionary personality that acts on impulse without thinking. When asked by Ralph about protecting the littluns in beast from air after Jack says “sucks to the littluns”, showing that he does not really care for the lives of the littluns and only wants to hunt the beast. This is William Golding’s way of showing how Jack descends into psychopathy.
The end of the book is where Jack’s true transformation is shown. After the boys kill Simon, Jack is shown to say “…He came – disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. ” This shows that jack has has descended so far into savagery to deny that they have killed Simon and thinks him as the beast. Later on, he even tries to kill Ralph, becoming so enraged in blood lust that he gets roger to “Sharpen a stick at both ends”, as told to him by Samneric. This shows that Jack is so psychotic that he would execute Ralph in broad daylight without the guise of chaos and darkness that masked Simon’s killing. William Golding uses this mad descent to show how even the most innocent of Humans can devolve into savagery in a setting of pure anarchy.
Jack is revealed throughout lord of the flies as a boy with psychotic tendencies. In the beginning he is seemingly an innocent, albeit arrogant child but through the course of events he is molded into a killer, a dictator and a psychopath. Jack is important to the text as he shows William Golding’s goal of writing about how humans can easily lose their civility in a chaotic and unbound setting.
3 Comments
Add Yours →Hi Ethan,
You need to specifically state how Jack’s character was revealed throughout the novel, not just say that he was. You need to use your introduction as an opportunity to highlight the points you are going to discuss in your essay. As you continue to work on this make sure any examples or connections you make are specific.
Hi Ethan,
You need to expand on the points you are making in your paragraphs a little more. Also link your chosen quotes into the paragraphs as well, at the moment it seems as if you have just put them there without context. Don’t forget the Y part of SEXY either, discuss the author’s purpose and to connect to the world outside the novel. This means other novels, films or real world people or events that relate to the points you are trying to make. It would be good to identify key language features, like metaphors and personifications, as well to help enhance the points you are trying to make.
Hi Ethan,
You haven’t got enough here. You need to go into more detail about Jack’s character. Why isn’t Jack the villain at the start of the novel? What makes you believe this? You need to link the quote into your paragraph more clearly in your first paragraph. You’ve done a good job at linking you quote in your second paragraph, you need to do the same in every one. Discussing the author’s purpose and making connections to the world outside the novel are essential parts of your essay as well. Make your connections as specific as possible.