Lord Of The Flies :: essays research papers

Lord of the Flies Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack Merridew is a symbol for savagery. From the very beginning, he seems to harbor emotions of anger and savagery. At first, he is the leader of his choir group, who become hunters as the book progresses. Finally, his savage personality and ability to tell people what they want to hear, allows him to overtake Ralph as chief. The three points I will be talking about in this essay are Jack’s character, Jack’s symbolism, and the moral or lesson Golding is trying to teach us throughout the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack Merridew is a young boy, probably the same age as Ralph, possibly older. On pg. 20 Golding describes Jack as “…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 this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger.'; Jack’s eyes are always used in the novel to depict his emotions, as they are in the quote above. When the boys land on the island they are all wearing their school uniforms, but Jack and his choir are wearing cloaks and caps. Oddly enough, Jack is one of the only boys whose last name is learned. I think the author does this to make Jack stand out. He is a very important character because throughout this whole novel, Golding depicts this island and savagery to everyday life. Jack is the perfect character to play this role due to his temperament and power hungry acts. Jack is solely concerned with hunting, and cannot see the necessity of other things that can keep them alive. Fire, an important necessity, is carelessly abused and treated by Jack. His whole existence and survival depend on fire yet his mail goal is to hunt and kill. His controlling and persuasive behavior, allow him to take over the chief position towards the end of the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The novel, Lord of the Flies is a novel involving a great deal of symbolism. Different characters provide different symbols. Jack is a symbol of savagery and anarchy. Golding relates this to the evil and cruel people in the world. When Jack first arrives on the island he is excited to have rules for their new settlement. Jack exclaims on pg. 33 “ We’ll have rules!'; he cried excitedly. “Lots of rules!…'; Jack changes his view on rules towards the end of the story because he rebels from Ralph’s leadership and starts his own clan.