Jack: Almost the Hero of Lord of the Flies Essay

Jack, leader of a group of choirboys and ultimately chief of the hunters, is Ralph’s principal antagonist. Described as having a full head of red hair, wearing a black cloak and bullying his way through the boys, his role as a villain is fairly clear from the beginning. Jack is destined to be the primary cause of destruction on the island; however, he is not presented as a one-dimensional monster. Golding forges a more complex and subsequently more credible character than that. Jack does, for instance, feel some regrets for the blood on his hands. But before long he represses and noble instincts and embraces a life of savagery. He makes the psychological break symbolically when he baptizes himself with the blood of a slaughtered pig. With the exception of Ralph, Piggy, and a few others, he eventually lures the other boys to follow him in a life consecrated in blood, a life which will lead them to multiple murders. Abstractly, Jack represents the bestial instinct of the human being unrestrained by any rational Control. Jack is a devil because of the savage ways he acts like the red hair, painted faces, the savage pig hunts, the rituals, sacrifices, and the terrorist acts. Jack is evil because of him being always murderous. He is always wanting to hunt things and not care what happens to the animal. Once he gets incharge of his own group he paints his face and his red hair make him look like the devil. He uses threating comments to get other people join his group. And he goes on savage acts like going and beating up Ralph and Piggy for Piggy’s glasses. Jack is always bulling his way through all the boys like he forces Piggy to give him Piggy’s glasses. Jack is evil like when he sees that it is beginning to get dark and he unexpectedly orders the tribe to do its dance. All the boys leap up and step wildly around the blazing fire, waving their weapons. They intone a bloodcurdling chant and become wilder and wilder. That’s some of the savagery that Jack does in this book. Jack is like the devil because of the savage things that he does and the nasty ways that he treats people like Piggy. That is what I would think that is why Jack is like the devil†¦.