jack

• "I ought to be chief... I can sing C sharp."


  high modality reflects jack's sense of entitlement and naivety concerning leadership
• "dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours"


  zoomorphic language foreshadows jack's orchestration of savagery upon the island
• "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages, we're English, and the English are the best at everything"


  • irony as Jack goes on to destroy all sense of civility upon the island - collective pronouns create a false sense of unity with the boys, when in reality their dynamic is fractious
  • Golding exposes the fallacy of colonialism and English exceptionalism through Jack's misplaced hubris at British superiority
• "Bollocks to the rules!'


  • plosive expletive used as an antithesis to the sense of order that Ralph, Piggy, etc. cling to
  • embodies his dictatorial rule - exclamative conveys emphatic tone
• "The mask compelled them."

  • painted faces and long hair symbolise the hunters' descent of Maslow's hierarchy of need into savagery
  • "compelled" robs the boys of agency, as though they cannot control innate desires
• "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood."

  • monosyllabic chant embodies the boys' devolution of language and thus regression
  • connotes that the boys are a homogenous group devoid of individualism
• "we want meat" vs "we need shelters"


  • polarising priorities to Ralph, echoing how they are foils - reflects Jack as the embodiment of the Freudian id
  • Jack's myopic pursuit of hunting for "meat" eventually descends into a myopic pursuit of hunting for sheer violence
• "the enormity of the knife... the unbearable blood"


  pre modifiers indicate how Jack is still conditioned by the taboo of violence in his previous life at the exposition, retaining his sense of moral propriety and behaviour that society has instilled in him.
• Golding uses Jack as a didactic vehicle to condemn the intrinsic "darkness of man's heart" and inherent evil human nature
• Jack is depicted as a seditious character who incites rebellion against not only Ralph, but also democracy and civilisation.
• Jack's seditious ability to persuade, his use of violence to command loyalty, and his desire for absolute authority align him with totalitarian leaders of the 20th century such as Hitler. Golding uses Jack as a didactic vehicle to reveal the power and danger of fascism.
• The strong-willed, egomaniacal Jack is the novel's primary representative of the instinct of savagery, violence, and the megalomaniac desire for power.
• Character of Jack Merridew

  • Personifies the subject of evil
  • Transforms from a charismatic and disciplined leader to a ruthless dictator
• Jack's desire for power and domination

  Fuels his spiral into barbarism, destroying his humanity and blurring the border between civilization and anarchy
• "his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling"



  shift in imagery from "laughter" to "snarling" elucidates Jack's loss of humanity and signifies his regression.