how golding portrays jack

In lord of the flies, jack is portrayed as a very arrogant, selfish and idiotic boy. 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. Jack Merridew is a young boy, probably the same age as Ralph, possibly older. On page 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 used in the novel to put across 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. 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 the book, Golding describes this island cleverly and often refers to savagery and the loss of civilization compared 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 factor to jacks madness, is carelessly abused and treated by Jack. His whole existence and survival depend on fire yet his mail goal is to hunt and kill.