Jack In Lord Of The Flies Expository Paragraph Essay

Jack: Expository Paragraph

In William Golding's novel, ' The Lord of the Flies', the author places the character

Jack with the role symbolic of a totalitarian figure whose ambitious lust for power

corrupts the society of the island with elements of unbridled savagery, and exploits the

defects of human nature for his own desires.

To begin, Golding grants Jack with vices of greed and wrath to immorally attain his

goals for power, symbolizing the avarice that Man as a whole has the potential to

possess. For instance, after Jack and Ralph descend the mountain from hunting for the

beastie, Jack calls a meeting, stating his opinions on Ralph's stance as Chief, ' Ralph

thinks you're cowards, running away from
boars and beast. That's not all. He's like

Piggy, he says things like Piggy.
He's not a proper Chief. He's a coward himself

(Golding, 138).' Jack is using slander as a method of denouncing Ralph from

authority. Jack not only tries to insult Ralph's ability to lead, therefore giving a

logical reason to remove him, but also tries to instill in the boys on the island a

personal reason of hatred to abdicate Ralph. With Ralph gone, Jack will be able to

fill the gap as Chief, satisfying his ambitions, yet again continuing the cycle of

tyrannical rule as shown throughout the history of Man.

Furthermore, Golding wants to further develop Jack's character by giving him the

irrational actions of cruel, uncontrollable savagery, which in turn affects the

community, for savagery is the primal root of all Man. To illustrate, Ralph and Piggy

arrive to Jack's new camp, where after a minor argument Jack rallies his tribe to

initiate a trance-like dance where Simon appears from the forest and is mistaken

for the beastie, ' [t]he sticks f[a]ll and the mouth of the new circle crunch[es] and

scream[s]. The beast [is] on its knees, its arms fold[ing in] over its face. At once, the

crowd surge[s] after it, leap[s] on the beast, scream[ing], str[iking], bit[ing],
tear[ing].

There [is] no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws (169).'

Jack delves so deep into the darkness of primal madness that he manages to lead an

attack to murder Simon, disregarding the fact that the 'beast' has human figure and has

audible English language trying to communicate.
Jack is abandoning logic and

wisdom for savagery and fear.

Finally, Golding allows Jack to have the intelligence to be able to see weak points in

society where he can manipulate and exploit to his liking; very similar in comparison

to the real world counterpart. By way of example, Jack gives speech, '-and then the

beast may try to come in. You remember how he crawl[s]- he [comes]- disguised. He

may come again even though we g[ive] him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; be

careful (177).' Regarding Jack's comments, he knows the beast does not exist. He

knows, however, the tribe is afraid of the beast. Thus Jack uses the beast as a ploy,

to keep the people afraid, and him in power, not thinking of rescue, but of surviving

the wrath of the beast. Only with Jack as Chief, could the community stay in

protection from the savagery of the
beast.

Given these points, Jack's immoral traits; the corrupt ambition of Man, the feral

nature of Man, and the manipulation of Man's weaknesses, one could infer William

Golding is trying to symbolize Jack for the innate nature of Man which is quite

evident during the violent era that the author writes the 'Lord of the Flies'.