Lord of the Flies
The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed. (181). Hunting humans has become more fun than hunting pigs. William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, uses characters like Piggy, Ralph, Simon, and Jack to symbolize how human nature has a tendency to change depending on the situation at hand. The book, Lord of the Flies was written after World War II. The war taught people that humans could be bad even if the society was good. Because of the war, parents punctually sent their children to the countryside or Australia or Canada to protect them from being hurt during the war. Golding uses Jack to symbolize loss of innocence to explain how characters have gone from hunting pigs, to hunting people.
After the Ralph and Piggy realizad that they have been stranded on an uninhabited island, William Golding introduces 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. (20). Jack viciously attacks Piggy by calling him fatty after he said "You're talking too much, Shut up, Fatty." (21). This shows that Jack was mean to start off with although the rest of the boys may be nice, Jack just had to be mean because Piggy never went and did anything to him. Jack was still used to civilization because when Ralph, Simon and him encounter a squealing pig, Jack heasitates to stab it by uttering in anger, "I was choosing a place, I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him I was going to, I was choosing a place. Next time-!" (31). this implied that Jack was not ready to kill a living creature, but next time, he would. Jack starts off as just trying to hunt for fun, but slowly progresses to hunting other animals.
After the tribes had developed and Jack had almost caught his first pig by himself, Jack took the hunters out to try to catch another pig: "Look! We've killed a pig--we stole up on themwe got in a circle" (69). Jack had over come his fears and finally caught a pig. Hunting had become a game and Jack was determined to catch a pig at any costs. Jack even applies clay to his face for hunting. Like in war. (63). After Jack had caught a few pigs, Jack went after a sow and her young. Jack was transforming from a civilized English boy into a savage beast. Every living creature, whether it is human or animal, was now fair game. Jack now was going for humans and they had smoked [Ralph] out and set the island on fire (197). Jacks savagery had overcome him so much, that he started to lose basic human instinct by becoming an animal on the inside and now trying to kill another person.
Throughout this book, Golding has incorporated symbols into his story thus making it an allegory. Jack has lost his innocence on the island because he went from yelling to brutally mauling animals and other creatures. After he and Ralph meet and ate meat, Jack and the others killed the beast: The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. (132). Jack, unknowingly killed Simon thinking that it was the beast. Each kill that Jack scores is just one more reason that he will never be the same as before he became stranded on this island. Jacks savagery becomes an obsession which ironically saves them in the end. By setting fire to the island to smoke out Ralph, a ship saw them which in turn lead to their rescue: "We saw your smoke. said the Officer. (201). Jacks obsession had inevitably lead to their rescue.
William Goldings Lord of the Flies, uses Jack to symbolize loss of innocence and explain how Jack has gone from hunting pigs, to hunting people. Jack transforms from a mean kid, into a savage beast. He goes from hunting animal to hunting people. Although it is unknown, after they have been sighted, Jack and everyone probably changed back to how they were before they started preforming taboo tasks and murder.
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