Jacks Power in Lord of the Flies Essay -- Lord of the Flies William G

Jack's Power in Lord of the Flies At the beginning we see Jack as a well-dressed choir leader, " each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge in it." suggesting that he is civilised. We see also from this first point that he is introduced, that he has a slightly mean streak in him as he gives 'an order' to the other choir boys to "stand still", even though the heat is far too much for them. They are in fear of him as they obey his order. The boys also did as Jack said when they "raised their hands" "with dreary obedience" to vote him for chief. This mean streak also occurs when he is constantly dismissing Piggy and telling him to "shut up". When Ralph brings in rules about the conch and shelters Jack becomes defiant and would much rather be exploring or hunting. Ralph and Jack have some confrontation about the shelters and also about the rule with the conch as "Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph". Jack thinks that the conch rule is a silly rule and when Ralph tells Jack that he is breaking the rules he simply replies with "who cares?" or "sod you!" Jack is also unsympathetic towards the littluns' and refers to them as a "useless lot of cry-babies". Jack becomes fearless and some of the other boys respect him as a good hunter because he has "been everywhere". The other boys also think that he is more fun because he just hunts and doesn't care about all the rules. The first instance when we see Jack becoming savage is when he paints his face as a disguise "like moths on a tree trunk" and starts wearing few clothes unlike the boy with the " square black cap" that we were introduced to at the start. When Jack becomes disguised he intrigues the other boys because he starts... ...Ralph has no one left they nearly kill him too, except that they are rescued. Jack's rise to power meant that he became the most fearless and fearsome character. The boys respected him for his hunting, but after the death of Simon he became even more feared by Ralph and Piggy. The resentment for Ralph that Jack carried from near enough the beginning was the fuel for Ralph's attempted death. Jack's power went straight to his head and the tribe became completely uncivilised and out of control. There were no rules and the boys did as they pleased and all though they enjoyed themselves we are left wondering what would have happened if the boys were not rescued when they were. I think we can say that Ralph would have been killed but would further separation have been on the cards? I think that perhaps Roger may have wanted more power if given the chance.