Jack

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Jack is the arrogant leader of the choir in Lord of the Flies, and after the crash, demands that he be made chief. He is disappointed when Ralph is chosen instead, but is cheered by the prospect of retaining control of the choir, who are designated as hunters. Ralph and Jack become friends and explore the island together, although Jack fails to kill a pig on his first attempt: ‘I was going to … I was choosing a place. Next time’. Jack takes an instant dislike to Piggy and begins his frequent refrain of ‘Shut up, Piggy’.

Eventually, Jack becomes a skilled hunter, and is hostile to Ralph and the rules of their society. Readers are reminded of the age of the island’s inhabitants when Jack declares childishly, ‘I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you’. He walks away from the group in tears, eventually followed by a small group. Jack’s new tribe become increasingly savage, and they leave a severed pig’s head as a ‘gift’ for the beast. As chief of the new group, Jack is an authoritarian, and quick to punish others as a whim. In one of the more disturbing moments, Wilfred is tied up, waiting to be beaten.

The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red. The tribe lay in a semicircle before him. The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffing noisily in the background.

The allure of Jack’s disregard for the rules, and supply of meat, leads to a total breakdown of the society, and his tribe faces Ralph and his small band of followers – Piggy, Sam and Eric – in the final showdown on the island.