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lord of the flies???

we have to do a plan/mindmap on this quote "Jack is the root of all evil on the island. Without him, it would be a civilised place." and I have literally no idea what to do! please help

Reply 1

n4dz

If you have the book on you try and find some places where Jack is the source of conflict i.e. when he argues with Ralph or bullies Piggy by using his specs to cause a fire. You can also write about how he becomes tyrannical which starts of with killing the pig i think the specific quote is "i thought i might kill" which the eventually drives him to be violent towards Ralph. He also is the cause of the division between the boys and leads them into tyranny and uncivilization so he can be considered evil evident by the quote "*******s to the rules"

Reply 2

Pichi

I guess you could say that Jack knowingly uses fear to gain control of /power over the boys, much like a dictator would, like when he insists that the Beast is disguised and will come back again or when he says that Ralph is an inadequate leader who won't do a good job at protecting them. He is also one of the characters (or maybe even the first character) to revert to primitive behaviour (think about the ape imagery while he's wondering around in the forest in what I think is Chapter 4), which might relate to original sin.

Can you add any counter-arguments or alternative arguments to that point as well? I can think of a few. You could argue that Jack is still an impressionable child (he cries and parrots the adults, such as when he says 'the English are the best at everything') and therefore is a victim of a society that is inadequate at raising boys - so, in short, he's not evil, just the product of an evil/inadequate society that taught him violence (I mean, there is a war going on that is literally the reason why they're on the island in the first place). After all, Golding was a teacher at a boys' school and worked around teenage boys a lot and also worked in the Navy during the war (I think) and so he witnessed some of the horrors of war.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 3

tinygirl96

Explain how Jack uses fear to manipulate other people. Use quotes to back up your arguments. To sum up Jack is not crazy but a victim really. Explore the themes of the novel.