Jack

"They don't smell me. They see me, I think. Something pink? Under the trees"

- Chapter 4

Jack Merridew is the main antagonist in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. He is the leader of the choirboys who wants to be the chief himself and have all the boys worship him. But it goes downhill as Jack descends into savagery and becomes even more ruthless.

He symbolizes dominance, evil and power.

Description
Jack is seen as a specific character who craves power and control. Having been the head of the choir in his school, he was used to have a demanding leadership with the others. He was picked as a candidate of being a leader, and when he was defeated by Ralph, he was humiliated even though Ralph decides to lighten up on him by assigning him to be the leader of the hunters. Even if he was chosen as chief, Jack would have made his leadership harsh, such as making up strict rules and severely punishing those who break them. He pushes the boundaries to get exactly what he wants: Ralph's title as chief.

After Jack was chosen to be a hunter, he takes such pride into killing prey because it gives him a chance to be powerful and dominate nature. He also wears face-paint to make him feel more camouflaged and barbaric. When he failed hunting the first time, he is willing to do it again. When he finally pulls it off, he succeeds and is satisfied to make his hunting more brutal and savage.

When Jack leaves Ralph's group after he fails to have the chief voted out of power, he demands to have everyone go with him. He soon gets what he wants when all the other boys become his allies. With his dominance, Jack was able to overthrow Ralph from power and be a leader in his own right. In addition, he becomes so corrupted by savagery, that he ends up destroying the whole island while trying to hunt Ralph down. In the end, Jack wept after reality had set in upon being rescued and that he had lost his own boyhood innocence to the Lord of the Flies.

Arrival on the Island
Jack was a schoolboy living in Britain sometime before and during a nuclear war, and was the leader of the boys' school choir. He was on the plane that plummeted down on the island. After surviving the crash, Jack and his choirboys hear the bellowing of the conch shell and follow the sound to the beach. The choirboys walk in straight, parallel lines and Jack snaps at them to pay attention.

As the boys Ralph and Piggy, who have founded the conch, begin to talk, Jack tells Piggy to shut up and calls him "Fatty" after he thinks the fat boy is talking too much. He and the other boys laugh out loud and humiliate Piggy after learning of his nickname. Afterwards, the boys decide to pick a leader. Jack was given some votes, but he lost to Ralph who won the leadership. He feels miserable that he was let down, but Ralph decides to make him part of their civilization by assigning him to be leader of the hunters.

Jack, along with Ralph and a choirboy Simon, go on an expedition on the island to find out where they are. They push a boulder along the way and stand on top of the mountain and see a breathless view of the ocean. On the way back, Jack spots a young pig caught in a thicket. He draws his knife and plans to stab and kill it, but he loses his nerve and the pig frees itself and gets away. He vows that he will really do it next time.

At the meeting on the beach arranged by Ralph, Jack explains that after he found the pig in the bushes, he would need an army of hunters to catch pigs and kill them for food. He also agrees with Ralph's plan that whoever holds the conch has the right to speak. But when he hears a small boy speak about the "beastie" he grabs the conch out of his hands and declares that he will hunt and kill the beast himself.

After Ralph announces that they must build a signal fire on top of the mountain, Jack and the other boys run up the hill to make one. They find some dead wood to make a fire, and Jack finds out that Piggy's glasses can ignite the flames, so he snatches them from Piggy's face and uses them to have the sun's rays make the fire. But it goes out quickly and he and Piggy get into an argument until Ralph steps in and says that someone should be assigned to watch the fire. Jack and his hunters volunteer to do it, but the fire burns a large patch of the jungle trees, that presumably claims the life of the boy complaining about the "beastie" earlier.

Life as an Island Hunter
Several weeks go by and Jack continues hunting. He trails a pig in the quiet jungle with a spear he had made. He thrusts the spear at his prey, but it misses. He goes to the beach frustrated and finds Ralph and Simon struggling to build shelters. Jack goes for a drink from a coconut shell and hears the chief complaining to him that no one, not even the hunters, aren't helping him making huts. Jack isn't interested in Ralph's complaints and even says that he and his hunters will still go hunting until they succeed. This leads to a heated argument between the two leaders on whenever hunting or shelter is more important. Jack agrees with Simon's idea that the island may be a bad place instead of a good one, since he feels like he is being hunted while hunting. Both Jack and Ralph continue arguing that Jack's hunting skills are not being helpful than actually offering food to the boys and the fight becomes more hostile. Then both leaders go for a swim in the lagoon to cool off their anger.

Jack continues with his daily life on the island as a hunter. He still fantasizes of killing a pig, and when he meets one of the biguns Roger, he calls him to follow him into the jungle. Once deep in the trees, Jack camouflages himself by painting his face with charcoal and clay. He does a dance and make snarling noises to make himself look more fearsome, then ventures deep into the jungle accompanied by some other boys.

Some time later, Jack and his hunters successfully hunt a pig. They rejoice by chanting a strange song, and they come out of the jungle, covered in blood and carrying the carcass. When Ralph sees him, he angrily confronts him about not watching the signal fire, since a ship in the horizon just passed by. He says that they can relight the fire, but was reprimanded by Piggy for his irresponsibility. The hunters and Piggy began yelling at Jack until he lost his temper and hits Piggy across the face, knocking off his glasses. He mocks the fat boy's complaining and the hunters mock him, too. He later apologizes for letting the fire go out but never apologizes to Piggy for hitting him and breaking his glasses. They later have a feast that night, where Jack refuses to share his meat with everyone and does a reenactment of killing the pig in a ritual dance.

The next day, Jack and his hunters attend another meeting by Ralph, where he tries to restrain order to the boys. During the meeting Jack chips away at a chip of wood and whispers something to one of the biguns, Robert. As Ralph talks, Jack stood up and reaches his hands out for the conch. Ralph refuses to give it to him, so Jack sits back down. The chief starts to talk about how everyone was starting to becoming afraid when Jack took the conch from him. He gets mad at the littleluns for their express of the beast and calls them "cry-babies". He has been all over the island and hasn't seen any beast. Piggy agrees with his idea.

Jack listens as the boys describe about where they saw the beast. A boy named Phil claims that she saw the beast in the forest and Simon saw it himself. A boy named Percival starts crying when he tries to talk about the beast, and Jack grabs and shakes him to get the truth out of him. Percival falls asleep on the grass and after whispering it to Jack, he tells everyone that the beast comes from the sea, which frightens everyone. The meeting goes out of control when Simon says that everyone may be the beast themselves and the boys hold up their hands that they all believe in ghosts.

Jack loses his temper and fights with Piggy over the conch. He tells Ralph and Piggy to shut up and doesn't care about following the rules anymore. He declares that he and his hunters will hunt down and kill the beast, then he lets out a loud whooping cry and everyone else joins him; except Ralph, Piggy and Simon.

The Beast
Later that night, Jack and the other boys were asleep and didn't hear the airplane battle in the sky and a dead parachutist falling onto the island. The next morning, they were awakened by the news of the twins Samneric reporting that they have just seen the beast while watching the signal fire. Jack calls for a hunt, and during the meeting, claims that the conch shell doesn't matter anymore.

Jack, Ralph and the biguns search the island. They come across a rock formation that Jack calls a "castle". The boys think it could be the beast's hideout, so Jack follows the others as they investigate. While they didn't find the beast, Jack is fascinated by the "castle" and it could be used as a fort, with the boulders used to fend off enemies. The group goes up the hill, while the other boys have fun than doing the expedition.

While exploring in the afternoon, the boys find pig droppings and Jack suggests they go hunting while in the jungle. They find a boar and Ralph throws a spear at it and hits it. Jack and the others start to do a reenactment with a bigun named Robert as the pig, but their game becomes violent. When they stop and discuss how they show do the dance properly, Jack suggests they use a littlun, and they laugh.

As it gets dark before they could reach the mountain, Ralph needs someone to go back and remind Piggy they won't be returning that night. No one isn't brave enough to volunteer, and Jack mocks Ralph for his concern of Piggy. They reach to the top of the summit, but Jack insists they keep on going. He questions Ralph's courage until he and Roger go on with him. When they are halfway up the mountain, only Jack keeps going and Ralph and Roger stay behind. He thought he saw something in the darkness and he comes back a few minutes later to tell the other two boys what he saw. The three boys go up to the top of the summit and struggle to see in the dark. The wind blows and the parachutist's body sits up. The boys flee in terror.

Rise to Power
At the beach the next day, no one can decide if the beast is real or not. Jack says that he and his hunters can kill the beast, but when Ralph dismisses that idea, an infuriated Jack blows the conch and calls for a meeting. He tells the boys that Ralph had insulted them and he is not fit to be a chief. He calls for a vote to remove Ralph from power and have him be leader instead. Nobody votes for him. Hurt and upset, Jack storms off in tears. He tells them he is not playing games with them anymore and will form his own group. He convinces the other boys they should join him and disappears in the forest. Sometime afterwards, most of the biguns leave Ralph and go join Jack.

Somewhere in the jungle, Jack declares himself leader of the older boys who join him and would get them away from the conch. He says to them that when they go hunting, they will leave some of the kill for the beast, and it won't bother them. Jack leads them into the forest.

The hunters come across a female sow and they kill it. Jack cuts off its head and decides they will raid Ralph's camp to steal some fire to cook the pig's body. They would also invite everyone to the feast. They stake the pig's severed head on a stick as an offering to the beast and they flee.

The hunters arrive at Ralph's camp, where they take some flames from the signal fire and before leaving, they invite Ralph and the others to their feast later that night.

At the feast in the evening, Jack's face is painted like a savage, wears a crown of leaves and sits on top of a log like a throne. He commands all the boys to obey him. After Ralph arrives, Jack asks the boys gathering at the party who would join his tribe and the conch has no authority on this side of the island. He already has food and he and his hunters will protect them from the beast.

A thunderstorm approaches, and Jack calls the tribe for a dance. Roger pretends to be the pig as the boys dance around in a frenzied mood chanting "Kill the beast! Cut his throat!" At that moment, Simon comes out of the forest and approaches the tribe. Already frenzied and thinking it's the beast coming towards them, Jack and all the boys kill Simon with their bare hands and teeth before his body is washed out at sea. The wind blows away the dead parachutist and sails past the boys towards the water. Jack and the boys run away screaming.

The next day, Jack and his tribe set up fort at Castle Rock, the rocky formation they had discovered earlier while hunting for the beast. He has some of his hunters to defend their fortress, would beat anyone who disobeys him, and has a boy captured and beaten for no reason. Jack tells his tribe they will go out hunting again the next day, as they believe the beast isn't dead yet and would still come back. They will have a feast tomorrow and they will need some fire, so Jack decides they should have Piggy's glasses to make the flames. That night, Jack and his hunters raid Ralph's camp, where he steals the glasses and returns to their fort with them.

The next day, Jack and his hunters come out of the forest with a pig on a spit when they see Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric at Castle Rock. The new chief and Ralph fight with each other after Jack was called a thief, with Ralph telling him to give back Piggy's glasses and the importance of the signal fire. Jack points out his tribe only has cooking fire, and he orders his hunters to tie up Samneric.

Jack and Ralph fight again. Piggy tries to restrain order with the conch, but Roger kills Piggy with a rolling boulder and the conch is destroyed. The tribe is silent for a moment, but Jack screams and throws a spear at Ralph, aiming to kill him. The hunters start throwing spears at Ralph as he flees into the forest. As Samneric are captured, Jack prods at them with his spear and terrorizes them into joining his tribe.

End of Innocence
Jack and his tribe have now become savages as they make preparations to hunt down and kill Ralph. The next morning, the hunters go into the jungle to find Ralph, where Jack questions the twins and beats them into revealing where their former chief is. The hunters try pushing boulders at the thicket where Ralph is and try to storm it. Jack orders his tribe to set the forest on fire to get him out of his hiding spot.

As the jungle burns, Jack and his tribe chase Ralph from every hiding place. They all come out on the beach where Ralph is but stop in their tracks when they spot a naval officer standing before them. Jack remains quiet when the officer questions what is going on. As Ralph starts to weep, Jack and all the boys start weeping, too, for the end of their childhood innocence.

Personalities/Appearance
Jack is angry and strict. He constantly orders his allies and hunters to do something for him and he beats them when they don't do what they are told. He also has a fiery temper and can easily lash out at anyone who disapproves him of his actions and decisions. Jack would also lose his temper when the importance of civilization is being brought up and as time went by, insists that a civilized society is not essential anymore and wants to control the island his own way.

He is barbaric when it comes to hunting. While he originally hesitated when trying to kill his first pig, he vows that he will really do it next time. He would brutally kill his prey such as when he impaled a sow through its anus and then placed its head on a stake as an offering to the beast. When his hunters had either a successful hunt or having a tribal feast, they would chant their song, "Kill the Beast! Cut its throat!" He becomes ambitious into wanting to kill the beast himself, and afterwards is not afraid of hunting a human, such as Ralph. When he comes up with laws for the tribe, he simply enjoys making up rules so he could punish those who break them.

Jack is described as having red hair and freckles. After landing on the island, he originally wore choir clothes. Later, he wears face-paint on his face as a sign of his savagery.

Relationships
Ralph- Jack's rival and opposer. Even after he was assigned to be the hunters' leader, he is still resentful of the praise and power that Ralph receives, while he was given the leading role just for providing food for the group. They quarrel on civilization and savagery, and Jack often sees Ralph as a coward and wants him to step down. In the end, Jack had successfully managed to defeat Ralph by overthrowing his position as chief and taking over in his own right.

Roger- One of Jack's closest allies. He often accompanies Jack while on hunting expeditions and is his second-in-command. He even aids in his hunter leader's cruelty and savagery such as hurting the littleluns and eventually killing Piggy with a boulder.

Piggy- Another of Jack's opposers. He mocks Piggy for his scientific and civilized ways and even makes fun of his nickname and obesity.

Appearances in Film/TV

 * In the 1963 film adaptation, Jack is portrayed by Tom Chapin
 * In the 1990 film adaptation, Jack is portrayed by Chris Furrh.