The Introduction of Jack Merridew

Golding first introduces Jack in chapter one. Jack and his choir are described as a dark creature fumbling along the beach. At first the boys are quite shocked but then they realize that it isn’t a creature but a group of boys dressed in black. They figured out that Jack was the leader of them because he was ordering them around and because of his cap, his had a gold star on it and the other boys had silver stars on theirs. When he walks over to the already present Ralph and company he immediately starts asking questions and trying to take control. When Ralph and Piggy are asking about the names Jack interrupts and says that they are “kids names” and that he would prefer to be called Merridew than Jack. He must think it sounds more “grown up” to be called by his last name. Jack constantly is interrupting when Piggy is trying to speak and then starts calling him “fatty”. When the boys have a vote to decide on who should be chief Jack immediately elects himself, which shows that he is a tyrant and thinks that he is the best, but to no avail as Ralph beats him. Jack is introduced as being quite violent when he is asked what job he wants his choirboys to do on the island. He answers immediately by saying the “army”, but then instead he says “hunters”, which are the death squad on the island.

When Ralph, Simon, and Jack decide to go explore the island Piggy says that he would like to go too. Ralph answers with a decent tone that Piggy wouldn’t be useful on this type of trek. Jack, on the other hand, says in a very blunt and hurting tone that they don’t want him, which shows that Jack has already taken a disliking to Piggy.

While the three boys are out on their expedition they find some tree buds that Ralph and Simon find quite intriguing, but Jack just ignores them because they’re not edible and slashes them with his knife. After they move on from this they find a pig. This is where you first find out about Jack’s bloodthirstiness, he immediately tries to sneak up on the stuck pig, but when he gets to it he can’t bring himself to kill it because of the “awful blood”. He has not yet become as apathetic about killing as he will yet become, because he is still under the impression that he is too civilized for it.

Jack is, throughout the story, portrayed as the evil on the island, along with other minor evils, such as Roger. He is always talking about his hunting or about something he killed. He is constantly trying to persuade the other boys on the island to do “bad” things such as kill or to let the others fend for themselves in areas such as food or water. He never helps anybody except himself. Throughout the book he becomes even more violent and less helpful than at the beginning.