Quote 1
[Jack] tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.
"I went on. I thought, by myself—"
The madness came into his eyes again.
"I thought I might kill." (3.37-40)
You say pot-ay-to; we say po-tah-toe. You say this is Jack's real nature, subdued by culture; we say that the island is eroding his true self. (Or the other way around; we haven't actually made up our minds.) What does Golding seem to think?
Quote 2
[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. (4.33)
Jack is taking the whole "becoming one with your prey" thing a bit too literally. Here's he's practically morphing into an animal, with the kind of "bloodthirsty snarling" you'd associate with a man-eating tiger rather than a 12-year-old choir boy.
Quote 3
They surrounded the covert but the sow got away with the sting of another spear in her flank. The trailing butts hindered her and the sharp, cross-cut points were a torment. She blundered into a tree, forcing a spear still deeper; and after that any of the hunters could follow her easily by the drops of vivid blood […].
Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her. This dreadful eruption from an unknown world made her frantic; she squealed and bucked and the air was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror […]. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them […].
At last the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back, and Jack stood up, holding out his hands.
“Look.”
He giggled and flecked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms. Then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks . . .
“Right up her ass!” (8.191-196)
Get all the kids out of the room, because this has just gone from understandable food-related slaughter to... something else. The hunt is no longer about just having meat to eat—it's about literally bathing in their power over a helpless animal. We're not surprised that people tend to read this as a rape scene.
Quote 4
"Shut up," said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things."
"A chief! A chief!"
"I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance, "because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp." (1.228-30)
It's dumb of Jack to think he should be leader because he can sing C sharp, but is it any dumber that Ralph gets elected because he's cute and has the conch? Maybe Golding is saying that all rules and order are kind of made up—but that doesn't mean they're not important.
Quote 5
"We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything." (2.192)
Weird. On the one hand, Golding does seem to believe that rules and order are necessary. On the other hand, we can't help being a little suspicious of, well, everything Jack says. Is this ironic? (We're pretty sure the "English are the best at everything" bit is, at least.)
Quote 6
“[Ralph is] like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.” (8. 50)
To Jack, intelligence is incompatible with strength, and the latter is necessary for chiefdom. Because Ralph uses logic and reasoning like Piggy does, according to Jack, he can’t be fit to be the boys’ leader.
Quote 7
"I expect the beast disguised himself."
"Perhaps […]. We'd better keep on the right side of him, anyhow. You can't tell what he might do."
The tribe considered this; and then were shaken, as if by a flow of wind. The chief saw the effect of his words and stood abruptly. (10.142-143)
Fear, says Golding, is one of a leader's most powerful tools for controlling a society. (And this is before anyone had to stand barefoot in an airport security line.)
Quote 8
The suffusion drained away from Jack's face. Ralph waved again for silence.
"Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be—what do you want them be?"
"Hunters."
Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking. The rest began to talk eagerly. (1.254-257)
Check out how Ralph gets Jack on his side by sharing power. He's set up to be a good leader, taking into account the needs and desires of his group. Too bad it's not going to last.
Quote 9
“You're no good on a job like this.”
“All the same –”
“We don’t want you,” said Jack, flatly. “Three’s enough.” (1.274-276)
While Ralph and Jack both assert authority over Piggy, Ralph at least tries to explain his reasoning (the mark of a good leader), whereas Jack brings personal insult to the matter (the mark of a bad leader).
Quote 10
"A fire! Make a fire!"
At once half the boys were on their feet. Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten.
"Come on! Follow me!"
The space under the palm trees was full of noise and movement. Ralph was on his feet too, shouting for quiet, but no one heard him. All at once the crowd swayed toward the island and was gone—following Jack. (2.120-123)
Oops. Ralph's moment at the top of the food chain was pretty brief. It's only chapter two, and Jack's populist tactics are already more undermining the rule of law.
Quote 11
"I painted my face—I stole up. Now you eat—all of you—and I—" (4.191)
Jack yells this right after he throws a hunk of meat at Simon. (Gross.) And, you know? We love Ralph and all, but Jack isn't exactly wrong. He did get the meat, and it's a powerful sign of leadership. If this were a real island tribe, maybe Jack should be the leader. But it's not. It's a group of little boys whose priority really should be getting off the island—and that means the right man for the job is Ralph.
Jack's face swam near him.
"And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing—"
"I'm chief. I was chosen."
"Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that don't make any sense—" (5.238-241)
In case you haven't gotten it by now, Golding spells it out for us: Jack represents an autocratic government, where power is taken; and Ralph represents democratic governments, where power is given.
Quote 13
“Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t to be chief?”
He looked expectantly at the boys ranged around, who had frozen. Under the palms there was deadly silence.
“Hands up?” said Jack strongly, “whoever wants Ralph not to be chief?”
The silence continued, breathless and heavy and full of shame. Slowly the red drained from Jack’s cheeks, then came back with a painful rush. He licked his lips and turned his head at an angle, so that his gaze avoided the embarrassment of linking with another’s eye.
“How many think –”
His voice trailed off. The hands that held the conch shook. He cleared his throat, and spoke loudly.
“All right then.”
He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye.
“I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” (8.67-75)
This quote actually causes us (the reader) to feel sorry for Jack. Passages like this are important to remind us that the boys really are young children: they get embarrassed, they cry, and they throw temper tantrums. When we are hit in the face with the boys’ humanity, we are that much more disturbed by the horrors that follow.
Quote 14
Jack spoke.
"Give me a drink."
Henry brought him a shell and he drank, watching Piggy and Ralph over the jagged rim. Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape. (9.52-54)
Ralph uses his power to build signal fires and try to get the littluns looked after; Jack uses it to have people fetch him drinks. Enough said.
Quote 15
Jack planned his new face. He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw […]. "Samneric. Get me a coconut. An empty one."
He knelt, holding the shell of water […]. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He spilt the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. (4.31-33)
Jack is as excited about his new identity as we are about getting a great new haircut. Sure, maybe he's just excited because it's a cultural taboo. Then again, maybe he's excited because he knows it's going to give him power over the others.
Jack pointed suddenly.
“His specs – use them as burning glasses!”
Piggy was surrounded before he could back away. (2.159-161)
Piggy’s glasses become the boys’ one technological advancement. We wonder why Jack is the boy that thinks of using them.
Quote 17
"…fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island . . . Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!" (5.79)
Jack isn't winning any Mr. Sensitive awards here. He's also wrong: fear can hurt you; and there are beasts on the island.