The Changes Morally and Psychologically in the Character Jack

There are many types of changes one person may go through in their lifetime. After traumatic experiences anybody is subject to rapid and uncontrollable change. In the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a group of boys crash land on an island and they go through a series of changes, specifically, from a normal society that devolves into chaos. One of the characters named Jack goes through the most amount of changes in the novel. Jack goes through changes psychologically and morally because of his geographical, physical, and cultural surroundings on the island.

The first discussion to have is about the geographical surroundings Jack was thrust into after crashing on the island. Geography plays a big part with how humanity feels, acts, and interacts with others. The island the boys crash landed on is surrounded by ocean with a big mountain in the middle. There is a jungle, beach, and lagoon all located on the island (Golding 10). The island is isolated from the rest of humanity, even if the boys themselves are together they are all still isolated completely. The isolation of the island from society caused the decline of Jack’s mental health, furthermore, the lack of punishment for breaking rules caused him to become savage mentally. Morality in human beings can change throughout a lifetime based upon the surroundings they are put in. Right after Jack broke his own tribe off Golding says, “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” (160). After Jack becomes leader, all of the boys have decreased morality. Jack, as the new chief, brings upon a new age of chaos in his tribe, moreover, he begins to beat the kids for not following the rules instead of other forms of punishment. The isolation from society brought this mental state unto Jack due to the lack of guidelines and rules. Jack feels, at this point in the novel, that he is allowed to do whatever he pleases because of the lack of adults on the island. In these moments, Jack feels the surge of power he has and decides to abuse it everytime.

The second surrounding that caused a change in Jack is the man-made, physical objects. One of the most important man-made objects in the novel is the fire that the boys create. In the novel Ralph says, "The fire's the most important thing. Without the fire, we can't be rescued. I'd like to put on war-paint and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning” (142). In the Lord of the Flies, the fire is the biggest representation of the order in the societies they created. When Ralph says this line to the remaining boys in his group, he shows the meaning of the fire within the novel. As each of the societies progress, one shows evidence of savagery and the other of hopelessness. The degradation of Jack’s psychological process truly begins after he leaves Ralph’s society and all of the rules. Most of the rules were about the fire, therefore, the fire directly led to the degradation of Jack’s mental state. In Jack’s new society, he promised freedom, more food, and safety for the boys that came with. Jack’s decaying morals, however, construed this as a chance to abuse and exert his power over the other boys. One of the other man-made objects in the novel is a pig’s head on a stick named The Lord of the Flies. In chapter eight, the Lord of the Flies is introduced, “‘Pig’s head on a stick.’/ ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head” (143). The Lord of the Flies is a slaughtered pig’s head on a stick, and is something the boys made themselves. This character is meant to represent fear, anger, and becoming a more evil person. The head is talking to Simon in this instance, and he is the only one to ever see the head talk. Because the head represents the evilness of all of the boys, it would represent Jack’s descent into madness as the novel goes on. Jack’s psychological downfall could be blamed on The Lord of the Flies, as he makes all of the boys go insane by the end of the novel. Many man-made items throughout the novel have made Jack descend deeper into the savagery that already existed within him.

The third and final surrounding that caused changes in Jack was the culture of the island. Jack changed by the end of the book to be more of a dictator and no longer believing in the democracy their society started out as. This mostly happened because of his jealousy for not being elected as leader in the first place. In the beginning of the novel, Jack says, “'I ought to be chief,' … 'because I'm the chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp'” (22). Jack is already the leader of the choir boys, so he believes in the beginning he is the rightful leader for the tribe. Jack is quickly humbled when Ralph is elected leader later the same day. The moment Jack was not elected leader is the moment his jealousy of Ralph begins. This culture of jealousy between the two main leaders causes a rift, and eventually the split between the groups. As the novel continues, Jack gets more and more deranged from his original thoughts of being a leader of the tribe. His mental state continues to dwindle, even further than the beginning. The psychological state Jack was in continues to become worse further in the novel.  Jack never believed the island should have been a democracy, but he creates a dictatorship by the end of the novel. By the end of the novel, not only did Jack’s mental state become deranged, his moral standards also changed. Jack starts the chant, “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood’” (152). Jack does this when the boys think that Simon is the beast, although, later in the novel the boys deny ever killing Simon. This is an action committed by Jack’s tribe that is construed as an ‘evil’ action. This killing is the first purposeful killing of the novel, and it is started by Jack. One could argue that Jack did not know what was happening when this happened, but he still committed a crime. Because Jack started a culture of hurting and killing in his tribe, the other boys thought that the right thing to do was to kill the beast. But in turn ended up killing Simon instead.

Even though many of the characters go through changes, Jack’s mental state and morality changes the most because of the geological, physical, and cultural surroundings of the island. The novel showcases the changes each of the characters go through, and the effect that being isolated and surrounded by no rules does to people. The changes everyone goes through in their lifetimes are in direct relation to the experiences they have. Everyone changes whether it is for the better or worse for the other people in their lives.