Jack In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Words: 888
Pages: 4

Billy Graham once said, “Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the american lifestyle.” What he means by this, is that if being selfish and being proud of it, and not caring about the bad actions that you do, is praised in America. These actions are very similar to the Id, in Freud’s psyche. In, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a character acts like Billy’s definition of an American, by only doing actions for that only he get the pleasure out of, he does not listen to what other people want/need, and he does not think about how how his actions will effect him. This character’s name is Jack. Jack represents the Id in the novel.

To begin with, Jack only does things that please him. Jack and his group of hunters were in charge of keeping a signal fire going. When Ralph sees a possible rescue ship, he panics because he sees that the signal fire is not
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For instance, Ralph wanted to have everyone build shelters for each other, but Jack takes them away to go hunting. Ralph replies to Jack’s actions by saying, “You could have had everyone when the shelters were finished. But you had to hunt,” (Page 71). Jack refuses to listen to Ralph’s request of having everyone make make shelters, by taking them hunting. This shows that Jack does not listen to what other people want. Along with that, Piggy wanted Jack to keep a signal fire lit, but Jack refuses to do so after saying he would. At this point of the story, Piggy cries out to Jack, “You didn’t ought to have let that fire out. You said you’d keep the smoke going,” (Page 71). Piggy wanted to have a signal fire lit, so there would be a chance of the boys getting rescued, but once again, Jack refuses to listen, by letting the fire die out, proving again, that Jack does not listen to what other people want. All together, Jack refuses to take other people’s opinions into consideration, making him the