Makayla Boone

Mrs. Jenkins

EBA Honors English 10

06 May 2021

Just how Evil is Evil?

Evil can be defined as what is not, or the absence, of good.

Profound immoral wickedness. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the

Flies he shares a story of a group of boys who are stranded on an

isolated island without any parental guidance or authority. The longer

they were on the island, the further they descended into madness.

Throughout this novel Golding is able to prove that man is born with an

unconscious sense of evil by using characterization and juxtaposition.

The author uses characterization to show that people are born with

a sense of evil. In the beginning when Jack is first introduced, Golding

describes him as “… tall, thin, and bony...His face was crumpled and

freckled, and ugly without silliness”(20). He was also said to be

wearing a black cloak along with a group of boys who seemed to follow

his path. Right away Jack seems to have some type of authority over the

boys, as he shouts “Choir! Stand Still” (20)! By the way he carries

himself he seems to take great pride over having some type of control.

Jack is very stubborn, belligerent, and somewhat passive aggressive.

Later in the novel these traits become more toxic. As time went by on

the island, the boys thought it’d be a good idea to assign the role of chief

to someone. Jack immediately thinks the position belongs to him simply

because of silly things that have no relevance to being stranded on an

island. When Ralph gets elected chief instead of him, he is embarrassed.

Ralph says he can still have control over the choir, and they could be the

hunters to get food. After a while Ralph and Jack seem to get along.

They form an interesting relationship until Jack begins to show his true

colors again. When Ralph begins to struggle with some tasks, Jack and

his choir show no interest in trying to help. This leads to hostile

arguments. Later on Jack begins to grow a fond liking for hunting, which

led to fire going out because the choir's job was to keep the fire going for

rescue but instead they went hunting for pigs. Ralph became furious
with Jack, spilling more bad blood between them. Power begins to

become a conflict as Jack's passive aggressive attitude begins to reflect

on everyone else on the island. The boys think there is a beast on the

island, which is causing everyone to worry. Jack claims Ralph is a

coward for not wanting to hunt the beast. Eventually the boys split into

two groups: followers of Ralph and followers of Jack. Ralph sticks to his

erudite yet tedious plan, while Jack wants to test his limits and go

looking for the beast. Jack’s love for hunting rubs off on others and they

all get carried away after killing a pig for a feast. The boys are so excited

they get caught up in the moment and mistake Simon for the beast,

which resulted in his death. Once again, Jack’s evil doings have negative

effects. Jack sends a group of his hunters to go steal from Ralph and his

now small but mighty group. Ralph is completely fed up and decides to

confront Jack. His small group set out to visit Jack's camp. The two boys

have a falling out, which ultimately results in Piggy’s death. One of

Jack's group members, Roger, sends a rock flying at Piggy. Jack then

forces Samneric to join his group, and they all go hunting for Ralph.
Overall, Jack is characterized as evil throughout this whole novel,

resulting in deaths, pure selfishness, and emotional scars.

Golding uses Juxtaposition to show the ironic relationship between

Ralph and Jack. In the beginning of the novel, although Ralph is elected

chief he lets Jack have control over the choir to appease him. Even

though they were the complete opposite of each other, they formed an

alright relationship and managed to get along. That was until Jack began

to get overwhelmingly obsessed with hunting. He and his choir seemed

to forget all of their roles on the island, which didn't sit well with Ralph.

When Ralph needed help the most, Jack was not there for him. This

aggravated Ralph and they got into a big malicious argument. As time

went by on the island, Ralph and Jack just couldn’t seem to get along.

This ultimately led them to part ways, one despising the other. In the

end, what once was an alright relationship ended up being an abhorrent

one. With Jack and his hunters out for blood, Ralph managed to wiggle

his way to his final steps on the island before they were finally saved.

We are all born with some type of evil, but for some it's easier

for it to come out than others. Using characterization and

juxtaposition, Golding is able to prove that man is born with an

unconscious sense of evil. Evil causes nothing but wrong doings. Jack

and his gratuitous behavior set so many people on the island up for

failure. Without him or his unnecessary behavior I believe everyone on

the island could have thrived so much better. Possibly enabling everyone

to make it off the island alive.