Essay Sample on Fear & Pride: Jack's Conquest in Lord of the Flies

Pride and fear are the seductive nature of human beings. In the Text Lord of the Flies, the characters fate is questionable, is it determined by fear or pride? The author creates a tense environment through the use of fear and ego, impacting some of the characters. Some of the characters utilize fear as a tool to conquer other aspects. Jack uses his beastly nature to overcome the other characters. Through the text, Jack continually utilizes the other members' fear of the beast as a weakness to manipulate them. The author uses characters such as Jack to drive fear into the rest of the characters causing disputes and disasters, which later result in the exhilaration of some aspects such as Simon and Piggy. Despite Jack being overwhelmed by pride, it is evident that fear is a two-edged sword that tears oneself as well as others. It is through Jack's fear of losing power which later contributes to his downfall.

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Pride is the primary cause of hindrance to progressive development for some characters. Jack demonstrates his disagreement with the rest of the characters by saying, "I am not going to play any longer. Not with you." (Golding 140). Through his speech, Jack feels capable of devouring the group and create his own, which he can rule. He is not willing to cooperate with the other characters, and later, his pride makes him leave the group. His actions then lead to disagreement in the group, and it then splits into two. His wicked thoughts make him imagine others depend on him and will not be able to survive without his expertise in hunting.

Jack's actions are beastly, and he does not cooperate with other characters such as Raph to overcome the fearful situation. Instead, he is dominated by greed for power seeking to dominate others. He expresses his pride in Piggy when he says, "Give me a drink." Jack does not observe any form of courtesy; he watches both Raph and Piggy through the jagged rim as he drinks from the shell. The description given by the author demonstrates the extreme power used by Jack gives the imagery of how inhuman Jack was. The author says, "Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulders and chattered in his ear like an ape."(Golding165). He demonstrates his absolute power over others during Ralph's visit. How Jack treats the rest of the members is beastly; he uses any available opportunity presented to show off his authority over the rest. Through his words during the meal, "Has everybody eaten as much as they want.....His tone conveyed a warning given out of the pride of ownership, and the boys ate faster while there was still time."(Golding 165).

Jack uses the tool of fear by trying to be the leader of the group. He finally becomes a leader of a hunters group that he launches personally. Jack portrays the ability to be a leader as, within the novel, Jack continuously shows the ability to hunt down the beast. He explains the determination to kill the beast. He also portrays the ability to protect others by quoting the idea expressed by the beast saying, "We'd better keep on the right side of him, anyhow. You cannot tell what he might do."(Golding 178). By so doing, his quote controls the other group members and makes them feel that they got a leader. Jack formulates the idea of a fearful beast that no one has ever witnessed so that his group members become fearful too.

In his idea, he can manipulate the other boys by ensuring they believe in him. He goes to the extent of telling the boys that the beast is an enemy of his tribe. He knows that the beast does not exist though he uses the animal to manipulate the participants of his group. He also ensures that his followers do as per his commands. He creates fear among them such that the boys put trust in him that he is the one with the ability to deal with the beast. He keeps popping up the story about the monster every time and how he can hunt down the creature. By doing so, he lives up the fear among the boys who consequently fall for his words.

He tries as much as he can to show fellow group members that he is far better off than Ralph. He also tells the members how Ralph is looser so that the team reams intact and does not defect to Ralph's group. To be able to achieve this, he continually emphasizes the existence of the beast and his capabilities to hunt it. Based on these examples, it is crystal clear that jack uses the tool of fear to be a leader. Also, from the standards, it is evident that the fear of losing power established in the novel has contributed in determining the fate of the characters therein.

In the novel, jack portrays the tool of pride. Even though satisfaction is inevitable among children, it is clear that jack implements it to control the other boys. Jack keeps showing off on his abilities to hunt the beast. Jack's pride has an impact on the boys, who consequently fall under his control. Satisfaction is among the issues that cause the deterioration of civilization, not only within the novel but also in the real world.

Jack, as an authentic character, can, therefore, be considered a beast who uses "beast" as a tool to disguise is intentions to exercise ultimate power over the subjects. All other aspects are ready to be swayed by Jack into even turning against each other, just like beast demur without further questioning.

Work Cited

Golding, William. The Lord of the Flies. London. Faber and Faber Ltd, 1954. 35-178. Print.