Emma Hubacher
English 9A--G period
2 October 2012
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1954. Print.
Jack of all trades In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys must chose between exposing their wild-side or sticking to their civilization past when their plan is crashed on a deserted island. Since there is only a handful of boys that survive a, one of the boys must take on the responsibility of being the most influential character of the novel. Jack Merridew, is the most influential character in Lord of the Flies because he is very persuasive and he uses fear to take control of the boys and make them obey his every wish. In Lord of the Flies, the plan crash forces the boys to take responsibilities for not just themselves but for others. The boys are in need of a leader and even though Ralph is the chief at the beginning of the novel, Jack is obviously the character with the most influence on the other boys. Jack uses persuasion techniques to sway the other boys thoughts and ideas, throughout his reign as chief of Castle Rock. When Ralph and his tribe and stuggeling to keep their fire going, Jack appears from the woods and calls to them, “‘Listen all of you. Me and my hunters, we’re living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribe come and see us”’ (Golding 140). Merridew makes the idea of hunting sound way more appealing than keeping up with the care of fires, building shelters, and attempting rescue all day long. Jack is trying to build his tribe and make himself the one and only true chief of the island. Another example of when Jack uses persuasion against the boys is when his tribe is having a meeting and trying to straighten out the beastie issue that had happened the night before. The boys of the island are trying to figure out how they could have mistaken Simon for the beast when Jack said, “‘I expect the beast disguised itself”’ (161). Jack’s tribe chooses to believe this because they might be going mad from being on the island for so long and people can truly