Lord of the Flies Group

Question:

vivalavida
vivalavida
Teacher

At the beginning of Chapter 3 how does the author make Jack behave in order to portray him as a lower type of human being?

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Posted by vivalavida on Monday January 12, 2009 at 7:15 PM and tagged with chapter 3, jacks movements, lord of the flies, pig.

Answers:


  1. ms-mcgregor Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Jack's actions are described as being very animal-like at the beginning of Chaper 3. Jack is hunting for a pig. He is using a long sharpened stick but he is not walking upright. He moves along on all fours, like an animal. He then he smells the air like a dog to see if he can detect any fresh droppings from the pigs. Then he stops and listens like a cat or wolf and hears a pig moving among the vines. He hurls his stick but misses the pig and he is angry he has missed “the promise of meat”.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/flies

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    Posted by ms-mcgregor on Monday January 12, 2009 at 7:24 PM

  2. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    Jack was bent double.  He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth....He lowered his chin and stared at the traces...Then, dog-like,  uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward...except for a pair of tattered shorts...he was naked.  he closed his eyes, raised his head, and breathed in gently with flared nostrils ...Jack [responds to a cry] with a hiss of indrawn breath, and ...became...a furtive thing, ape-like...He passed like a shadow...and crouched....

    Golding uses animal imagery and words suggestive of animals to denote Jack's descent into savagery in Chapter 3.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/flies/chapter-three

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    Posted by mwestwood on Monday January 12, 2009 at 8:00 PM