Jack's Insanity
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the stranded boys each represent a part of society. Ralph fills the democratic leader role, Piggy seeks order, Simon exhibits humanity and goodness, Roger is unnecessary evil or human cruelty, and Jack plays the "dictator". Of these characters, one is typically misrepresented. Jack, the alleged tyrant, is actually not much more than a sore loser. Jack has redeemable qualities, and his actions are justified by his insanity.
At his introduction, Jack is described as "ugly without silliness." This is intended to give the reader an initial feeling of negativity toward him. Unlike Piggy, who is plump with thick glasses and is portrayed as a bit goofy, Jack is simply ugly. No humor, no silliness, just sober ugliness. This cold description damns him to being an unlikable character from the start. This is subtly contrasted by Jack childishly mentioning that he can "sing a C sharp" in order to regain respect when he sees that his leadership role is being challenged by Ralph. Jack is young and as eager for approval as any other child. He expresses his disappointment at losing the vote with aggression, which is not uncommon for an adolescent boy. Jack is somewhat consoled by Ralph's suggestion that Jack lead the choir boys as hunters, but this is actually what brings the central conflict. If Ralph had not planted the seed of hunting in Jack's brain, there is no telling whether or not Jack would have gone after the pig.
With this idea of killing a pig for food in his mind, Jack's actions start off innocent. He is going to lead the hunters and they are going to provide for all of the boys. As a leader, Jack feels the responsibility to feed everyone. But when the opportunity to murder the swine comes along, Jack cannot bring himself to do it. He is no savage; the concept of killing is foreign to him. But because he fails to kill the pig- fails to do his assigned duty- he is embarrassed. This embarrassment fuels him into obsession. He becomes fully immersed in the idea of killing a pig, gripped by this burden that Ralph has placed on him…he goes insane. He kills the pig. And everything in the novel goes downhill from this point.
The choir boys blindly follow Jack because they are young and naïve. Jack is a power abuser, but at this point he is not sane, so his actions are guided by demonic forces. This is further proven when he and his hunters abuse the sow. Not all humans naturally abuse power, and not all humans are naturally inclined to violent behavior. But the forces of Satan can blind people to the truth, which is what happened in the case of Jack and the hunters. Simon, the source of goodness on the island, was brutally murdered by not Jack's followers, but Satan's followers. This shows that until God's Kingdom on earth, evil will rule this world. The island represents the earth, Simon represents a faithful Christian, and the little sheep boys are people who do wrong. But Jack is not the allegorical Satan. Roger is actually crueler than Jack, but because he is less influential he is overlooked. Jack is simply corrupted by the power of Satan, so nothing that happened was truly his fault. If anything, Ralph opened the door to Jack's vulnerable psyche. That is not to say that Ralph is a bad person, as he is one of the more mentally stable characters. But that does not make him innocent.
Ralph and Jack do get along at first. They "[smile] at each other with shy liking. " Ralph admires Jack's sweaty shorts when they are first getting acquainted. Though there is a definite rivalry between them, there are several moment where it is clear that the two of them could have been great friends. It is too bad that Ralph had to cause his potential soul mate to go mad.
The rescue at the end of the novel represents the second chance that everyone gets. Redemption is available to all of the boys who lost their sanity. This is apparent at the very end when all of the children break down and cry. Jack's cruelty is not his fault; he was merely a pawn of Satan. And the naval officer is his savior; his way into being redeemed for all of the wrong that he did.