jack’s qualities appreciation post
ok, so jack is probably the most belittled and ridiculed character in this fandom, because, let’s face it, he’s an asshole and he deserves it. even roger is presented in a better light on many occasions, because not even roger is as much of an asshole as jack is in everyday life.
so you see ralph being praised, you see piggy and simon being praised, you see the twins being praised, you see maurice and roger being praised, and even many other minor characters, but not jack. never jack. various qualities of these characters are often brought into light, but jack is always the worst of the lesser characters and he always has only faults, but never qualities. don’t get me wrong here, I know jack is a favorite character of many, but these people mostly prefer him for how much of a ‘trash’ and ‘an asshole’ he is. jack is always the jerkwad that everyone shits on.
yes, he deserves it. yes, he’s a shit and he committed atrocities and this character’s faults are basically trampling all over the few qualities that he displays throughout the story.
and I’m not talking now about a possible ‘golden-hearted jack’ or a ‘remorseful jack’ here, because that is not jack. I’m not making this post to discuss over a imaginary, better morality of jack, of a potentially decent jack. no. he’s not decent, he will never decent, he’s a gigantic manipulative douche and he will always be this.
no, I’m talking about his qualities as a social being. because I’ve always seen jack as being the most mature out of the boys and the closest to an adult.
contrary to popular belief, where ralph and piggy are portrayed as being the mature ones, jack is, in my honest opinion, a more experienced and developed individual than both of these characters. letting aside the fact that he gradually goes bonkers over the course of the story and that he has a few childish quirks because he’s still 12, jack actually does things that only an adult does.
first of all, we see jack being the leader in a group of choir boys. jack has been used for most of his life to rule over his peers, he has always been in the top of his classes, he has always won the most important positions in school, he has fought to be the best. jack is very ambitious and cunning and the fact that he’s both prefect and the leader in the choir proves that he didn’t win these positions out of nothing. he has actually managed to convince grown-ups that he is capable of great things. whether he simply manipulated those grown-ups or actually proved himself, it’s still a big step.
this is where the huge difference between him and both ralph and piggy comes in. you see jack in the beginning, acting like an adult and trying to handle things around, because he’s most probably interacted with adults more than he has interacted with people his own age. he is arrogant and selfish, but he has the power to guide the other boys, he is authoritarian and strict, and he manages in getting them into formation. he also has the power to make the other boys listen to him and follow his lead.
ralph and piggy, on the other hand, are very much childish and inexperienced. ralph only has play and fun in mind and it’s quite obvious that he has been mostly overprotected and spoiled by his family. it appears that this is the first time ralph is by himself and he has no idea of what to do and simply follows piggy’s advice. piggy himself just repeats vague theories that he has heard from his family, but he doesn’t know how to put them into practice. neither has any idea of what to do. they have good thoughts and plans, but they have never been responsible of anything, which is why they are inexperienced and cannot properly lead the group of boys. they don’t know how to make the other boys follow their lead and listen to what they have to say, which is why they gradually lose all of their followers in the end.
jack on the other hand, has experience with this. he knows how to lead and it’s quite clearly that he has often been responsible in many difficult situations. jack proves that he has some very important knowledge: he is aware right from the beginning that the island is uninhabited, from the trails that are left into the ground. while ralph believes they were made by humans, jack instantly recognizes them as animal trails.
jack is also the first one who realizes that something is wrong with the island. when he tries to warn ralph about it, ralph turns his back to him and doesn’t want to listen, out of pride and anger with jack, which is pretty childish behavior from ralph’s side. jack can strongly feel the effect the isolation has over the boys, and is actually the first who realizes it, but also the first who loses himself to it, because jack is most probably the closest to maturity, and for this reason, the closest to being corrupted.
you can see there are moments in which jack actually tries to come to an agreement with ralph. they have both established ever since the beginning that jack and his group must hunt to provide them more consistent food in order to survive: meat. but ralph literally dismisses all of that and admonishes jack for not keeping the fire lit, which wasn’t even jack’s job in the first place.
then there are jack’s abilities, which are unusually similar to that of an adult. apart from the fact that he has great oratory skills, he also quickly learns hunting tactics all by himself. he hunts and kills pigs with his own hands, an act that is only pulled off by full grown adults, then teaches the other boys these hunting tactics. he explores the entire island all by himself, in order to know what they’re dealing with, he is the only one who doesn’t believe in a real physical danger, like an animal or a beast, as he himself knows the structure of places like these. while the rest of the boys, even ralph and piggy, are somewhat reluctant about it, and believe in it to an extent, jack proves to be very down-to-earth and pragmatic in this situation, although very harsh at the same time, as he criticizes and berates the younger boys for believing in such ridiculous things.
jack eventually falls into madness. he has an overemphasized ego and a pride that blind his ways.
but just think for a moment of jack having the clarity of mind that ralph and piggy had. of jack having the same ideals, of jack not being such an arrogant and power thirsty prick. if jack had had the same purposes, then those boys would have been off of that island in an instant. jack was very much capable, much more capable than any other boy there, but he put his abilities and skills into the wrong ideals. he worked for the wrong side. if jack had been on ralph and piggy’s side, then those boys would have been organized and rescued in not more than a few days. jack would have assembled them and made them listen, he had a militaristic attitude very favorable for this kind of situation, and everything would have worked out wonderfully.
the reason for this post was to bring jack’s potential into view. because this character is a powerful one, and very much skilled, but too shadowed by the faults of his mind. jack was too conceited, his ego was too big, and so it interfered and clashed with his potential.
a lot of people in the fandom strip jack of this potential and portray him as a mere pathetic nuisance. jack is a nuisance to the reader indeed, but in the book, 80 % of the characters shit their pants in his presence, the other 20 % are uneasy about him. the only slight exceptions are ralph and roger, but ralph majorly respects jack for a good part of the book then gets disappointed with him, before he ends up being afraid of him, and roger fluctuates between being annoyed and greatly admiring him, so jack is literally one hell of a bastard who has major influence and power over basically everyone.
so what I’m trying to say is that this character deserves to be spat on for how much of a shithead he is, but he also deserves recognition for how great of a character he is.
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
jbbartram-illu
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
janainaart
jacobvanloon
annaxmalina
areudirty
tangentwithtanner
dededos
