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Nathan Antunez
Hurley
12/2/16
P6
Lord of The Flies

How does fear of the unknown symbolizes something that is more than live? This can be

answered in William Golding’s book Lord of The Flies, my character is a boy gone savage from

greed to gain power. Jack is seen as fearless and strong, and his motivation for this is the conch,

the beast, and the spear.

Firstly, Jack is motivated by the spear. This symbol stands for killing and death. The

entire book so far Jack has had one thing on his mind and that is killing pig. Also Ralph also

seems to be uneasy whenever Jack is around as explained in this quote. “A sharpened stick about

5 feet long trailed from his right hand and except for a pair of tatted shorts held up by his knife-

belt he was naked” (pg48 William Golding)

Secondly, jack is motivated by the conch. The conch symbolizes power and being elite

over the rest. Jack is trying to kick Ralph out of leadership since day one. Jack seems to do what

the littluns want to do. Most of the time he does whatever he wants. “Jack’s face swan near him.

And shut up! Who are you anyways? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you

can’t sing. I’m chief. I was chosen. Why should choosing make any difference. Just giving

orders that don’t make any sense” (paragraph 5)

Lastly, where he gets most of his motivation is the beast. This symbolizes fear mostly.

Jack isn’t scared of the beast or even believes in it. Still he says he’s looked all over the island

and not see anything. He gains the littluns trust when he doesn’t follow the rules and the littluns
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follow. The twins have even claimed seeing the beast and it ended up being jack. ” Well then-

I’ve been all over this island by myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it.be frightened

because you’re like that- but there is no beast in the forest.”

Jack is not a normal kid and wants to be the one in charge, what motivates him to be the

best is the conch, the beast, and the spear. Characters in this book can use these symbols to gain

an advantage over other characters. “the thing is- fear can’t hurt you any more than a bream.

Maybe there is a beast… Maybe it’s only us.”