Can the rules and standards set by humanity be replaced by savagery through the desire of power? In his book Lord of the Flies William Golding answers this question by putting a group of English school boys on a deserted island. Jack’s desire for power and his eventual achievement of this power become an evident problem when their structure and standards are broken. He has tasted power before and it has not left his mind. He has a strong drive to be in control and above everyone else. William Golding uses Jack’s desire for power to show how and why the boys become savages.

Jack has a need for power that has been fostered by his previous experience as a leader. He will do anything to gain all of the power on the island. In the absence of adults Jack believes that “[he] ought to be chief… because [he is] chapter chorister and head boy” (22). Since he has experienced power, he wants it even more than everyone else. Jack will not rest easily until he has all the control and power on the island. His arrogance also makes him believe that no one is better than him at leading a group. Jack is surprised and mortified when Ralph is chosen not for his experience as a leader but because he called the first meeting.  Ralph sees Jack’s reaction to his lack of power and decides to give him a portion of the responsibility to satisfy his need for power. Ralph gives him power over the choir so that they can hunt and keep the fire going. Jack is content with control over the choir but when he feels the need for more power and followers he separates from the group. When Ralph insults him he decides that “[he is] not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot” and storms off and returning only to try and entice some of the other boys into joining his new tribe (127). This creates a split between the boys and there is considerable hostility between the two tribes. His power goes to his head creating the idea that he is above the law.

Once Jack gains some power he thinks that he is better than the law. This creates a catastrophic mistake on his part. He takes all of the hunters out to hunt a pig because he is eager to please the other boys so that they will give him more power. Jack becomes obsessed with killing a pig. His obsession leads him to break one of the greatest rules that the boys had made. He lets the fire go out and while the fire is out a ship comes and goes away into the distance along with their dreams of going home. If it weren’t for “[him] and his hunting [they] might have gone home” leaving no need for the meat of a pig he intensely sought after (70). Jack also shows his negligence of the law when he beats his tribe members to exercise his control and power. He beats one boy, Maurice, “… he got angry and made [them] tie Wilfred up” with no explanation of why he was doing it (159). Jack was showing the boys in his tribe that he has the power and he can do whatever he wants. When he was an English school boy he would never have gone so far as to beat another boy to show his power. The power that he is experiencing is making him savage. In order to show his power to the other tribe he takes Piggy’s glasses which is the source of their fire. Jack does this purely to show his dominance over the other tribe. Ralph “would have given [them] fire if [they’d] asked for it” but if Jack had just asked for it in his mind it would have been just as bad as surrendering to the other tribe (176). Since he took the fire from Ralph their chance of being rescued went away. Jack is content with their situation; he has all the power on the island. Jack has all the power and everyone else knows it due to his exercise of control and desire for power. He also shows his power and desire to be superior throw hunting.

Once he has felt the thrill of the hunt he gains an intense desire to kill, because it shows his strength and power. He becomes obsessed with killing a pig and becomes a little less human. While he is trying to catch the pig and assert his power over it by killing it he moved “doglike, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort” he continued on only to almost catch a pig. Eventually he learns how to kill pigs and he gets very good at it. When he talks about killing the pig he revels in the blood laughing as he explains that there were “lashings of blood” as “[he] cut the pig’s throat” (69). His savagery and show of power is also evident when he the tribe that he commands, kill a sow who is nurturing her piglets. The boys ruthlessly kill her and eat her for their feast.  There are many other pigs lying in the same area but they choose her. Most other people would not have chosen the mother over the other pigs.

Jack is a normal English school boy when he arrives on the island with all the other boys but his desire for power sets him apart from the others. This craving for power and control changes him from the human he used to be. Jack becomes savage leaving the standards and rules that had been set in his mind behind. He feels that he is better than everyone else. Jack had experienced power before and he liked having people following him. When he needed more control and power he resorted to a savage means of getting what he wanted. Savagery can replace the rules and standards set by humanity if the desire for control and power is strong.