While the changes in Jack's character throughout Lord of the Flies could be almost described as decay, when we leave out the moral values, the prescribing of right and wrong to actions, we could actually consider it to be an emergence of the true and basic makeup of his personality. In fact, in the absence of the influence of society, all of the characters trapped on the island seem to recede back into the pure and often very ugly core of their personalities. Jack, however, seems to have a particularly powerful center that was likely barely suppressed even in the center of strict English society. During the story, Jack shrugs off the limits of civilization and explores new methods to induce obedience in the other boys in the process of reverting to the core of his personality.
Even in the beginning, Jack's personality is distinctly powerful and ruthless. It is interesting to note that, after a storm and a plane crash, Jack still is able to gather together and lead a perfect formation of choir boys in a flawless march down the beach. Even from the outset, he has tremendous leadership ability. He also exhibits extreme callousness and is able to spread this callousness to the other boys. In the very beginning, Jack commands his underlings to ignore Simon when he faints though at that time they were reluctant to show such blatant ignorance to the suffering of a human being. In the choir boy's minds, however, Jack's almost godlike presence seems to rationalize anything that he actually instructs them to do (or not do). In this way, Jack is able to make some theoretically benign and sensible people act like callous and brutal machines in practice. One must wonder if Jack uses the sort of leadership methods exhibited by Hitler or any brutal dictator. After the war, when members of the German army were shown videos of their own atrocities, many descended into tears. It was almost as if, with their leader gone, they no longer had anyone to help them rationalize or deny their own behavior. Suddenly, they found themselves back in possession of their own thoughts, and their own thoughts suddenly realized what had really happened. Illusions of order, power, and enjoyment melted away, allowing more basic and truthful human emotions and philosophies to break the surface. Jack develops this leadership “method” throughout the story and the other boys find it increasingly convenient to allow him to be responsible (after all, why argue with someone when they let you do exactly what you want) while they let remorse and logical thought to float out into the breeze. Jack further recognizes this willingness presented by the other boys to invest themselves entirely in his false logic and rationalization and he capitalizes further on it and learns its intricacies and carefully toes the limits of its effectiveness. There was often a slight reluctance to do his bidding: the boys did not feel quite normal ignoring Simon as he lay prostrate on the ground, nor did they particularly want to tie up SamnEric but Jack knew his aura of “reason” and power would shift them just that slight bit more. Also, Jack utilized even more advanced leadership methods that could be more closely described as mind control and manipulation. He used the “dance” to great effect in his later stages of leadership. This dance was originally inspired by one of the greater motivators of all time: fear. Jack, through a sort of study of the other boys, learned that he need only utter the word “Beast” and cast himself as the sole means of salvation to invoke an intense and feral response of anger and violence that could be easily redirected through any additional connection of the Beast or the means to escape it to whatever he may have wanted done at the time. Also, the very fact that Jack saw the “Beast” seemed to help the effectiveness of this method. His own (though arguably lessened) fear helped him sincerely establish this fear in the others. By experiencing this fear, he was better equipped to inflict it.
It was also interesting to watch as the bonds of civilization fell away from Jack like so many worn out clothes. Jack's passage into brutality was a battle with himself, though more with what civilization had applied to him. He passed from disregarding Simon when he faints, to barely checking his arm short of the writhing piglet, to severing a pigs head and preparing to bring Ralph's head to the same fate. In many ways, it was simply the passage of time and the isolation that allowed civilization to slip away. It is likely that Jack slowly stopped visualizing the reaction of his parents or his teachers to his every action. On a remote island, it is likely easy to stop thinking in the context of civilization's response, instead Jack began to be his own judge. Here is a fundamental difference between Jack and say…Simon. Jack adheres to civilizations rules due to little more than a sort of conditioning. He knows that negative actions bring negative responses (or at least used to). In Simon's case however, right and wrong is either more deeply ingrained or it is actually a fundamental part of his entire being. Even without outside influence, Simon actually seems to be a sensitive and loving person as a default. Jack, on the other hand, quickly becomes a vehicle of his every whim and desire. In a sense, he enjoys an ultimate freedom near the end of the story. He is separate from the bonds of sensibilities, remorse and consideration for the feelings of others. He is the only person in the world to worry about. It is not as if this happens all at once. There are hurdles to pass, steps to make towards the final destination of savagery. The killing of the sow was a huge step for Jack. It allowed him to prove to the once well rooted vestiges of civilization inside himself that he was indeed capable of savagery and bloodshed, that he could cut throats and stab with spears and instruct a horde of followers to do likewise. There is some amazing phenomena that causes us to be able to do something with relative ease once we have done it once. Jack decapitates an animal once, and Golding leaves us little doubt that Jack, in a much later stage of his escape from society, would be able to move another step and do the same to Ralph.
It is arguable that without Jack, the events on the island would not have escalated the way they did. Unfortunately, Jack developed immensely by shrugging off the influence of morals and compassion and learning how to control others in a sick supplement to his destructive newfound freedom. No evil or manipulative person seems to simply become their full fledged form instantly; they must evolve, learn the required techniques, and free themselves from any positive influence that has been cast around them.
