Philosophers have been debating human nature for ages. May it be John Locke, who believed all people were good, or the cynic in Thomas Hobbes, who believed the opposite, all people are bad. It is the view of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, however, that finds itself most prominent in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. In the book, a group of boys are left stranded on an uncharted island after a plane crash, with no adult supervision whatsoever. Ralph and Jack, two of the boys, start nominating themselves to be chief. The boys take it to a vote and Ralph wins, leaving Jack with a wounded ego and a motive for taking power. A power struggle begins and eventually, Jack wins over the boys. A lot of people may believe the Jack was always evil, and the dictatorship Jack ends up creating is what's best for the boys, but Jack wasn't always bad. In the beginning of the book he was just a regular kid. Through Jack, and his interactions with other characters throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the book, Golding shows that even though people are born good, through times of chaos and/or fear, their savagery is released.
In the beginning of the book, Jack appears as a relatively civilized person, but as he is overlooked as chief, he slowly begins to devolve. During the first chapter of the book we meet Jack, Golding describes him as being “… tall, thin and bony; and his hair was under his black cap … stared two blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger”(Golding 20). From the very beginning Golding establishes Jack as intimidating. His description forshadows the upcoming anger of Jack when he describes his “two blue eyes.” He makes it clear that Jack is the leader of the choir boys when Jack commands them to “'Stand still!'”(20) and the boys, “Wearingly obedient, […] huddled into a line, and stood there swaying in the sun”(20). He acts as an older brother figure to the boys. He also seems like a control freak as shown when he demands he be...