The chapter's beginning follows Jack on a solitary hunt through the forest, which emphasizes Jack's significance in the novel and explains his preoccupation with hunting. Transformation in his character is very evident. He has now shed his uniform, of which represents civilisation, and now wears the rag like remains. “A pair of tattered shorts held up by a knife belt”.
Jack now resembles a savage. For Jack, hunting is not an instinctive talent but a skill that he continues to develop, driven by bloodlust, as the story unfolds.He hunts not for the apparent purpose of gaining food to eat but for his personal enjoyment and to feed his obsession with killing. This shows what Golding believes is the true evil nature of man which is only suppressed by civilised Christian values. Golding underscores his hypothesis by displaying that evil can shine through even a young boy after a few weeks.
Jack’s actions too appear much more primitive; even at this early stage of the novel. “Then dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward five yards and stopped… his face a few inches away from this clue”.Animal imagery is used here to emphasize Jacks decent to savagery. Rather than hunting like a rational gentleman; Jack actively plays the role of another animal instinctively preying on other weaker creatures.
Golding underscores Jack’s obsession by describing him as “nearly mad”. Golding points out that Jack has “a sharpened stick”, which is an obvious symbol of his offensive brutality. However Jack has developed other characteristics such as great patience; “He closed his eyes, raised his head and breathed in gently with flared nostrils, assessing the current of warm air for information”.Jack has been led to such a quality only for the bloody prize it brings. Like Simon; Jack is very conscious of his surroundings and observant. The focus on Jack in the forest at the beginning of chapter three is parallel to Simon, seeing one destroying the forest and the other protecting; and separation between Jack and the forest and a brotherhood between Simon and the same forest.
Jack: “The forest and he were very still… eyes that in his frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad… uncommunicative forest… harsh cry”, clearly Jack has no familiarity with the feel of nature and the forest and him are almost enemies.Simon however has a different relationship with the forest, “movements were almost furtive… holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sound of the island”. The forest is offering no resistance and even a sense of security. “Simon dropped the screen of leaves back into place”. Simon is keen to preserve the forest.
When Simon is in the forest it is filled with “gaudy butterflies… sounds of bright fantastic birds”. When Jack is there, there is heat, thirst and blood lust. Jack takes the role of hunting very seriously as we see further into the chapter. “The droppings were warm.
They lay piled among turned earth”.Again this is Golding translating the stereotype savage. Golding very effectively shows us the insanity of Jack in the quote “From the pig-run came the quick, hard patter… maddening-the promise of meat”. At this point in the story Jack is not sufficiently prepared to kill, but he is approaching the point at which he can inflict mortal violence upon another, whether a pig or a person.
Ralph cannily realizes this trait when he reminds Jack that the most important thing that the boys must do is to build a shelter. He implicitly tells Jack that his obsession with hunting does not help the boys' chances of survival.We see here that Jack is actually aware of his fixation i. e. he say’s himself he wanted to kill the pig not hunt for meat.
In this extract we see a growing divide between Jack and Ralph caused by Jack’s regression in character, emphasized by “now the antagonism was audible”. The reader gets the impression of Jack that his inner evil which was suppressed by civilisation is now revealing itself. This evil is in the form of savagery which is the natural core of humans. All of this is of course Golding’s opinion of man and he propagates this idea very well through Jack.
