Lord Of The Flies
Quotation Interpretation
“His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”
There are many excerpts from the novel Lord Of The Flies that could have been used to represent an important part of the book. I chose an excerpt from chapter four that was referring to the character Jack. He is a very exclusive role in this novel. Jack loves to hunt and be overpowering. This passage is describing the mind of Jack’s right after he killed his first pig. This is a very important part of the novel, because it is another step to the boys becoming more barbaric and savage.
Jack is so into his emotions and feelings at this point because he just killed this animal. He can not even think of anything else but the fact of what he just did. This is why the excerpt explains that Jack is unable to think of anything else because “his mind was crowded with memories.” The author William Golding makes a connection with Jack’s liveliness with the feelings of power and dominance.
Jack’s excitement is not because of the fact that he just killed a pig for food. The reason he has for being thrilled is for the fact that he just dominated the life of something else. Once again, going back to the whole power situation, Jack loves to be in control. This is also a turning point where Jack becomes completely obsessed with hunting. The redhead even painted his face with clay and charcoal like a barbarian and set off into the woods with his crew to find that pig. His obsession with hunting later progresses to be out of control. It also becomes clear that his intentions for hunting is not for common good. He just kills for the pure pleasure of overpowering and having control over another being.
As soon as the boys captured and killed the pig, of course everyone was filled with excitement....
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