Saturday, October 26, 2013

Why does Jack refuse to give Piggy meat?

This tawdry episode shows us Jack's vindictiveness in all its ugliness. On the face of it, he won't give Piggy a share of the meat because he didn't participate in the hunt. But the real reason is that Jack is in the process of forming his own little gang, which he hopes will establish a dictatorship on the island. For all kinds of reasons, Piggy doesn't fit in with the others, and so Jack feels free to exclude him. He's an outsider—fat, short-sighted, and intelligent—certainly not the kind of person Jack would want as part of his gang.
Jack's refusal to give Piggy some meat is an ominous sign of the divisions that are already developing among the boys. By denying Piggy food, Jack is also denying his right to exist. As far as he's concerned there's no place on the island for those unwilling or unable to participate in the struggle for life. For Jack, it's all about survival of the fittest, and Piggy just isn't fit.


In Chapter 4, the boys miss a chance to be rescued, but Jack and his group of hunters successfully kill a pig. They end up chopping the pig into small bits of meat and roasting it over the fire using branches. Ralph and Piggy are both anxious to eat something other than fruit and Ralph immediately gnaws on the meat as soon as he is given a piece. Piggy then asks, "Aren’t I having none?" (Golding 103). Golding writes that Jack purposely planned on excluding Piggy as a way to assert his power and responds by saying, "You didn’t hunt" (Golding 104). Simon then slides Piggy a piece of meat which upsets Jack. Jack then stands up and begins to announce to the group of boys how he got them all meat. Jack refused to give Piggy a piece of meat as a way to assert his power. Jack is jealous that Ralph is the leader and resents his closest supporter, Piggy. Jack is continually arguing with Piggy and purposely does not give Piggy some meat so that he can hear Piggy beg for it.

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