Jack Merridew

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?"

- Jack after Roger killed Piggy

Jack Merridew is the main antagonist in William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. He is one of the leaders of the band of boys who get stranded on the island the other being Ralph. His right hand man is Roger who is even more dangerous than he is. Jack's main ambition on the island is to hunt, even trying to explain this was an excuse to pass up an opportunity to be rescued by an airplane in both the 1963 and 1990 film adaptations of the novel. Because Ralph wouldn't stop arguing at Jack due to the missed chance for getting rescued by a passing airplane to go home, Jack decided to start his own tribe separated from Ralph which he rules in a Hitler style fashion.

Jack is shown at first to be very cocky, haughty and demanding, displaying an open hostility towards Ralph and scorn towards the other children.

As all the the children, save from Ralph, Piggy and the twins, gradually return to a wild state, Jack becomes one of the most violent, agressive and dangerous of them. He orders a separate tribe from Ralph who emphasizes on working to build shelters, but the children become interested in hunting except for Ralph's tribe, and Ralph was unable to satisfy them to the conditions of the island. His group becomes them increasingly violent towards Ralph's, intimidating most of the kids to side with him. The situation degenerate to a war, culminating in Piggy's murder and the whole island being set on fire to kill Ralph. Fortunately, the fire attracts the attention of a boat of the navy, rescuing the children right when they were about to finish Ralph off.

Appearence
"Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness. Out of this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger."

- Excerpt describing Jack's appearence from The Lord of the Flies 

Allegory
Jack's role in the novel is an allegory to human nature. Jack represents mankind's unbridled savagery, and the desire for power. Golding's allegory to the character (about human nature) was based on what he saw when he went to war.