The desire for drama underlies the other boys’ desertion, Ralph tells Piggy. He assesses accurately their basic motivation not as a wish to do evil but for the drama and game of Jack’s primal theater. They are also drawn in by the enticement of meat and the protection that Jack seems to provide as a fearless, aggressive hunter. Jack certainly is taken with the drama of it, forcing the other boys to perform the bizarrely formal rituals. This role is no game for him though; by the time Ralph and Piggy reach the party, Jack has clearly gone power-mad. Evoking images of Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Jack sits on a large log, “painted and garlanded . . . like an idol.” Around him are arranged piles of food and drink as though they are offerings to him.
Just as Jack and the dead soldier seemed to have in common a desire to keep the fire from being lit, they now have in common a link with apes. Ralph saw the dead soldier as “something like a great ape” hunched over — a connection between the animality of the apes from which humans are descended and the animality still present in humankind today. Now as Jack sits in front of his tribe and considers the new arrivals, Ralph and Piggy, “Power . . . chattered in his ear like an ape.” The devil on his shoulder is his own animality, looking to master other creatures. He already has achieved mastery of those of his tribe: When he commands that someone bring him a drink, someone does. They also address him as “Chief,” a formality not demanded by Ralph. Jack expects subservience from his tribe, which they accept as though he can protect them through strength of personality alone. Ralph is unable to enforce his rules or his authority because he lacks Jack’s punitive nature and relies instead on the boys’ sense of honor in following through on their promises.
