Lord of the Flies.
In chapter four Jack is feeling thwarted in his ability to hunt down the pigs (and prove his violent masculinity) because the pigs can discern him as ‘something pink under the trees.’ This description of himself gives a vulnerability, triviality and childishness to his appearance through the word ‘pink’ that undermines the seriousness (and success) of his violent intentions. The fact that Jack recognises his limitation as a hunter is expressed through the indeterminate ‘something’, provoking his triumphant transformation shortly afterwards, in a pivotal episode in the same chapter.
This transformation is made manifest, through the painting of his face. ‘ He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger.’ The defamiliarization of his own appearance is a moment of dangerous liberation. He is no ‘himself’ anymore, so he will not be the ‘pink’ creature whom the pigs can flee from. He is now ‘ an awesome stranger.’ The adjective ‘awesome’ captures the sense of triumph and wonder experienced by Jack as he processes the effects of his transformation. Interestingly, Jack is now ‘other’ to himself and therefore can commit actions that embrace an ‘otherness’ which is transgressive and destructive. It feels to the reader like a dangerous epiphany as we can sense Jack’s exhilaration at the new freedom and power created by the appearance of this ‘stranger’. We recognise that Jack now feels liberated and no longer bound by his previous self and even by society’s laws. Jack can thus fulfil his repressed desires for brutality and dominance.
Chillingly a few moments later, in front of the rest of the boys and with a disturbing sense of foreshadowing, Jack ‘s appearance ‘drew their eyes and appalled them’. Look how the tribal paint compelled the younger boys to stare at Jack and yet also ‘appalled them’ highlighting that Jack is now so charismatic and powerful that he exercises some form of fascinated, fearful enchantment on his audience, an enchantment the reader senses will lead to terrifying tragedy and loss. Jack’s ethical self has vanished behind his mask. This idea of a doppelganger or double is reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray or Stevenson’s infamous exploration of personal otherness, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, where criminality erupts behind a disguised original self.
