Jack's exact age is not stated in the book, but he is roughly the same age as Ralph, his protagonist counterpart. Ralph is twelve years old. Like the other boys, Jack's appearance changes throughout the novel. He sheds his cloak and most of his clothes.
In the 1990 film adaptation, Jack is portrayed by Chris Furrh. He is sixteen, two years older than Ralph, and has blond hair. Like all the other boys in this version of the story, Jack is American and attends an unnamed American military boarding school.
Ralph is among the oldest of the boys, at twelve and a few months, and has an air of strength about him. He acts as the initial leader figure and organizes the boys into some semblance of society.
Ralph is 12 years old, making him one of the older boys among the group of survivors. Age is an immediate way the boys organize themselves on the island. Piggy, Jack, and Ralph are all around 12 years old, and this seniority make them and the other boys of similar age immediate authorities.
Peterkin, better known as "Piggy", is one of the three oldest at around twelve years of age. Piggy has a very rational mind and is important for creating order in the boys' castaway community.
Piggy's real name is never revealed. Instead he is treated as though he is one of the pigs on the island - also like one of them, he is brutally killed. Piggy remains an outsider and a victim throughout the novel, though Ralph does come to respect him.
In the midst of a nuclear war, a group of British boys find themselves stranded without adult supervision on a tropical island. The group is roughly divided into the "littluns," boys around the age of six, and the "biguns," who are between the ages of ten and twelve.
The boys on the island range in ages from 6 – 12. Ralph's age is given as twelve years old, and his rival, Jack (the head boy of a choir), is around the same age. They are two of the older boys and they fall into the category of biguns. The littluns are roughly six years old.
From the beginning, Jack, who is the head choir boy back home, thinks he should be the chief, but the other boys choose Ralph. The tension between Ralph and Jack grows because Jack has different priorities—to hunt and have fun—than Ralph, who wants to hold onto civilization and get rescued.
Percival is the youngest and smallest child on the island. His character symbolizes the innocence of the boys when they first arrive on the island before civilization and order are lost to savagery.
Over the last 60 years, people have objected to the book due to its brutal violence, as well as its disturbing ideas concerning human nature and how humans differ little from animals when the boundaries of society are removed.
Piggy is the intellectual with poor eyesight, a weight problem, and asthma. He is the most physically vulnerable of all the boys, despite his greater intelligence.
This book's Lexile measure is 770L and is frequently taught in the 9th and 10th grade. Students in these grades should be reading texts that have reading demand of 1050L through 1335L to be college and career ready by the end of Grade 12.
Lord of the Flies is the eighth most banned or challenged book in US history. However, it hasn't been banned in sixteen years. It is required reading in many school curriculums and has been for decades in many school districts.
Three of the boys on the island die before the choir is rescued. Simon is killed by accident because the other boys mistake him for a beast. Piggy is murdered by Roger. An unnamed boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark is killed in the forest fire that is set by Jack and his compatriots during their search for Ralph.
At its core, cannibalism in "Lord of the Flies" serves as a metaphor for the loss of humanity's inherent goodness when confronted with primal instincts and the absence of societal norms. The act itself is not merely a grotesque display of hunger but a manifestation of the characters' regression into barbarism.
We do know that Piggy is a very highly intelligent. His IQ is probably in the genius level! I know that this doesn't make him autistic, but we do know that a lot of people on the higher end of the spectrum tend to be very intelligent. We also know that he really doesn't seem to fit in with other boys his age.
Piggy begins to speak, but Jack calls him fatty and tells him to shut up. Ralph responds that his name isn't fatty, it's Piggy, and they all laugh at him.
Piggy, in his desire for friendship, makes his first mistake on the island by revealing the name given to him from former tormenters. Later during the first meeting, Jack calls him 'Fatty' but Ralph interrupts with a shout: 'His real name's Piggy! ' (23).
