How did Jack and his band of choirboys look as they came towards the assembled group of boys in Lord of the Flies?

Answer 1

Jack is presented to the reader as a boy who is used to weilding authority and enjoys it. He has no time to spare for anyone for whom he has no respect. He is described physically as... "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 his face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger."

Answer 2

To quote directly from the book... "Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along. Ralph saw it first, and watched till the intentness of his gaze drew all eyes that way. Then the creature stepped from mirage on to clear sand, and they saw that the darkness was not all shadow but mostly clothing. The creature was a party of boys..."

Answer 3

In "Lord of the Flies," the choir is a metaphor for savage tribe. The boys in the choir become the hunters. They smear paint on their faces, and dance around their prey in a ritualistic fashion. The civilized chorals they sung in civilization is replaced by the chanting they exhibit in the savage world.

Answer 4

Most of the boys on the island were strangers to each other and seem never to have met before travelling to the island. The choir by contrast were already a unit who had apparently previously travelled together to various locations such as Addis and Gibraltar. They all knew each other, they were used to obeying Jack's commands and they even walked in disciplined formation. The choir were a combined block of power among a loose assembly of relative strangers.

Answer 5

Since the boys have been stranded on the island, they often are dressed in very grimy clothes. When their plane crashed, the boys were dressed in their nice school clothes, so many of them wear these. However, the boys in the hunting tribe (Jack's tribe) have become savages. They often paint themselves and wear very little clothing expept maybe a belt or something.