Initially Jack painted his face as an aid to hunting, as a form of camoflague tio prevent the pigs from spotting him amongst the foliage and patches of shade in the jungle. But Jack quickly discovered that the paint also served as a mask, behind which he could do as he pleased without any feelings of remorse, regret, decency, shame or guilt. The painting of faces became an act of liberation which allowed the wearer of the paint to do anything that they wanted.
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Jack uses wet red and white clay and makes black marks with a stick of charcoal. His purpose is to replicate the effect of "dazzle paint" which was used in the two World Wars to break up the outline of ships. He wishes to camaoflague himself so that the pigs won't spot him in amonst the jungle foliage and patches of shade. Once he applies the paint however Jack also becomes aware that "behind the mask" of his painted face he is free from all restraints and responsibilities, he can in effect do what he pleases.
Jack was the boy who first had the idea to use face and body paint. In chapter three he had mentioned to Ralph that he suspected that the pigs didn't smell him but saw him as something pink among the trees. In the following chapter Jack experimented with applying red and white clay along with black lines made with charcoal. The initial idea was to use the paint as camouflage to enable the hunters to merge into the background but the paint had an unexpected additional effect. While wearing the face paint it acted as a form of mask which divorced the wearer from his own actions. A boy wearing paint could do anything he wanted without any feelings of shame, remorse or guilt because he felt that he was just an onlooker and the 'painted savage' was really responsible.
Jack was the boy who first had the idea to use face and body paint. In chapter three he had mentioned to Ralph that he suspected that the pigs didn't smell him but saw him as something pink among the trees. In the following chapter Jack experimented with applying red and white clay along with black lines made with charcoal. The initial idea was to use the paint as camouflage to enable the hunters to merge into the background but the paint had an unexpected additional effect. While wearing the face paint it acted as a form of mask which divorced the wearer from his own actions. A boy wearing paint could do anything he wanted without any feelings of shame, remorse or guilt because he felt that he was just an onlooker and the 'painted savage' was really responsible.
The face paint- A camouflage as they hunt pigs and separate themselves from Ralph's tribe.
jack
ralph
The island is at war and the boys long to go home to civilisation - which is also at war.
No time or date is stated in the story but references to a war, 'the bomb' and 'the reds' might lead the reader to supsect that the novel took place during some imagined future nuclear war against communism, set in some imagined and unstated future period after the book was written.
I think England was under a nuclear war while the boys were on the island because if it was just a hot war there would be no need to actually evacuate.