Lord of the Flies: Essay on Jack Merridew "The theme (of Lord of the Flies) is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical mature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable." -- William Golding In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jack Merridew, chief of the hunters, represents the hidden human passion and animal cruelty. The name Jack comes from Hebrew and means "one who supplants," one who takes