#dare i say he might be almost or even equally as traumatized as ralph but he just processed it violently

[toxicaltomb]

i feel like ppl make jack too evil in post-island fics. like. uhmmmm. did we read the same book? the one with the ugly ginger kid, so desperate for approval that when he doesn’t get it—from ralph, who he so desperately wants to impress, and his peers, who don’t even consider him for the position of chief—he gets angry and violent and lashes out because that’s clearly all he knows? that book?

like. i agree that he probably wouldn’t feel much guilt afterwards. he clearly has no qualms with murder (at least, when it happens towards people he doesn’t like), although he isn’t as bloodthirsty as roger. but i see it more as not understanding what he did wrong/the magnitude of his actions. it was all just a big game, wasn’t it? weren’t they just playing war? that’s what the naval officer and the rest of the outside world thinks, so surely he’s not at fault.

nobody ever punishes him. he never suffers the consequences, so he never learns, so he keeps doing it, rinse and repeat. he expects forgiveness from the boys he brutalized and dragged into his weird murder tribe. even if he were punished for his actions, he probably wouldn’t feel guilt, but just like. the sinking feeling of being caught.

also, if lotf happened in an era more….open to trauma therapy…he probably could’ve ended up, like. normal. traumatized and ill, but normal. it makes me sad. these poor boys