The Hero?

Well, I have had a good month off from grading papers.  And though I have thought about new posts, this is the first time I have sat down to write one.  As soon as I did I remembered one of the last things we read in English 12 this year, and some of the odd responses to a short answer question from the final exam.

The book is Lord of the Flies, and the question was, "Who is the hero of the novel?"  Students had to provide support for their choice.  Most of the students gave responses I would expect: Ralph, because he tries to maintain order and common sense; Piggy, because he is logical and wants to be rescued; Simon, because he is the only one that really cares about others.

But a few students decided that Jack was the hero.  Jack, the homicidal, blood thirsty, self-obsessed, power hungry psychopath.  Remember him?  And their reason was because the fire he started is what got them rescued by the passing Navy ship.  In case you don't recall the novel, Ralph is the one who tries to convince everyone of the importance of keeping a signal fire lit.  Jack spends the novel focused on killing a pig; hunting becomes his monomania and he frequently dismisses the signal fire as unimportant.  Further, the "fire" he starts that gets the boys rescued begins as an attempt to smoke Ralph out of a thicket so he can be tortured and killed.  This fire then rages out of control, burning up the vegetation of the whole island, including the fruit trees that were the best food source.  The fact that a passing ship sees the smoke is the purest coincidence.

This, to me, is a classic example of poor thinking about ends and means.  And I began to wonder as I read those responses where this kind of thinking originated.  Why would a few of my students be quick to ignore Jack's murderous intentions just because his means had positive, yet entirely unintended, consequences?  I am no lawyer, but I would imagine that in any court of law Ralph would still be found guilty of attempted murder; his intent was clear.  Yet these students think that because he accidently attracted rescuers he must be the hero, even though he shows contempt for the idea of being rescued throughout the entire novel.

It has been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Chesterton counters that intentions for good are about the only thing the road to hell can't possibly be paved with.  But I do not quite know what to make of these teenagers who somehow manage to believe the road to heaven can be paved with murderous intentions.