In William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, the character of Jack represents the dark side of humanity. Unlike Ralph and Piggy, who deliberately seek to retain a sense of humanity, Jack and his followers quickly descend to the most vile, basic instincts of man. Jack becomes consumed with blood lust and leads his faction among the young boys in creating a violent tribal environment. When the effort to hunt down the pig and consume its meat becomes an obsession, he cries out in primal enthusiasm, "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." In Chapter 5, Ralph and Piggy discuss their concerns about Jack and how the latter holds dangerous grudges against them for their role in controlling the fire and for the simple fact of their refusal to join Jack's group. Jack, in short, is a bad boy. He is capable of anything, and the boys with Ralph know it.
So it is established that Jack represents the dark side of man. Does that equate him, a twelve-year-old boy stranded on an island, with the most reprehensible figure in history? Probably not. Jack's circumstances and his youth clearly separate him from an adult who knowingly conceptualizes a theory of racial superiority, who maneuvers himself to the top of a government, and who proceeds to carry out the greatest crime against humanity in history. To the extent that Jack can be considered a microcosm of Hitler, even that comparison is weak. Again, the circumstances surrounding Hitler's rise to power, in the most technologically advanced nation in Europe, and the circumstances surrounding Jack's descent into inhumanity are so disparate that, again, the comparison is seriously weak. Yes, Jack creates a dysfunctional and brutal environment; no, he is not Hitler.
The answer is B. Grateful. :)
