Chapter 1 "The Sound of the Shell"
A plane carrying a British school group has
crashed into a tropical island, presumably shot down as World War II wages on
in the outside world. Ralph,
one of the survivors, climbs with Piggy through the debris
and undergrowth onto the open beach. After a brief introduction, the two engage
in a discussion to determine what to do next. Ralph is, at first impression,
mild in responding to Piggy, who is overweight and bears a large set of spectacles on his face.
His personality appears to be paranoid and wimpy. He was raised by his aunt (whose name he
regularly invokes, "My auntie says that..." etc) and regularly speaks
of how he was the subject of ridicule in school where he earned his nickname,
saying with fear: "'I don't care what [you] call me so long as...[it's
not] what they used to call me in school....They used to call me Piggy!'"Chapter 1, pg. 11. He
talks incessantly to the point of annoyance, explaining some of his social
problems. In contrast, Ralph has a "golden body" and is in fact quite
handsome. His father is a commander in the navy and Ralph believes he will come
to their rescue when he gets leave.
The two walk a bit and come upon a lagoon in which Piggy
sees a conch;
Ralph retrieves it with use of a broken palm sapling and Piggy suddenly
proclaims that they can use it to call the other survivors by blowing through
it. Ralph blows through one end under Piggy's direction and, sure enough, one
by one, other children soon appear on the beach.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 1
First to come is Johnny, one of the group
of smaller children, which come to be known as the "littluns,".
Next are the twins, Sam and Eric
(Samneric) who speak almost in unison. Last to appear along the beach:
"[There was] something dark...fumbling along....The creature was a party
of boys, marching approximately in...two parallel lines...." Chapter 1, pg. 18. This is
the school's choir group with Jack Merridew, the
choirmaster, in lead. They appear in full uniform complete with black robes,
crosses and caps.
One of the choir, Simon, is faint and passes out. Jack relents only at the last
moment to allow them all to rest and break formation. Among this choir are the
boys, Roger
and Maurice.
With the assemblage of the boys complete, Ralph and Jack discuss their
situation. Rules are established and a "chief," is democratically
elected by all the boys, with a show of hands choosing Ralph. Jack however is
assigned the duty of leading the choir which serves the function of "an
army...or hunters." His cold, unwavering demeanor and talent for giving orders
suit him well for such a responsibility.
Topic Tracking:
Government 1
Topic Tracking: Religion 1
Ralph decides that it is necessary to venture out and
explore the island with a small group, choosing himself, Jack and Simon. Piggy
protests loudly but Ralph dismisses him saying, "'You're no good on a job
like this.'" Chapter 1, pg. 22
while Jacks tries to act menacing, driving his knife into a tree trunk.
Walking past the lagoon where the conch was found, they begin to climb the
large mountain,
which juts out from one side of the island near the coast. Rising through the
undergrowth and creepers
which wind their way all around the island, the three boys finally reach a
section partway up which is quite rocky with pink granite. Here they stop to
shove off a large boulder down the slope, which lands crashing far below with a
sound "like a bomb." Continuing upwards in ascent they reach the
mount's summit. They see the whole of their island and a coral reef partly
circling them out in the sea; also visible is the crash site of their plane and
the lagoon from where the had started walking. Jack and Ralph engage in most of
the dialogue while Simon stares on smiling until he mentions that he is hungry.
On this note they start back down. Along the way, Jack attempts to catch a
piglet they come upon tangled in the creepers. The piglet manages to escape
from Jack's hands after he hesitates to thrust the knife into its throat.
Afterwards he makes excuses and proclaims he will not fail again, even though
the three, as they head back to the others, shirk at the thought of the pig's
blood spilling out over his hands, preferring instead to eat fruit from the
trees lining their path.
Chapter 2 "Fire on the Mountain"
The following day, Ralph again uses the conch to
call an "assembly" on the beach. He and Jack report their findings
from the previous day's exploration. Jack reports the presence of pigs on the
island and how he and his hunters shall kill one next time for food without
hesitating--he drives his knife once more into the side of a tree to show his
conviction.
Concrete rules are established for the children by Ralph: no
one speaks to the assembly unless they are holding the conch which gives them
the floor. Even the arrangement of the boys on the beach reflects something of
a government meeting, carefully partitioned off into groups as "Ralph sat
on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the
choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before...before
him small children squatted in the grass." Chapter 2, pg. 30. Piggy
and Jack speak in succession (each in turn holding the conch), concerning their
ability to survive on the island until they are rescued. A small boy with a "mulberry-colored
birthmark" on his face is urged forward and proclaims his fear
of a "beastie" or "snake-thing" on the island which
"came after dark." Ralph assures everyone that there is no beastie and
Jack proclaims that if there were such a creature, he and his hunters would
kill it.
Topic Tracking:
Beast 1
Topic Tracking: Government 2
Ralph returns to the issue of how to accelerate their rescue
when the grown-ups come looking for them. He suggests they all build a signal
fire on top of the mountain he had climbed the day before. In a crowd, the
children all rush to the mountaintop and build a large pile of wood, before
realizing they have no means to light the fire. Only when he needs something
does Ralph actually bother to pay attention to Piggy: "'Have you got any
matches?'" Chapter 2, pg. 38.
Jack has the idea of using Piggy's glasses to light the fire, readily snatching
them off his face without asking permission. Ralph bends to light the fire
using the sun's light magnified by the glasses. After this succeeds, Ralph
hands back the glasses to Piggy and decides that it is necessary to modify his
plan, saying that they must make the smoke darker and people must be assigned
to keep the fire always burning so that it will never go out.
Showing respect for democracy and the conch, Jack says,
"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages.
We're English, and the English are best at everything.'" Chapter 2, pg. 40. He
volunteers his hunters as being in charge of tending the fire and keeping a
lookout for ships. Piggy cuts into the discussion with an odd laughter--looking
down, the signal fire has spread to a large section of the island, burning down
everything in its path. Piggy says, "'You got your small fire all
right.'" Chapter 2, pg. 41
Shelters, not fire, Piggy says, are the most important
things to create first. He reprimands them all for their impulsive behavior; he
reprimands them for taking his glasses and starting a fire without clearing the
area beforehand. Lastly, he notes missing from the group, as parts of the
island below them burns, the boy with the birthmark who worried about the
"beastie." This boy is never seen again throughout the rest of the
story and it is assumed he dies in this fire. All the boys, including Ralph,
are at last silent for a moment, their childish impulses put to rest.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 2
Chapter 3 "Huts on the Beach"
Jack is in the forest
tracking a pig; a spear is clutched in his hands and he is clothed only in a
tattered pair of underwear held on by his knife belt. Suddenly the
trampling of pigs' hooves is heard and he realizes once again that he has lost
his chance at catching one. Returning to the beach, he and Ralph begin to talk after
drinking from a coconut half-filled with water. While Jack has been out
hunting, Ralph and Simon
were the only two still working to construct the shelters after working for
a few days. Ralph complains to Jack about the importance of finishing the
shelters before anything else is undertaken, including hunting. "'We need
meat,'" Jack insists simply as he "tried to convey the compulsion to
track down and kill that was swallowing him up." Chapter 3, pg. 47
An important difference begins to show between these Ralph
and Jack, a distinct contrast of their personalities. Ralph speaks more of the
need to create shelters as a "sort of home" for the boys, especially
the littluns,
in order to maintain and recreate some link to the civilized existence they
once knew. Jack, however, shows a certain disinterest for recreating
civilization--he says he would like to catch a pig and kill it before they are
rescued, despite Ralph's continued insistence on having a fire on the mountain always burning as
a beacon to draw any ships to them.
Topic Tracking:
Government 3
Topic Tracking: Pig 2
Simon, usually a silent objective observer to these
discussions, interjects that the littluns are all afraid as if "the
beastie or snake-thing was real." He then disappears suddenly before Jack
and Ralph themselves go off to the water hole to bathe, assuming that Simon has
gone there as well. But he has not. Simon walks off mysteriously, alone. Around
him is a certain glow and radiance where he walks--he gives of himself without
greed or desire for power, unlike both Ralph and Jack: "Then, amid the
roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for [the littluns] the
fruit they could not reach...[and] passed them back down to the endless,
outstretched hands." Chapter 3, pg. 51.
This aura of comfort and security continues to spread wherever Simon walks and
nature seems to flourish everywhere around him. This is in sharp contrast to
the depictions of Jack, Ralph and Piggy, who vie for control
of the group's lifestyle on the island.
Simon is described as almost supernatural in force; even as
dusk and night approach, where he walks the plants he named candle-buds "opened
their wide white flowers....Their scent spilled out into the air and took
possession of the island." Chapter 3, pg. 52. Simon
is never afraid, and, though quiet and private, he is shown for the first time
to have a certain power and wisdom of his own.
Topic Tracking:
Beast 2
Topic Tracking: Religion 2
Chapter 4 "Painted Faces and Long
Hair"
Things continue to change and fragment amongst
the boys, especially between the two contrasting personalities of Jack and
Ralph. The littluns' nightmares continue to worsen. One day, three littluns, Percival, Johnny and Henry are building sand castles and digging.
Nearby in the trees, Roger
and Maurice
linger, watching them. Roger and Maurice, just relieved from tending to the
fire, emerge and kick aside the smaller boys' castles, laughing with pleasure.
Maurice wanders away while Roger remains to observe Percival crying. The crying
only gets worse when Johnny also, following the older boys' destructive
behavior, scatters sand into the air, and Percival leaves, crying, as does Henry.
Johnny is left with the castles all to himself after scaring them off. Roger
then follows Henry to the beach and proceeds to toss stones at him although
"[T]here was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into
which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old
life." Chapter 4, pg. 56.
Despite the lack of an adult authority, the old ways into which he had been
brought up still stayed with him, and with Jack also (Roger is somewhat of
Jack's second-in-command). These boundaries of their old lives continue to
deteriorate as the boys continue to remain on the island.
Jack appears suddenly, having smeared clay on his face like
war paint or a tribal mask and, joined by Samneric and Bill, proceeds to take
them all on a pig hunt. With the addition of the mask, Jack transforms from within
as well, already completing the move towards his primal impulses. "He
began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." Chapter 4, pg. 58.
At this time, Ralph and Piggy are swimming in the water
hole, when Piggy suggests the idea of creating a sundial to keep track of
time--like the shelters, Piggy strives to maintain a hold on the old world they
came from. Suddenly, Ralph sees a ship out in the water, though it passes the
island without pause. The signal fire on the mountain has gone dead, which
Ralph realizes after climbing to the mountain's summit.
Jack had called all of his hunters, whose duty it was to
tend to the fire, in order to hunt down and kill a pig at last. This time they
succeeded, returning shortly thereafter to dangle the gutted carcass from a
stake and chant "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." Jack
doesn't seem bothered that the fire was left untended and that the ship had
passed by--he sees the slaying of the pig as more important, their minds
"crowded with memories...of the knowledge...that they had outwitted a
living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long
satisfying drink." Chapter 4, pp.
63-4. Arguing, Piggy supports Ralph in reprimanding Jack for his
negligence; in turn Jack smacks Piggy in the face, breaking one of the lenses
of his glasses
as they tumble to the ground. Simon appears from nowhere to retrieve them for
him, acting kindly and selflessly as always.
Topic Tracking:
Religion 3
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 3
Topic Tracking: Pig 3
Following this incident, the mountain's fire is lit this
time not as a signal, but rather to roast the pig, which the children devour
hungrily despite Ralph's lingering anger. The friendship between Ralph and Jack
has officially "snapped and fastened elsewhere"--the
"elsewhere" referring to Piggy.
Sensing this divide, Jack's resentment for Piggy increases
as well, refusing to give him any meat until Simon gives up his own piece for
him, much to Jack's frustration. He tosses a huge piece to Simon again to
replace the one he had given up declaring, "'Eat! Damn you!'" His
language continues to become more frantic: "'I painted my face--I stole
up. Now you eat--all of you--and I---'" Chapter 4, pg. 67. As the
chapter closes, the hunters retell the story of killing the pig with pleasure,
going to the extreme of reenacting it in a strange ritual: Maurice taking on
the part of the pig, surrounded by the other hunters who chant again:
"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in." Ralph, gazing upon all
of this, is greatly worried. Abruptly he announces, "I'm calling an
assembly" and proceeds down to the platform to blow the conch with nothing
else said. The rift between these two very different leaders becomes more
defined than ever at this point. Only trouble and disagreement follow.
Topic Tracking:
Government 5
Topic Tracking: Religion 4
Topic Tracking: Pig 4
Chapter 5 "Beast from Water"
Ralph has called an
emergency assembly
by blowing the conch
in order to discuss the current crisis he sees afflicting the group. This is
the latest a meeting has been held so far--it is already after nightfall. At
last, Ralph recognizes and adopts Piggy's pattern of
thinking, respecting him now as an equal or even as a superior, contrary to his
previous impressions. "Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains.
Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in
another." Chapter 5, pg. 71.
Ralph lapses into a long serious monologue intended to convey his intense
worries and fears about what was happening to the group's dynamics. The coconut
shells laid out to be drunk from are no longer filled; the shelters were finished by
himself and Simon
alone; the assigned place for lavatory use near a certain area of rocks is no
longer used and the children defecate just about anywhere including near the
fruit trees they eat from. He says again that the signal fire must stay lit and
that fire shall burn only on the mountain, recalling
Piggy's earlier reprimand when part of the island had been burnt due to their
carelessness. The signal fire takes priority over the hunting and killing pigs,
he says. Many of the children laugh, hardly taking his words to heart.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 4
However, the boys quickly become solemn when talk of the
beast is brought up again. One littlun, Phil, speaks of nightmares
he has of "something big and horrid" in the trees. As it turns out,
he had been walking in his sleep in the woods and the creature moving was
actually Simon,
mistaken to be the beast. Percival Werthys
Madison speaks next declaring that the beast comes out of the sea,
quickly followed by more assurance not to worry from Ralph and Jack as well. Piggy even
chimes in, "'Life...is scientific....I know there isn't no beast...but I
know there isn't no fear, either....Unless we get frightened of people.'" Chapter 5, pg. 76. Here is
the first suggestion that the presence of the beast as is derived from fear
within their own minds. Once more Piggy's insight gives a certain clarity to
the group's thoughts. Jack gives his bit next saying, "'[F]ear can't hurt
you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this
island....Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of
cry-babies!'" Chapter 5, pg. 75.
His coldness and insensitivity have become even more intense after donning his
painted tribal mask.
Simon ends the beast discussion in an attempt to offer what
he felt was an explanation: "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only
us.'" Chapter 5, pg. 80.
This again hits closer to home than even Piggy's comment, about the fear and
paranoia they boys have for each other. Taking it one step further, instead of
each other person becoming a beast and an object to be potentially feared,
Simon suggests that they are themselves the beast rather than it being everyone
else. It is not without but a thing from within. Regretfully, no one
understands him and his attempt at explaining this is a failure.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 5
Topic Tracking: Beast 3
Topic Tracking: Religion 5
Focused discussion within the assembly at this point breaks
down and Ralph is at a loss as the boys talk about the beast of the island.
Jack talks out of turn, declaring now that if there is a beast he and his
hunters shall track it down and kill it. Ralph realizes at last how much
"[t]he world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping
away." Chapter 5, pg. 82.
With all the boys dispersing without warning, he is unable to act. Anarchy and
chaos have come to dominate the assembly and the democracy he had tried so hard
to establish. Only Simon and Piggy remain to comfort him. He wishes to resign
his post as chief and give up but Piggy fears that without Ralph in power as
his protector, Jack will harm him. Simon too blurts out another random comment
as is his nature, simply: "Go on being chief." The three then try to
imagine what grown-ups would do in their position, knowing that they would
conduct themselves according to good standards and what is proper. Ralph
laments on how "something grown-up" should be sent to them as a sign,
to give them hope.
Chapter 6 "Beast from Air"
Little does Ralph know that his wish for
"something grown-up" is granted that same night, though not exactly
in the way he intended. As the boys sleep that night a battle between two
planes wages on in the air above the island--one of the planes is destroyed.
Drifting down to the island after the explosion is the lifeless body of its
pilot, bound tightly in a pilot suit and parachute cables. The chute carries
the body to rest at the summit of the mountain where their signal fire burns. The twins Sam and Eric,
are tending to the fire as the pilot's body slowly shifts
around as the wind courses through the parachute, moving the lifeless body like
a puppet with strings, lifting its head to rise and fall. The twins speak as
one person, the one finishing the other's sentence, "Sam - give us
--" one begins, "--tinder wood," the other finishes. As they go
off to find wood, they see the dead pilot and, mistaking the corpse for the
beast, they flee back down to the beach to awaken Ralph. Ralph is in the midst
of a comfortable dream, as "Even the sounds of nightmare from the other
shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where came from, feeding the
ponies with sugar over the garden wall." Chapter 6, pg. 89. He
dreams of his own home. However, Ralph is jarred awake to hear the beast story
from the twins. Eric's face, cut by creepers as he had fled down the mountain,
is thought to be further evidence of an attack by the "beast."
Another assembly is called by Ralph as day breaks and again
there is discussion and arguing among all the boys and escalating tension
between Jack and Ralph. At last a group is sent off, led by Jack and Ralph, in
order to track the beast, each with his own reason: Jack, to kill and hunt the
beast, and Ralp,h to rekindle the signal fire to preserve hope for a rescue.
They decide to explore a section of island they had not been to yet, leaving
Piggy behind as before to watch over the littluns. In setting out, Simon thinks
to himself of the beast as only "the picture of a human at once heroic and
sick....Other people could stand up and speak to an assembly...without...the
pressure of personality; could say what they would as though they were speaking
to only one person." Chapter 6, pg. 93.
He recalls his earlier inability to express what he knew about the nature of
the beast as he perceived it. In attempting to warn the other children earlier
he stuttered and was met only with ridicule, though he seems perhaps to be the
most insightful of them all.
Jack sees a pink rock cliff he describes as a
"castle", and they decide to try this as a possible location for the
beast's hideout. He cries excitedly, forgetting their mission, "'What a
place for a fort!'" as Ralph urges them to move on for the sake of
rekindling the signal fire on the mountain. The others pay Ralph little mind,
including Jack. As if in another world, they roll rocks down the cliff face in
glee; one large boulder Jack even fantasizes about using as a catapault-type
weapon, "'Shove a palm trunk under that and if an enemy came....'"Chapter 6, pg. 96. Finally
Ralph, becomes extremely agitated, punches a rock and orders them harshly,
"'I'm chief. We've got to make certain [that there is no beast]....There's
no signal showing [on the mountain]. There may be a ship out there.'" Chapter 6, pg. 98.
Increasingly, Ralph and Jack pursue their own desires: Jack
wishing to destroy and hunt; Ralph wishing to be rescued, carried back to his
home and father and the ponies of which he dreams. Despite their opposite
ideals and patterns of behavior, they are similar in personality and motive.
Both are dreamers and seem to be distant from the true needs of those they
govern; when the littluns have nightmares, Ralph does not care for them but
rather is quite selfish, dreaming happy thoughts of home. Jack hardly bothers
with the littuns either, referring to them frequently as "crybabies."
In any case, once more Jack relents and the group continues on their way,
leaving their new-found fortress
behind, but surely not forgotten.
Chapter 7 "Shadows and Tall Trees"
The boys, led by Jack and Ralph, continue their
search for the beast sighted by Samneric on the mountain,
walking along the pig-run.
Ralph reminisces again for his old life, when he was clean and had a proper
haircut; where there were ponies back home and books; where he ate cornflakes
with sugar, not pig and fruit. He escapes to his thoughts, into the reflection
of all the luxuries he is now forced to live without. Comfort comes from Simon who assures him
simply, as if reading his thoughts, "'You'll get back to where you came
from.'" Chapter 7, pg. 100.
After Roger
traces out fresh pig droppings on the ground, Jack convinces Ralph to allow
them to hunt as they continue along; he agrees. A boar is soon pursued by all
of the boys, including Ralph, who has sticks it with a spear as it makes its
escape. In the chase, Jack's arm has been cut by the pig's tusks. Even though
the prey has gotten away, the boys relive the thrill of hunting by encircling Robert as if he were the
pig, grabbing and pulling at him in a circle, chanting yet again: "'Kill
the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!'" Chapter 7, pg. 104 to one
another. Even Ralph is compelled to join them, "fighting to get
near....The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7, pg. 104.
Just as earlier rules were established to create Ralph's
society with the assembly
and conch,
so now does this ritual cause the hunters to visualize a new type of society,
with this ritual improved by "a fire [and]...a drum...to keep time."
Jack adds that someone could dress up like the pig and the others would reenact
the battle to slay it. The focus of the group drifts further from that
envisioned by Ralph, partly due to his own participation in the hunter's
activities. Even he is beginning to lose sight of his purpose by hunting the
pig. Finally he remembers his purpose, as if emerging from a trance, and urges
them to rekindle the signal fire, after all of their talk of pig rituals and
dancing.
Topic Tracking: Pig
5
Topic Tracking: Religion 7
Topic Tracking: Government 8
Simon volunteers to go back to the camp to check up on Piggy and the littluns. Without warning,
he disappears into the forest. The rest go on along the pig-run following at
last to the mountain where Samneric saw the "beast." Night has fallen
and as they climb ash blows through their eyes and hair, remnants of the blaze
which was burnt across the island their first night there. Jack continues to
cajole Ralph for being so concerned about Piggy, whom Jack has resented from
the beginning, perhaps viewing Ralph's concern as betrayal to him.
Sarcastically he says, "'We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, mustn't
we?'" Chapter 7, pg. 106.
Ralph's talent as a leader is also called into question here with the
narrator's comment: "Ralph...would treat the day's decisions as though he
were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good
chess player." Chapter 7, pg. 106.
Rather than an ideal leader, Ralph is shown here to be quite the opposite. This
is evidenced in his inconsistent behavior, such as that seen earlier when he
loses sight of his own mission and allows Jack to take control of the group.
At last, only three go on to reach the summit of the
mountain: Roger, Ralph and Jack; the others have stayed behind because of fear.
There they see the same bowed figure of the lifeless pilot, swaying in the wind
before them. Without warning they cast down their spears and all three run
madly back to the security of the beach where the other children are waiting.
Topic Tracking:
Government 9
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 6
Chapter 8 "Gift for the Darkness"
Upon returning to the beach, Piggy listens in
disbelief to Jack and Ralph, who both say they had seen the beast with their
own eyes--Ralph declares that it "had teeth and big black eyes." With
the sun rising, for the third day in a row an assembly is called with a blow of
the conch. It is to be the last of its kind that includes the entire group. The
tension between Jack and Ralph reaches a climax with Ralph insulting Jack's
hunters by calling them "boys with sticks." Jack counters by stating
that Ralph is a coward who is now "like Piggy....He says things like Piggy.
He isn't a proper chief.'" Chapter 8, pg. 115.
At this, Jack requests a vote from the group to remove Ralph
from power. No one raises their hands and so, lacking support for the motion,
he abruptly declares his defection from Ralph's society. Here is the turning
point as the group officially splits, although signs of rising tensions between
the two have been evident throughout. Jack disappears, inviting all who want to
be a hunter to join his new "society".
Topic Tracking:
Government 10
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 7
Ralph, feeling his control slip away, turns increasingly to
Piggy for support. Simon urges them all to climb the mountain, though his
advice is not taken seriously. Instead, Piggy has the idea of building the
signal fire on the beach near the shelters. He is in good
spirits at the departure of Jack, whom he has always feared as a physical
threat (for it was Jack who broke his glasses after slapping his face) and he
was "so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he
helped to fetch wood." Chapter 8, pg. 118.
It is important to note an almost parasitic relationship
which forms between these two; as Ralph learns to think and intellectualize
more and more, so too does Piggy learn increasingly to be more aggressive and
active in deeds like Ralph. His language becomes less and less an annoyance.
Piggy's aunt,
whom he would talk endlessly about like a child at the opening of the book, is
no longer mentioned at all. Indeed, the boys grow up by learning from one
another. To continue to rely on nonexistent adults to guide them would be
insensible, so now they rely on themselves for survival, and become
responsible.
Among the boys who defect to Jack's society are Bill, Maurice, Roger and others.
Even Simon disappears from Ralph's group, though for other reasons--presumably
to climb the mountain alone. Samneric, Ralph and Piggy thus happily sit on the
beach feasting for the moment on a mountain of fruit, trying to forget their
worries.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 8
Meanwhile, Jack and his hunters slay a female sow disturbed
while nursing her piglets. The method in which she is slain is almost violently
sexual in nature, as Roger impales her "'Right up her ass!'" Chapter 8, pg. 123 with a
spear while Jack cuts her throat, wiping the blood from his hands onto
Maurice's cheeks with laughter, as if it were only fingerpaint. In a way, the
pig is raped by the boys and defiled, unlike the other pig slayings. Here a
boundary has been crossed. It would seem that not only are Ralph and Piggy
maturing, but Jack and his hunters are growing up as well, although in a darker
way. Roger is ordered to "sharpen a
stick at both ends". The sow's head is cut off entirely and
left to drip blood and guts onto the ground. "'This head is for the beast.
It's a gift.'" Chapter 8, pg. 124
Jack declares boldly, lodging one end of the stick into the ground and placing
the sow's head on the other. Picking up the remaining carcass, the boys move
onward from the scene.
Topic Tracking:
Pig 6
Topic Tracking: Beast 5
The focus returns to Piggy and Ralph, tending the fire on
the beach. Piggy blames Jack for the group's problems and Ralph agrees. No
longer a steadfast leader with his decreased following, Ralph is biased and
shows disdain for Jack, blaming him for everything that has gone wrong on the
island. As Simon pointed out earlier, the beast which fills the boys with such
fear is actually a figment in their minds, a piece within themselves. There is
further discussion of Samneric doing everything together such as tending the
fire, in one turn. Thinking as always in terms of logic, Piggy disagrees with
this arrangement suggesting they take separate turns at the fire. Ralph leans
ever-increasingly upon Piggy for support, needing to be reminded about the need
for the signal fire, even after he was the one who insisted it be kept burning
in the beginning.
Abruptly, Jack's hunters burst in upon them, grabbing
half-burning branches to light their own pig-roasting fire. All are invited to
attend Jack's little "party" to eat more meat. The littluns, Samneric
and the rest sit in expectation, even as the sky begins to grow dark with
clouds.
Simon sits down to rest near the decapitated sow's head in
the forest. His curiousity gets the better of him and he decides to wait to see
if a beast will actually come for its gift. Flies have begun to swarm around
its blood and guts at the base of the stick and they begin to attack Simon as
well, and "[Simon's] eyes were half-closed as though he were imitating the
obscene thing on the stick." Chapter 8, pg. 130.
Suddenly a voice designated only as The Lord of the Flies
speaks from nowhere and mocks him, saying "'You knew, didn't you? I'm part
of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what
they are?'" Chapter 8, pg. 130.
The pig's skull is unmoving; the voice comes from inside Simon. As he had
stated earlier, the beast is a part of all of them, and so he confronts the beast
within himself. The ugly beast externalized upon the stake, that pig's head
buzzing with flies, suddenly mirrors Simon, eyes half closed and himself
buzzing with flies as well. The outside and inside are at this moment one and
the same. The beast then begins to threaten him saying, "'You're not
wanted....on this island!... So don't try [to take] it on...or else....we shall
do you. See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and
Ralph.'" Chapter 8, pg. 131.
If Simon attempts again to explain to all of the children that there is really
no beast but that which is in themselves, he is warned that he shall be thus
killed not only by Jack but by Ralph and Piggy too, for the beast, the voice
says, is in all of them. With these words spoken from within, Simon falls
unconsciousness after being swallowed by "a vast mouth [with] blackness
within." (pg. 131)
Topic Tracking:
Religion 8
Topic Tracking: Beast 6
Chapter 9 "A View to a Death"
Simon awakens from his
slumber after being confronted by the beast within, dubbed The Lord of the Flies.
Although Simon's face is encrusted with dried blood from the many times they
have stung him, the flies which were buzzing around him have returned to the
stinking pig's head on the stake. Continuing up the mountain he alone has the
will to actually stop at the sight of the bulging body all the others had
feared and fled from--he sees "the beast" for what it really is, not
a beast at all but simply a pitiful figure, a "poor broken thing,"
which, though the pilot's
flesh rots, is still held together by a mass of rubber cords and cloth.
Staggering now from his ordeal with the Lord of the Flies, he sees in the
distance the pig-roasting fire on the beach. Assuming this is where he'll find
the rest of the boys, he descends to warn them there is no beast on the
mountain.
Topic Tracking:
Religion 9
Topic Tracking: Beast 7
Meanwhile, Ralph leaves to go to Jack's pig roast at Piggy's insistence, who
wishes to satisfy his own rumbling stomach. It is the sow whose head was cut off
and given as a gift for the beast that will be devoured here. Even as Piggy
fears and hates Jack he is compelled to go to him once again, bearing the first
signs of inconsistency in his behavior as well. Even after Jack's hunters stole
fire from them earlier to set the blaze for this feast, even as Jack has
bluntly rejected Ralph's society and rules, the two still both agree to go.
Upon arriving, there is a massive feast. Ralph and Piggy eat and then, after
showing up for a free meal, Ralph attempts to call yet another assembly, for he has
brought the sacred conch
to the feast. He is laughed at and mocked by all of the boys. Without warning
it begins to rain furiously and Ralph reprimands them for not having shelters to protect them
from the storm.
However, Jack excitedly begins again the ritual dance
enacted earlier, repeating the chant, "'Kill the beast! Cut his throat!
Spill his blood!'" Chapter 9, pg. 138.
The word "pig" sung in their earlier chant has been replaced with
"beast" and it is this creature which Roger now mimics,
surrounded by all the other boys who pretend to attack him. Ralph and even
Piggy now take part as well. They "found themselves eager to take a place
in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown
backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror [of the makeshift beast] and made
it governable." Chapter 9, pg. 138.
Yet again Ralph and Piggy have forgotten the signal fire, the shelters and all
of the things to which they had clung and propelled them on thus far. Like
Jack, they begin to forget their civilized roots and are consumed by this
strange new power.
Topic Tracking:
Government 11
Topic Tracking: Pig 7
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 9
As the pace grows more and more frantic and the thunderstorm
above rises in fury, Simon suddenly appears from the forest and breaks through
their circle, trying to warn and comfort them not to be afraid, that he has
seen the beast and it is just a dead rotting body. Only he seems to remember
what matters to them, trying as always to help in the midst of crisis. However,
his voice is drowned out by their chanting and, knocked to the ground, Simon is
stabbed by their spears, mistaken for the beast, as he was earlier by one of
the sleepwalking littluns. The events are described almost as if the boys were
animals or beasts themselves: "There were no words, and no movements but
the tearing of teeth and claws." Chapter 9, pg. 139
At last they back off and see Simon's dead body in the sand,
recognizing who he is. Simultaneously the wind breaks the pilot's body free
from the mountaintop, dragging it down through the circle of boys on the beach
and out to sea, scattering them in all directions, driven by fear. The wind
carried it out over the reef and out to sea. Shortly after, with the rain
stopped, the night stars reflect down into the sea, and "The water rose
farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek
silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble." Chapter 9, pg. 140. In all
of the confusion, the one boy who knew and truly saw things as they were was
killed, as he had been warned would happen by The Lord of the Flies if he dared
to try to warn them and not conform to his inner, primitive instincts. Simon
had resisted even as all the others were consumed, including Ralph and Piggy
who danced and chanted with the others and had joined in killing him.
For the last time, as in past days when he would attempt to
convey his wisdom to the assembly, Simon and his words were ignored. His body
is swept out to the ocean after the dead pilot's: "[S]urrounded by a
fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the
steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open
sea." Chapter 9, pg. 140.
Topic Tracking:
Beast 8
Topic Tracking: Religion 10
Chapter 10 "The Shell and the Glasses"
Shortly thereafter, Ralph and Piggy converse on
the beach. Only two and Samneric, aside from some littluns, remain from the
original group. Even after what has happened to Simon, all but these four have
defected to Jack's tribe. They express guilt about the murder of Simon, having
all taken part in it. "'It was an accident,'" Piggy insists and he
tells Ralph to hide the fact that they were involved. "'We was on the
outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.'" Chapter 10, pg. 143.
Samneric share this sentiment as well and it remains a topic not discussed.
They want to forget it happened though the deep regret and sadness lingers over
them all.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 10
In the society Jack has created, the tribe, Jack's hunters
obey him with a strict obedience and reverence, the kind which was never paid
to Ralph. Jack has inhabited the Castle Rock with all of
those under his lead. Robert
is placed at the entrance like a sentinel. Everyone admires Jack's talent,
dubbing him a "proper chief" in contrast to their perceptions of
Ralph, who is viewed as a failure for his dependence on Piggy. Jack's orders
come from no one else but himself. The boys are all painted over now, carrying
spears and looking tribal; their assimilation by Jack has been completed. At a
meeting of his "tribe," Jack declares that they shall soon hunt
again. The issue of Simon is raised by these boys and Jack declares that the
beast came in the form of Simon "disguised." It takes on a
supernatural presence over them, now dubbed as a thing which cannot be killed.
Jack warns them all, "'We'd better keep on the right side of [the
beast]....You can't tell what he might do.'" Chapter 10, pg. 146. Here
one finds the source of the power he holds over the boys: where Ralph attempted
to tap into their common sense and intuition; Jack, in contrast, taps into
their fears. Ralph's assembly has morphed into Jack's tribe.
Jack plans to attack Ralph that night with Maurice and Roger to steal
Piggy's glasses--the
one item from the civilized world they need in order to start their cooking
fires.
Ralph and Piggy continue to decline in function. They decide
to let the signal fire stop burning for the night, afraid to go into the woods
to gather wood. Ralph dreams now not of the sweet ponies at his home in Devon,
England, deeming them to be too savage. Wishing to escape from the savagery, as
"the attraction of wildness had gone" he thinks now of "What
could be safer than the bus center with its lamps and wheels?" Chapter 10, pg. 150. The
solution and elimination of the primitive, of the beast and wildness in Ralph's
mind, is technology and civilization. Nearby, as Ralph thinks of escaping this
wildness, Samneric, usually so collected and speaking as one, are fighting one
another, "locked in an embrace." Broken into two pieces, it is almost
as if they are reflecting the inner battle in Ralph's mind between the savage
and the civilized worlds.
Suddenly, the sleeping boys are attacked by Jack, Maurice
and Roger. Piggy thinks that the hunters are really the beast descending upon
them and shouts: "'It's come...It's real!'" Chapter 10, pg. 151 In the
ensuing scuffle, Piggy's glasses are stolen. Assuming naively that the tribe
has come for the conch, Ralph notices that it hasn't even been touched--the
conch and assembly were part of Ralph's old world and have no value or worth in
the new world Jack has created for the boys at Castle Rock. It is only the fire
which they need for their rituals and pig roasting.
Piggy is now completely helpless in his blindness. Ralph,
who has been relying on Piggy for advice and guidance, now sees his friend
struck down, as powerless as himself. With this final strike, Jack has won the
war, leaving Ralph and Piggy with nothing of value.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 11
Topic Tracking: Government 12
Topic Tracking: Beast 10
Chapter 11 "Castle Rock"
After deciding to go to sleep without tending to
the fire, Ralph,
nursing his swollen cheek from the previous night's attack in which Piggy's glasses were stolen,
awakens at dawn and begins blowing into the cold embers, hoping that some spark
is still burning. However the result is only to have ash blown into his eyes,
mirroring the incident on the mountain earlier in which he, Jack and Roger investigated the
presence of the beast.
Piggy urges him to call yet another assembly even though
nobody is left except for Samneric.
Ralph, though doubtful as to the necessity of this, at last agrees and blows
hard into the conch.
The four of them talk about how all of the problems of the island are to be
blamed on Jack. Ralph insists that he would have given Jack fire to use if he
had only asked rather than stealing the glasses; their not getting rescued due
to the lack of a signal fire is blamed on Jack, as is the murder of Simon, in which the four
of them had taken part as well.
Piggy dismisses all of this, saying: "'This is 'jus
talk....I want my glasses.'" Chapter 11, pg. 155. He,
as always, propels Ralph (who is described earlier as comparable to "a
chess player") into action. Ralph speaks about going up to the Castle Rock where Jack has
established the base for his tribe: "'[We should be] looking like we used
to, washed and hair brushed -- after all we aren't savages really....'" Chapter 11, pg. 155. Here
he clings again to the old nostalgia of his dreams and his yearning for home
and things civilized. Though this is a symbolic gesture for their adherence to
civilized behaviors, Piggy dismisses it all, seizing up the conch in order to
speak, saying he is going to go up the mountain, without a spear, and walk
right up to Jack and demand that his glasses back. Piggy's old timidity has
completely left, as he speaks without fear. As he talks, "[a] single drop
of water that had escaped Piggy's fingers now flashed on the delicate curve [of
the shell] like a star." Chapter 11, pg. 156. The
mention of a star here recalls the description of stars earlier, when they
reflected off the dead body of Simon as it was swept out into the ocean. The
remaining four boys leave to visit Castle Rock, on a mission to retrieve
Piggy's glasses.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 12
As the boys approach, the thin line of a cooking fire is
visible overhead and Roger stops them at the entrance. Ralph ignores his
command to turn back and declares that once more he is calling an assembly,
much in contrast to his earlier doubts on the beach about the futility of such
action. Roger begins tossing rocks at Samneric, "aiming to miss" just
as he had done with Percival,
Johnny and Henry when they were
building sand castles on the beach. Now at Castle Rock, this activity is
repeated again. Jack is suddenly seen emerging from the forest with two other
hunters, all three "masked in black and green." Chapter 11, pg. 160. Just
returning from the hunt, "Behind them on the grass the headless and
paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it." Chapter 11, pg. 160
Upon seeing this, Piggy begins to yell nervously. Jack and
Ralph enter an argument about Piggy's glasses and the two begin to fight,
swinging spears at one another, their language mirroring each anothers, the one
saying, "Come on then" and the other saying, "Come on" and
later, "You come on and see what you get" responded by, "You
come on." They fight alike and act alike. Their struggle and scuffle is
much akin to that small incident of the twins, Samneric, fighting earlier.
Piggy attempts to maintain Ralph's focus and, fearing for his own safety,
shouts out: "'Ralph -- remember what we came for. The fire. My
specs.'" Chapter 11, pg.
161 and once more Ralph attempts to regain his senses. Caught
between these two elements, Piggy and his logic versus Jack and his savagery,
Ralph struggles to stop fighting and begins again with his old jargon, talking
about the need for a signal fire in order to be rescued.
Topic Tracking:
Government 13
Topic Tracking: Pig 8
Samneric are suddenly seized at Jack's command by his
hunters and "Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization, 'Oh, I
say!' '-honestly!'" Chapter 11, pg.
163. Here the two twins are both taken prisoner by the savages. Now
Ralph screams out, calling out to Jack: "'You're a beast and a swine and a
bloody, bloody thief!'" Chapter 11, pg. 163. As
the two prepare to fight again, Piggy steps in suddenly in one last attempt to
restore reason to the group, holding the conch aloft. "Let me speak...I
got the conch," he says and even as he begins his monologue, Roger has
already begun dropping stones upon him--this time not aiming to miss. "'Which
is better--to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like
Ralph is....Which is better--to have laws and agree, or to hunt and
kill?'" Chapter 11, pg.
164. Now, rather than speaking through Ralph as he has done thus
far, Piggy himself speaks and attempts to lead. However, at this moment Roger
presses down on a lever set in place beneath a large boulder and it falls
slowly--"[t]he rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the
conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Chapter 11, pg. 164.
"Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been
killed." Chapter 11, pg.
165. After he falls far down to the beach his dead body, as with the
body of Simon, is sucked out to sea by the waves.
Events following occur very quickly, as Ralph attempts to
speak with no sound coming out. Jack hurls a spear which catches him in the
ribs and bounces off. Boundaries have been crossed as now it is a boy not a pig
which is attacked by spears. Ralph takes off running into the forest, bounding
over the headless sow's body still lying on the ground. Jack orders everyone
back to their fort, to Castle Rock, and he draws near to Samneric, still tied
up, demanding to know why they had resisted joining his tribe. Silently, Roger
approaches the twins edging past Jack, "as one wielding a nameless
authority." Chapter 11, pg.
166. They are about to be tortured by Roger's hands, the very same
hands which had only just murdered Piggy moments before.
Topic Tracking:
Intellectual 13
Topic Tracking: Beast 11
Topic Tracking: Pig 9
Chapter 12 "Cry of the Hunters
Ralph at last settles in an area of forest which
he thinks he is safe, nursing the wounds and scratches from the trees which now
cover his body. Intense description is now given to his senses, what he hears
and sees. He attempts to rationalize, wondering what shall happen next,
thinking for a fleeting moment that they would leave him alone. The old
idealism continues to show through, going so far as allowing him to think about
the murder of Piggy: "'They're not as bad as that. It was an
accident.'" Chapter 12, pg.
168 He at last realizes this is an impossibility, for "[t]hen
there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore
would never let him alone...." Chapter 12, pg. 168 The
two appear to be very much the same in character as described by their actions,
having mirrored one another when engaged in battle.
Arriving at some fruit trees, Ralph feasts hungrily. Some littluns flee screaming
when they see his unsightly appearance. He then comes across the same clearing
where Simon had confronted The Lord of the
Flies, where still stands the pig's head on the stick. Now only a
hairless skull remains--all flesh has been consumed by the hundreds of flies
which were surrounding it earlier. Punching the skull from fear, Ralph takes up
the stick which had held it. The skull, now split into two pieces, continues to
grin up at the sky. Continuing onwards in the dark of night, he nears Castle
Rock again where Samneric are now described, like all the rest of the boys, as
"savages." Behind the outline of these two, "A star
appeared...and was momentarily eclipsed by some movement." Chapter 12, pg. 170. The
presence of the star recalls again the scene of Simon's dead body and the
description of the drop of water on the conch, shortly before the death of
Piggy. Now a star is described, not only "covered" but undergoing an
"eclipse," the covering of one heavenly body over another.
Ralph approaches and calls out to his two old friends,
Samneric, but they usher him away out of fear, at first "gibbering"
incoherently and then explaining that the hunters had hurt them. They warn
Ralph that when the morning came, the hunters would all be hunting Ralph and
how they had "'to be careful and throw...spears like at a pig.'" Chapter 12, pg. 172. The
boy Ralph is viewed by the tribe the same as a pig--a thing to be hunted. The
twins warn him that Roger had "sharpened a stick at both ends,"
implying that Ralph's head would also sit upon a stake as an offering to the
beast. After giving Ralph a chunk of meat, Ralph leave and returns to hiding in
order to sleep, reverting briefly to his old nostalgia, even now wishing for
his home with its civilized things like "a bed and sheets." As he
closes his eyes, cries of pain from Samneric are heard.
Ralph awakens at dawn to the sound of a noise nearby,
stirring him. Rising, he enters the thicket in which the boulder which had been
used to murder Piggy had passed through, observing the damage. Next there is
the commotion of Jack speaking to one of the twins, saying "Are you sure?"
implying that his hiding place had been disclosed by them. As he sits quietly
listening and seeing everything around him, enormous boulders begin to roll
past, tossed from Castle Rock; Ralph thinks of how one rock that remains there
is "half as big as a cottage, big as a car, a tank." Chapter 12, pg. 176.
Savages begin to fan out all around Ralph's hiding place and finally, with one
directly adjacent he stabs his spear hard into its leg, twisting it. "A
babble of voices" is heard and, still crouched in his hiding place, Ralph
"showed his teeth at the wall of branches....snarled a little, and
waited." Chapter 12, pg.
177. Ralph himself begins to act like a savage. Smoke begins to fill
the area and he, realizing that they have set the entire island aflame to drive
him out into the open, ponders what to do next. This brings up the fire of the
first night, when they set the island aflame after lighting a signal fire for
the first time--what was begun then is now nearing its end.
Viewing the scene, the savages are all masked in different
colors. This is made quite clear in the description of one in "brown,
black, and red" and another "striped red and white" at which
"Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and
the savage doubled up." Chapter 12, pp. 177-8.
Even as he thinks of these enemies as savages, he himself seems to have become
consumed in the same aggression and desire to hurt others which they carry.
Hiding again under a bush and still being hunted, he ponders what to do next,
urging himself to think. "What was the sensible thing to do? There was no
Piggy to talk sense." Chapter 12, pg. 179.
Without Piggy who had urged him along thus far and maintained his focus, Ralph
is lost. At last he compares his thoughts to those of a pig, wondering "if
a pig would agree."
Topic Tracking:
Government 14
Topic Tracking: Pig 11
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 13
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 14
Lamenting vainly that the fire has begun to burn the fruit
trees, he worries still about "[w]hat would they eat tomorrow?" He
compares his movement to an animal again, "[c]ouldn't a fire outrun a
galloping horse?" Chapter 12, pg.
180. His thoughts begin to race with a mirage of painted faces
around him, all "savages" and Simon's old words of comfort return,
"You'll get back." Chapter 12, pg. 181. Now
screaming again and "foaming" he attacks again and breaking into a
full sprint he runs out, tailed by all of the hunters now screaming and
shouting as all around him the fire burns, consuming everything. Finally
nearing the beach, "[h]e saw a shelter burst into flames
and the fire flapped at his right shoulder...." Chapter 12, pg. 182.
Stumbling out of the forest and into the sand, ending at
last with no place left to run--stuck against the water, he falls down,
covering his face with his arms in a last defensive cry for mercy, preparing
for the approach of the savages. Rising to his feet, he looks up at the sight
of a grown-up, a naval officer in full dress uniform. Behind him a cutter sits
on the beach "her bow hauled up and held by two ratings. In the
stern-sheets another rating held a sub-machine gun." Chapter 12, pg. 182. The
officer asks Ralph if there are grown-ups with him; as if in a daze he shakes
his head. Running up behind Ralph come all of the other "savages" now
reduced to what they are: "a semi-circle of little boys, their bodies
streaked with colored clay, sharp sticks in their hands...." Chapter 12, pg. 182-3.
They no longer hunters but boys; they wear not elaborate paint but clay; they
carry not spears but sticks. Behind them, the island continues to be consumed
by flame, burning at last the coconut trees bordering the beach.
Topic Tracking:
Beast 12
Topic Tracking: Religion 11
Claiming that the smoke from the huge blaze on the island,
set by Jack's hunters, had drawn them there, the officer asks Ralph if they
were having some sort of "war" to which he responds "yes"
and states that two had already been killed. Percival walks up to introduce
himself as he had before with full name and address, but now he stops only
after "I'm--, I'm--" for he has forgotten his identity. After Ralph
declares he is the boss there, the officer expresses disappointment at the
state they had gotten themselves into saying, "'I should have thought that
a pack of British boys...would have been able to put up a better show than
that....'" Chapter 12, pg.
184. Ralph struggles for an answer and the officer, attempting to be
helpful, replies that it must have been an adventure for them, "Like the
Coral Island." This comparison was used at the book's onset in expressing
the boys' original excitement of being stranded on a tropical island.
Thinking back to this, and recalling all that had happened
with the murders and breakdown of the society he had tried so hard to maintain
until their rescue, Ralph begins to cry; the others all join him and the sobs
rise up, overwhelming the officer who turns his back to glance at the naval cruiser
out in the water. No longer savages, the arrival of a grown-up and
"civilization" turns them from savages back to what they were in the
beginning--a group of lost boys. "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the
darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend
called Piggy." Chapter 12, pg.
184 Piggy's name, the voice of reason, is invoked here one last
time, counterbalanced by the mention of "the darkness of man's
heart." Everything returns to what it was and, at last, the boys are
rescued by naval officers who came across their ruined island in a British ship
of war.
Topic Tracking:
Government 15
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 15
Major Characters
Jack Merridew: Even at the onset, Jack appears
to be an ominous figure; the lead singer in the school choir, he holds a
certain power over the other choirboys as they walk towards the beach to follow
the first sound of the conch. He does allow them to rest despite the heat and
fatigue of wearing full black uniform gowns and caps while they walk in two
parallel lines toward the conch. Only when Simon faints does he show sympathy.
Described as 'tall, thin, and bony...his hair was red beneath the black cap.
His face was...freckled, and ugly without silliness' (Chapter 1 pg. 19). It is
Jack who leads the boys' turn to savagery, or at least gives it a certain
order. He is Ralph's chief nemesis; it is he who has brought with him a knife
and who gradually becomes obsessed with hunting and killing the pigs on the
island. It is these behaviors which later lead to the murders of Simon, Piggy
and nearly that of Ralph had grown-ups not come to the boys' rescue at the very
last moment.
Piggy: Considered to be the intellectual of the group, he is
grossly overweight (leading to the nickname 'Piggy') and he wears coke-bottle
glasses, without which he cannot see. He initially discovers the conch sitting
at the bottom of the lagoon and suggests that Ralph use it to call everyone. He
is always left to babysit the littluns when the boys go off on adventures, told
by Ralph that he "isn't good for this sort of thing." Obviously made
fun of in school, he often feels left out and isolated early on in the story
although increasingly as Jack and Ralph drift apart, Piggy's voice of reason
and insight come to fill the gap, and he and Ralph become good friends. Even though
he is ridiculed, his glasses are still crucial to the boys' survival: both for
keeping the signal fire lit (for Ralph) and for roasting the meat they have
hunted (for Jack). As a result, he becomes an object stuck between these two
forces. Later, blinded when his glasses are stolen, he is slain when Roger
drops a rock on him from above. After landing on the beach below, Piggy's dead
body, true to his name, "twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been
killed." (Chapter 11 pg. 165).
Ralph: His body described as 'golden', it is Ralph who
establishes a mock-democratic government for the group in order for them to be
rescued, and to maintain peace and order. But due to the opposition of Jack,
Ralph's chief goals of maintaining a signal fire to alert passing ships of
their presence, building the shelters and holding assemblies end up in the dust
as nearly all of the boys, over time, join Jack's 'tribe', whose chief focus is
to hunt, kill and eat the wild pigs of the island. Ralph is the one boy at the
close of the novel who is not a hunter. Having been pursued ruthlessly by Jack
and his tribe, Ralph begins weeping on the beach before his grown-up rescuers.
The naval officer shows disapproval at the destructive state of things on the
island, which Ralph laments that he had done everything he could do to be a
good leader.
Roger: He is a sullen figure, one of the original members of
Jack's choir. It is he who begins throwing rocks at the littluns as they build
sand castles on the beach, watching their reactions intently. Later he drops
the boulder at Castle Rock, killing Piggy. Roger accompanies Ralph and Jack
when climbing up to the mountain where the beast lives. He rams a stick 'right
up [the] ass' of a sow, killing her in a vulgar manner then pretends to be the
beast in their hunting ritual the night that Simon is killed. In the tribe, he
has become the center of much wickedness, becoming the torturer of Samneric. He
is assigned the duty of making 'a stick sharpened at both ends', on which, it
is assumed, they'll put Ralph's head.
Sam and Eric (Samneric): These two twins are described as
one entity, one brother often finishing the other's sentence. They are
frightened off of the mountain when attending to the signal fire, mistaking a
dead pilot to be the beast. Later, Ralph has an odd dream that they are
fighting one another, wrestling. Having resisted joining Jack's tribe, they are
finally seized, tied up and tortured, forced to serve Jack. Samneric betray
Ralph's trust and tell Jack where his hiding place is, which the hunters soon
run to attack.
Simon: A curious figure and originally a member of the
choir, the only one who resists becoming a hunter. The other boys think that he
is 'batty'. Simon always comes to the boys' aid whenever someone needs his help,
such as when he picks up Piggy's glasses for him, offers meat to Piggy when
Jack refuses to give him any, gives the hungry littluns fruit to eat which they
could not reach and gives words of comfort to the worried Ralph. Simon is
martyr-like in his selflessness. As he goes to notify the others that there is
no beast on the mountain, he is killed, as the others mistake him for the
beast. Very much a Jesus figure, he is murdered by the very ones he had wanted
to help.
Lord of the Flies: This is the name given to the inner
beast, to which only Simon ever actually speaks. As Simon's waits for the
beast's arrival near the bloody sow's head on the stake (buzzing with flies),
The Lord of the Flies speaks to him, warning him not to get in its way or else
he shall be killed by the boys. The Lord of the Flies name comes from the sow's
head and the countless flies buzzing about it, which soon move from the sow's
head to swarm around the head of Simon as the Lord of the Flies tells him,
"I'm a part of you." In biblical texts, the Lord of the Flies is the
title of Beelzebub (a direct translation of his name), a demon of Hell and
cohort of Satan.
Auntie: Though never appearing in person, Piggy refers to
her constantly in conversation, especially early on. Auntie is a prominent
adult figure in his life and Piggy recalls and clings to things she had told
him such as not running on account of his asthma. She kept a candy store and
gave Piggy as many sweets as he wanted to eat. However, as the children's link
to the world of grown-ups is increasingly severed, her name is mentioned less
and less.
Bill: One of the choirboys. Bill is a follower of Jack who
later becomes a hunter.
Henry: A littlun who, with Percival and Johnny, is attacked
with rocks by Roger and Maurice while they are building sand castles near the
beach. He is the oldest of the three littluns.
Johnny: He is the first of the boys to reach the beach on
the first day, answering the conch's call. He is a 'littlun' aged about six
years, Johnny is subject to torment by Roger and Maurice later on in the book
while building sand castles.
Littluns: This is the general term used to describe the
smaller boys, who far outnumber the 'biguns'. Though an ever-present element of
the boys' society, due to their young ages they are hardly mentioned as taking
part in the events of the island. It is for them Ralph shows concern for
building the shelters, because at night the littluns 'talk and scream.' Concern
for them gradually is forgotten as later, Jack jokingly says instead of hunting
a pig, ''Use a littlun,'...' (Chapter 7 pg. 104). When the group has split up,
in hearing Piggy's words that 'a few littluns' were left with them, Ralph
replies, ''They don't count.'' By the close of the book their existence is
hardly acknowledged at all.
Maurice: Similar to the hostile Roger but less cruel,
Maurice is very much a follower. Originally a choirboy as well, he takes part
with Roger in throwing rocks at the littluns while building their sand castles.
He remains loyal to Jack, going with him when the split occurs from Ralph's
'society'. Only at one point does he invoke the name of his parents, when,
fearing the beast during the assembly, he recalls that his ''Daddy said they
haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.'' (Chapter 5 pg. 79)
Mulberry Birthmark Boy: A littlun, he is the first to invoke
the name of the "beast" and spread fear among the boys. After the
first signal fire on the mountain is not contained and burns wildly across the
island, he is not seen again. Though it is never actually stated, it is assumed
that he has died in the fire.
Percival Werthys Madison: This littlun would always give a
full introduction of himself: 'Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage. Harcourt
St. Anthony, Hants, telephone....' complete with address. He is one of the
three attacked by rocks thrown by Roger and Maurice when building sand castles.
By the end, when finally rescued by the grown-ups all he can say is 'I'm--
I'm--' before realizing he has forgotten his civilized identity.
Phil: A littlun who speaks about fears of the beast at
night. It is discovered that he, sleep-walking in the forest, mistook Simon to
be the beast, which calms the boys' for a short while.
Ralph's Dad: Ralph speaks of him much in the beginning,
mirroring Piggy's talk of 'Auntie.' As his father is a Navy man, Ralph believes
his dad will come to the rescue when he 'gets leave' from the service. In the
end, Naval officers do finally come to the boys' rescue (though it is not said
if Ralph's father is among them).
Robert: He is another choirboy and another follower to Jack.
It is he who is set to guard the entrance to Castle Rock when Jack begins to
establish his tribe. He is later replaced by Roger when Ralph, Piggy and
Samneric come to Castle Rock.
Objects/Places
Assembly: The name given for the democratic
meeting sessions held for the group when led by Ralph. It is the opposite of
Jack's tribe, which develops later.
Conch: The shell used to call the boys together. When this
object is held, it gives the holder the right to speak during assembly; it is
later smashed to pieces by the boulder that kills Piggy.
Candlebuds: A certain white flower on the island to which
Simon gives a name.
Caps: The uniform hats worn by Jack's choir. Later, as
hunters, the boys still wear these on their heads.
Castle Rock: The
Creepers: The long vine-like plants which encompass the
island.
Fire: Created with Piggy's glasses, it is first used as a
rescue beacon for Ralph and later to cook the pigs slain by Jack.
Fruit: The original food source for the boys; Jack however,
insists that they need meat instead. Simon hands out fruit to littluns when
they cannot reach the higher branches of the fruit trees.
Granite Platform: The meeting center for Ralph's democratic
assembly.
Knife: Jack's weapon used to stab into trees and later to
cut pig's throats.
Mountain: Site of the original signal fire. As the myth of
the beast grows, this is the location where it is thought to inhabit.
Piggy's Glasses (spectacles): Used to start all of the fires
on the island. One lens is smashed by Jack in a fight and later the glasses are
stolen to make cooking fires to roast pigs for Jack's tribe.
Pilot: A pilot whose plane crashed on the island after being
shot down in an air battle. His body is mistaken as the beast on the mountain
by Samneric. After Simon's death, the pilot's body is carried by the wind out
to sea, never giving the boys a chance to discover Samneric's mistake.
Pig-run: Path made by the pigs on the island and later used
by boys as a trail up the mountainside to investigate the presence of the
beast.
Shelters: Built at Ralph's insistence as a 'home' for the
littluns, these structures are consumed by flames as the island burns in the
end.
Sand Castles: Built by littluns Percival, Henry and Johnny,
these sand castles are destroyed when Roger and Maurice who throw rocks at
them.
Sow: A mother pig whose head is severed by Jack's knife,
becoming a 'gift' for the beast. The head is left in the forest on a wooden
stake driven into the ground. Simon visits the head, waiting for the beast, and
'speaks' with this head, the Lord of the Flies.
Stick sharpened at both ends: Used to support the sow's head
and later taken by Ralph to be used as a weapon after he shatters the head with
his fist. Samneric warn him that in preparing to hunt him, Jack's hunters have
'sharpened a stick at both ends', implying that he will be decapitated like the
sow and his head is also to be left as a gift for the beast.
Topic Tracking: Beast
Beast 1: Fear of a "beastie" on the island is
first stemmed from a littlun with a distinctive marking, a
"mulberry-colored birthmark" on his face, who says the beast comes
out at night. Both Ralph and Jack, thinking these to be simply childish
nightmares, comfort everyone that there is no beast. It is this same mulberry
birthmarked boy, who disappears after the boys' first fire burns out of control
across the island.
Beast 2: Fear of the beast has not diminished--quite the
contrary, the fear has intensified in strength amongst the littluns. Shelters
are built to provide a "home" for them so that they will not be
afraid of the island. Simon calls attention to this when he comments that the
children are afraid of the beast as if it were a real creature.
Beast 3: The beast has become a topic of discussion during
assembly and Simon has been mistaken for the beast by one of the littluns out
sleep-walking. Piggy gives his scientific opinion that there is nothing to be
afraid of on the island unless they are afraid of people. Simon tries to add to
this by ambiguously stating this about the beast: "Maybe it's only
us."
Beast 4: From the world of grown-ups comes an object
mistaken to be the beast, the body of a deceased pilot having come to rest on
the island. Samneric see this body swaying in the wind and, terrified, flee
back to the beach where the others are sleeping. The boys' imaginations run
wild and, seeing scratches on one of the twin's bodies(caused by braches as
they ran down the mountain), the boys are sure that the beast had attacked
Samneric.
Beast 5: A sow's head is cut off and left by the hunters as
"a gift for the beast." Whereas previously the beast had incited fear
and worry amongst the boys, now Jack attempts to befriend it by offering the
head of a nursing mother pig which his hunters had killed, as a peace offering.
Beast 6: Curious as always, Simon waits by the bloodied
sow's head, buzzing with flies, to see if a beast would, indeed, come to claim
its gift. There is an odd occurrence as the beast now given a name, The Lord of
the Flies, speaks to Simon with a voice appearing from nowhere declaring
"I'm a part of you"--in fact, a part of all the boys. The Lord of the
Flies threatens Simon by saying that if he attempts to explain this
understanding of the nature of the beast to the others, they shall all kill
him, including Ralph and Piggy.
Beast 7: Simon goes to climb the mountain in the dark to see
what exactly was the beast Samneric had supposedly seen. Upon arriving, the
beast is discovered to be a "pitiful" thing, the body of a decaying
pilot and nothing more. Unafraid and very casual about the whole thing, he
descends to the beach to warn the boys that there is in truth no beast at all.
Beast 8: Simon is mistaken for the beast as he enters the
boys' tribal dance, trying to warn the group that there is no such thing as the
beast. As the boys attempt to slay the beast during their ritual, they are
described as beasts themselves, with no sound "but the tearing of teeth
and claws" as they surround and attack Simon. This is the second time
Simon is thought to be the beast, the first when the littlun Phil was
sleep-walking and saw him in the woods.
Beast 9: In response to thoughts about the murder of Simon,
Jack assures his hunters that the thing they had attacked was indeed the beast
who came to them disguised in the form of Simon. The beast no longer is a
concrete thing to be pictured but takes on the role of an abstract,
supernatural force: "You can't tell what he might do," Jack warns
them all. He proclaims that it is a thing which they can't kill.
Beast 10: Piggy is attacked at night while sleeping by Jack
and his hunters with the intent to steal his glasses. Piggy too, who had been
so steadfast in objecting to the presence of a beast, now cries loudly
"It's come...It's real!" during the attack. Jack and his hunters now
are mistaken for the beast.
Beast 11: Jack's name is invoked by Ralph in anger when he
calls Jack "a beast and a swine." Jack himself has become a beast now
in Ralph's eyes, even as Jack saw Simon as the beast in disguise. Hunting and
the ritualistic behaviors of the Jack's tribe all are consider bestial after
Ralph's comment. Being like a pig (a "swine") is also equated with
the beast.
Beast 12: After earlier dubbing Jack to be a beast, now
Ralph behaves as such. He wildly attacks the hunters as they chase him,
"foaming" madly. His movements are compared to those of an animal
wondering, "Couldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse?" as he runs,
screams and attacks to defend himself in order to not be killed. Unlike Simon
who put up little defense or counterattack after being surrounded by the boys'
spears, Ralph actually tries to escape and fight back and, by doing this, shows
his own beast-like nature.
Topic Tracking: Government
Government 1: Ralph is the democratically elected political
leader of the group and Jack, "marching" in with his choir is akin to
a military leader, assigned to lead the choir as if it were an army. In the
beginning, these two elements--the democratic republic and the dictator--appear
to be close friends, agreeing to cooperate with one another. The dictator,
Jack, agrees to support Ralph as he makes political decisions for the group
during the "assembly," going so far as to offer his choir, the army,
to watch over the signal fire on the mountain.
Government 2: Ralph continues to establish a democratic
political foundation, and the description of the children sitting in organized
sections during assembly is reflective of a government meeting. Jack continues
to support him offering his choir to protect them against any beast; abiding by
Ralph's rules, he addresses the group only when he holds the conch in his hands.
Government 3: The first signs of discord appear between
Ralph and Jack, the political heads of their miniaturized society. While Ralph
struggles to build shelters to live in until they are rescued, Jack has been
off hunting pigs, showing very little concern or planning for their rescue. He
yearns to kill the pigs, insisting that they "need meat."
Government 4: Jack assembles his choirboys, his
"hunters," as he likes to call them. He has painted himself and
becomes more and more obsessed with killing pigs, even as Ralph struggles to
worry about what is best for the group. Their relationship continues to
disintegrate and, rather than keeping his hunters on the mountain to guard the
signal fire, they go off to hunt in the forest.
Government 5: The bond between Ralph and Jack is severed, as
unforgivable damage has been done. A ship which could have come to their rescue
has passed them by since the signal fire went out while Jack's hunters were out
helping him to kill the sow. They become almost tribal in nature, chanting,
proud that they had killed something. The democratic Ralph sees this activity
as a threat to the group's dynamics, while the primal Jack sees this as a way
to build the war hunger of his choir and cement his role as the warrior-leader.
Government 6: The ability of governing well is linked with
acting like a grown-up, with Ralph yearning for something of the adult world to
help them reassert order. Jack continues to become more and more an adversary
to Ralph, no longer following the assembly's rules and talking without holding
the conch, an item which gives the privilege of speaking to its possessor--this
rule is also now disregarded. Jack's dictatorship becomes an adversary to
Ralph's republic.
Government 7: When investigating the presence of a beast on
the island, Ralph increasingly appears weak and yields to Jack by permitting a
pig hunt. This delays the possibility of rekindling the signal fire on the
mountain. Even the civilized Ralph starts to follow some of the same primal
impulses that drive Jack, the desire to kill. However, Ralph reasserts his
authority and insists that this activity be abandoned--much to the disdain of
Jack, who reluctantly obeys.
Government 8: Yet again Ralph sways in his leadership,
allowing a ritual of slaying a pig. Jack talks more and more of how to improve
the ritual. After taking part in this himself, Ralph suddenly turns on them and
insists that they must continue on to the mountain.
Government 9: Jack shows envy over Piggy's logic and
foresight. Ralph has also begun to think logically like Piggy, rather than
becoming tribal and following Jack. However, to lead his tribe, Jack does not
need logic or foresight--he simply listens to the primal instincts to kill and
transforms these into action.
Government 10: The fatal split between the republic and the
tribe occurs here as Jack goes off to establish his tribe, taking most of the
boys with him. Ralph still clings to his old democratic ideas blindly, still
using the conch in assembly and speaking about matters of saving the
"group", even though most of the group is no longer under his
control. His democracy has proven to be less effective than Jack's more basic
and instinctive government.
Government 11: Ralph's role as political leader is weakened
further. He willingly goes to the pig roast after Jack has openly mocked and
rejected his democratic government. Ralph had tried to restore his democracy
with use of the conch to call an assembly, but failed--he considers joining
Jack's new tribe. Ralph participates in the ritual and chants along with the
hunters.
Government 12: Having become the minority by clinging to his
democracy, Ralph is now attacked and beaten up by Jack and his hunters.
Thinking his society and system of governance still to be important, he assumes
that they have come to steal the conch, though it is Piggy's fire-starting
glasses they take. Jack has, piece by piece, eliminated Ralph's power and
control. Though Ralph still wants reason and logic to govern, the other boys
find Jack's army of hunters to be more appealing, with its simple philosophy of
hunting when they are hungry.
Government 13: Ralph, still holding onto his democratic
ideals, becomes an equal to Jack and his primal society, mirroring Jack's
language in addressing him as they fight. Once again he becomes one of them; he
becomes a hunter and his old politics and leadership are forgotten. Jack was
the primal leader since early on in the story. Now stripped of his democracy,
Ralph behaves similarly.
Government 14: Piggy has died and Samneric have become
hunters. These having been the final three boys to support him, Ralph has no
one left to lead, and as such is lost, literally, running through the forest
with no signal fire and no goal except to survive. He has become primal in the
manner of Jack and the other boys, but is still not one of the
hunters--therefore, Ralph becomes the hunted. Democratic ideals have been
forgotten.
Government 15: After all the boys, including Ralph, have
become primal in their behavior, they are saved by the one thing Ralph had
always wished for to restore his democracy: grown-ups. However, just as these
boys had all resorted to killing as a way of life, they are ironically rescued
by grown-up soldiers whose purpose is much the same: to hunt and kill the
enemy.
Topic Tracking: Intellectual
Intellectual 1: Early on, Piggy serves as the intellectual
on the island. He discovers the conch in the lagoon, pointing it out and
explaining to Ralph how he can use it to call the other survivors to the beach.
Throughout the book this role of giving ideas to Ralph, who transfers them into
action, is repeated many times.
Intellectual 2: After the boys allow a fire to burn
uncontrolled across the island, Piggy reprimands them with his voice of reason,
pointing out the need for having the area of the fire to be cleared of debris
so that it can be controlled. He recalls that one of them, the "mulberry
birthmark boy" is nowhere to be seen, suggesting that he has perhaps died
in the fire. Also it is a piece of Piggy, his glasses, which give them this
power of fire, a symbolic trait often equated with the attainment of knowledge
(i.e. the story of Prometheus, fire bearer, in Greek mythology).
Intellectual 3: Continuing in his manner of always thinking
ahead and pondering, Piggy suggests creating a sundial to tell the time for the
boys, though this is of no interest to Ralph. Following this suggestion, Piggy
is attacked by Jack, and his glasses--both a source of fire and also
representative of Piggy's capacity for reason and knowledge--have one lens
broken after they smash to the ground by the paint-faced Jack, who has grown
more and more savage.
Intellectual 4: Now Ralph has begun to act like an
intellectual after learning from Piggy. Ralph thinks and speaks with a certain
logic as he points out the problems afflicting the group, reporting concerns
which had already been raised earlier by Piggy, as he appeals to the boys to
behave with reason in mind at all times. Already chaos and disorganization have
grown more and more frequent--the boys are no longer heeding even common sense
rules, suchas no defecating near the fruit trees from which they eat.
Intellectual 5: In discussing the beast, Piggy assures them
the beast doesn't exist, using logic. He says, "Life is scientific."
According to science and rational thought, a beast such as they had all
described could not possibly exist on the island without anyone having really
seen it. In contrast, Jack resorts to irrational name-calling, dubbing them all
of the littluns "cry-babies" for their fears; unlike Piggy, his words
lack substance and facts, they merely express his opinions. Piggy's mode of
thinking is rational and leads to an actual understand of situations so that a
resolution can be found. This is what Ralph has begun to learn to do.
Intellectual 6: Ralph is again compared to Piggy in his
manner of thinking. He increasingly attempts to employ reason and logic to his
decisions, which upsets Jack. Jack's approach to leadership is the the opposite
of Ralph's, he uses fear of the beast and primal hungers to gain support.
Intellectual 7: Because Ralph acts and thinks more like
Piggy now, Jack decides to leave and start his own society elsewhere on the
island. Piggy, despite Ralph, Jack and Roger's stories,refuses to believe that
a beast lives on the mountain, since it defies all logic.
Intellectual 8: Yet again Piggy's insight comes to the
rescue. He suggests moving the fire down to the beach as the mountain has
scared away everyone, since they are all fearful of the beast. Pleased, Ralph
adopts this plan and considers their signal fire problem solved.
Intellectual 9: Here, despite Piggy's constant clinging to
logic with his great intellect, even he loses himself to the same savagery
which has consumed Jack. Due to his hypocritical behavior, questions are raised
about the reliability of adhering to logic and reason alone as Piggy has done
up to this point.
Intellectual 10: After taking part in the murder of Simon,
Piggy copes with this hypocrisy and his own illogical behaviors by simply
erasing them from his mind. He employs his intellect yet again, this time not
to help "the general good" but rather to account for his own actions.
He urges Ralph to insist, when Samneric approach, that they had left the feast
early and as such could not have possibly known about let alone take part in
the murder of Simon. Thus Piggy's hypocrisy can remain a secret. As he always
does when listening to Piggy's advice, Ralph obeys.
Intellectual 11: Jack had already smashed half of Piggy's
glasses and now what remains is taken. Previously a symbol of Piggy's belief in
intellect, the glasses are now only known as the source of fire (and perhaps of
knowledge) to the tribe. With the loss of this item, Piggy is helpless. When
attacked, Piggy who had refused to believe in the beast, mistakes Jack and his
hunters for it, exclaiming "It's the beast, it's real!" As they go to
sleep that night, they behave illogically and decide not to keep a watch to
prevent the signal fire from burning out.
Intellectual 12: As Ralph talks on and on as Piggy did in
the beginning, Piggy cuts him off calling it: "Jus' talk; I want my
glasses back." He then suggests the illogical thing: climbing to the
mountain, just the four of them, expecting Jack to return the glasses if Piggy
asks him, because, "[h]e has to."
Intellectual 13: In one final attempt cling to logic and
reason, Piggy asks everyone what is better, to kill and be like Indians or to
have order and be rescued. His answer is a silent one, for he is killed in
response. To go to Castle Rock in the first place was irrational, yet Piggy had
insisted he could restore order and his sight by reasoning with the tribe. He
fails.
Intellectual 14: Ralph continues to cling to Piggy as a
source of guidance even though he is dead, trying to thinkand act as Piggy
would. He laments to himself, however, "There was no Piggy to think for
him." Piggy could not save himself, but Ralph still believes he would save
him if he were there.
Intellectual 15: The name of Piggy with all his logic and
guidance is invoked a final time as being a counterbalance to the
"darkness of man's heart." However, Piggy himself had showed hints of
this darkness at times as well, particularly when he had participated in the
murder of Simon.
Topic Tracking: Pig
Pig 1: Jack attempts to kill a piglet here and fails,
shirking at the thought of spilling blood on himself. However he does go so far
as to withdraw his knife and tries to cut its throat, though something stops
him. Also there is a boy on the island left behind to watch the littluns whose
name calls reference to this topic as well: Piggy.
Pig 2: Jack follows his obsession to kill a pig and fails
yet again after the pigs run off in a stampede, sensing his presence. He
insists to Ralph that before they are rescued, he needs to kill a pig,
insisting that fruit alone cannot sustain them--they need meat.
Pig 3: Jack finally succeeds in his goal, leading the other
boys on a pig hunt and carrying a pig's lifeless body dangling upside-down from
a stick. As they walk they chant "Kill the pig, Cut her throat, Spill her
blood." However, the attainment of the pig also means a lost opportunity
to be rescued since, with the boys all off hunting, no one was on the mountain
to tend to the signal fire and a ship passed them by.
Pig 4: Having killed a pig, a ritual is made from the
hunting process as Maurice pretends to be the pig surrounded by a ring of
hunters and they repeat again their earlier chant of "Kill the
pig..." excitedly reliving the hunting episode. They relish the thought of
killing it with glee. The pig is roasted and devoured hungrily by the boys,
including Ralph.
Pig 5: In searching for the beast, the boys are turned
astray with thoughts of hunting a pig again, and examine pig droppings on the
ground. The ritual song from earlier is repeated with even Ralph taking part,
except instead of "she" the pig is now "he," with Robert
mimicking the pig. "Kill the pig, Cut his throat...Bash him in."
Their desire for a hunt is turned aside by Ralph who finally urges them onwards
in their search for the beast.
Pig 6: After separating from Ralph's democracy, Jack and his
hunters succeed again in murdering another pig, this time a nursing sow. Her
piglets flee as the hunters draw near and she is slain in an obscene manner,
with a stick jammed "up her ass," violated by Roger's spear. Happily,
Jack now smears her blood on his face like war paint, and they cut the sow's
head off, leaving it on a stake in the woods as an offering to the beast. They
plan to celebrate again that night with another feast.
Pig 7: After feasting on the dead sow, Ralph and all the
boys take part again in another ritual dance to relive the thrill of the hunt,
the thrill of murdering a living thing. Now however the word of "pig"
from their earlier chant has become replaced by "beast": "Kill
the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" Roger now represents the
pig/beast in the dance. Simultaneously, the decapitated sow's head left in the
forest, buzzing with flies, has become a physical embodiment of the beast to
which Simon speaks.
Pig 8: Jack emerges from the forest after yet another hunt,
dropping a headless sow on the ground as he prepares to confront Piggy and
Ralph. It was a headless sow that was devoured the night Simon was murdered.
Upon seeing Jack and the pig's carcass, Piggy also begins to yell and cry out
to Ralph for help.
Pig 9: Piggy is murdered and his after-death is also
compared to the dying twitches of a pig. Not a direct victim of spears as the
pigs killed by the hunters, Piggy dies instead by a boulder dropped on his head
from Roger.
Pig 10: Ralph learns that Samneric must throw their spears
at him the next day "as if at a pig" when speaking to them under the
secrecy of night. Even though a boy like the others, Ralph suddenly has become
reduced to the primal level of a pig at Jack's command--simply a thing to be
hunted.
Pig 11: Ralph runs from the hunters and begins to display
behaviors similar to those of a pig, attempting to think and rationalize yet
this attempt fails with no Piggy there to advise and give him reason. He
settles instead on comparing his own thoughts to those of a pig, wondering
"if a pig would agree."
Topic Tracking: Religion
Religion 1: The presence of the school's choir with its
black gowns, caps, and "crosses" points out the boys who are,
supposedly, the most angelic and holiest of all. However, the choirmaster Jack
later becomes chief of the hunters (who were once choirboys), responsible for
the murders to follow. Only Simon, a member of the choir who faints on the
beach due to exhaustion, resists the primal urges that consume the rest of the
choir.
Religion 2: Simon alone reflects the angelic qualities of
the choir, as he gives food to the hungry littluns from his outstretched hands
while Ralph and Jack - the leaders - never do such a small though significant
deed. As Simon walks, nature flourishes around him as flowers open wide; these
flowers he dubs "candle-buds"--candles are often used in Christian
churches.
Religion 3: As when he comes to the aid of the hungry
littluns, Simon always appears to help in times of crisis. Piggy's glasses have
been knocked off by an angry Jack and Simon appears without warning to pick
them up and hand them back to Piggy, expecting nothing in return. His behavior
is always selfless, only helping the needy.
Religion 4: When feasting on the first pig Jack has
succeeded in killing, Piggy is yet again in distress. Without thinking of his
own needs or hunger at seeing Jack's refusal to give any meat to Piggy, Simon
immediately passes his own large piece of meat for him to eat. Furious that his
wishes for Piggy to not eat have been opposed, Jack hurls another piece to
Simon, commanding him to eat it. Simon again appears here to aid the helpless.
Religion 5: Simon comments from his innocent viewpoint about
the beast, trying to help them understand what exactly the beast is.
"Maybe it's only us," he suggests. None of the children understand
exactly what he means though his insight and perceptions seem to hit far closer
to the truth than all the others. He proposes that it is some element in each
of them that is the thing they call the beast.
Religion 6: Simon laments his inability to speak about the
beast and envies the rhetorical skills of the other boys. His picture of what
exactly the beast is comes into focus increasingly as "the picture of a
human at once heroic and sick," suggesting the beast would be the sickly
part. It is not some external devil with a pitchfork and horns but rather an
element of each of their personalities.
Religion 7: Simon comes to the aid of Ralph who is worrying
about the boys' condition and if rescue shall ever come to save them from the
island. Abruptly Simon speaks to him with words of comfort, "You'll get
back to where you came from" as if he knows something that Ralph doesn't.
Ralph looks at him and Simon smiles, repeating the statement again. Odd as it
is, the comment does cheer Ralph somewhat.
Religion 8: The Lord of the Flies (the title of Beelzebub, a
demon from Hell) speaks to Simon inside of his mind and warns him that he is a
threat and "is not wanted on this island." The threat stems perhaps
from his goodness and inability to be transformed into a hunter as the other
choirboys had been. For his resistance, Simon must die, The Lord of the Flies
tells him. Presumably, this is the voice of the beast within him that speaks;
it is that very same "sickly part" of the human he had envisioned
earlier. Being the most religiously good of the boys, he is understandably an
obstacle in order for the primal, wicked aspects of the boys to come into full
control.
Religion 9: Still wishing to aid the children regardless of
the consequences just as he had given meat to Piggy despite Jack's anger, Simon
now attempts to warn the boys that there is no beast on the mountain. He
carries within him a full understanding of the beast as a thing within after
having conversed with The Lord of the Flies who had already warned him against
trying to interfere. All Simon wants to do is to help, however.
Religion 10: In attempting to warn the boys that there is no
beast on the mountain, Simon is savagely murdered by all of the boys as they
take part in a primal ritual. After he dies there is an unnatural brightness
around his body in the water and his skin bears an unusual description, as
becoming like "sculptured marble" and his cheek glimmers like silver.
These odd descriptions show that Simon with his goodness had something special
about him which has been removed from the island.
Religion 11: Even though he is long dead, Simon's old words
of comfort return to Ralph as he fights against becoming a beast and a savage
to save himself. He ends up again on the beach, chased by all of Jack's
hunters. In the midst of his flight, thoughts racing in these final moments, he
hears again the words "You'll get back to where you came from,"
spoken by Simon much earlier. Upon falling into the sand, Ralph raises his arms
to his eyes to defend against a barrage of spear thrusts, preparing to die as
Simon did upon on beach.