Golding has stated that his training in AngloSaxon
literature, his military background and his experiences in the war all influenced the novel. In a newspaper interview he said, 'I learned during World War II just how brutal people can be to each other. Not just Germans or Japanese, but everyone. I tried to point that out [ . . . ] Some have said that the brutality of the novel is impossible. It's not. Look at any newspaper [ . . . ]' (New York WorldTelegram and Sun 3 Dec. 1963).
Bibliography Novels
The Lord of the Flies (1954) The Inheritors (1955) Envoy Extraordinary (1956) Pincher Martin (1956) Free Fall (1959) The Spire (1964) The Pyramid (1967) The Scorpion God (1971) Clonk Clonk [novella] (1971) Darkness Visible (1979)
Rites of Passage [Trilogy, Vol. 1]
(1980)
Paper Men (1984)
Close Quartets [Trilogy, Vol. 2]
(1987)
Fire Down Below [Trilogy, Vol. 3]
(1989)
The Double Tongue (1993)
Essays
The Hot Gates (1967) Moving Target (1982)
Drama
The Brass Butterfly (1958)
Travel
An Egyptian Journal (1985)
Characters
Ralph protagonist; fairhaired, attractive leader
Jack Merridew antagonist; redheaded boy in charge of the hunters
Piggy voice of reason and adviser to Ralph; asthmatic, overweight and bespectacled Simon shaman figure; kind, patient and lover of mankind
Roger bully; Jack's henchman Samneric twins, Sam and Eric
Littluns helpless group of younger boys
Plot
The narrative begins after an atomic bomb has been dropped on Britain. A group of schoolboys, placed on a plane and evacuated, survive a crash and land on an idyllic coral island bereft of adults. Ralph, fairhaired and athletic, and Piggy, intelligent, overweight and bespectacled, find a conch shell, using its resounding call to draw the scattered youths together. Ralph is elected leader, and Jack, his biggest rival, is appointed head of the hunters. Both Simon and Piggy are branded as outsiders, Piggy because of his asthma and physical weaknesses and Simon because of his strange fits and visionary propensities. Two major concerns emerge: the need to make a signal fire in order to be rescued and the need for meat to eat.
Through the course of the story, the tension between Ralph and Jack escalates, each staunchly fighting for the priority they believe is most important Ralph for the signal fire which will accelerate their rescue and Jack for the pig hunts with which he is increasingly obsessed. While the boys initially cooperate somewhat to perform the functions they have decided are essential, soon their society disintegrates, with the littluns consumed in play, Jack and his hunters
neglecting their responsibilities in favour of hunting, and Ralph, Piggy and Simon shouldering all the workload. Little by little, the thin veneer of civilisation is stripped away, and the boys
become increasingly animalised. Jack leads the way into savagery by applying camouflage paint to his face and stripping away his clothes. His hatred for Piggy and Ralph intensifies, as does his desire to take over leadership of the group.
on the island, mistake it for a huge beast, and panic spreads quickly. Jack starts his own splinter tribe at the other end of the island, luring all members of the original group except for Ralph, Piggy, and the twins. Simon, who does not believe in the beast, climbs the mountain and discovers that his disbelief is wellfounded. In his attempt to bring the truth to the rest of the boys, he stumbles into the centre of a frenzied, bacchanalian firedance occurring at Jack's end of the island. In their bloodthirsty delirium, the boys mistake Simon for the beast and beat him to death.
Jack and his tribe raid what remains of Ralph's group and steal Piggy's glasses, which are the only way any of the boys can make fire. Without his glasses, Piggy is blind. In a last attempt to restore order, Ralph, Piggy and the twins march to Jack's fort with a list of demands. Ralph and Jack engage in the fight that has been brewing since the beginning. One of Jack's hunters dislodges a huge rock from on top of Castle Rock, and it smashes into Piggy, killing him and obliterating the conch. All that remains for Jack to do is to hunt and kill Ralph. In an attempt to do so, Jack and his hunters set fire to the island, which attracts the attention of a navy cruiser. The boys are rescued.
Style
Critics have labelled Lord of the Flies a fable, an allegory and a satire. All of these terms are correct. Golding has stated, 'The fabulist is a moralist . . . the pill of the moral lesson must be sugar' (Golding 40). This sentence perfectly encompasses Golding's style, as he writes with a clear and grave moral always in mind (a fable can be defined as any narrative which makes a cautionary point). Arnold Johnston supports this notion by indicating the specific ways Golding's early interest in the Greek and AngloSaxon classics impacted the creation of Flies, including 'his general reliance on simple situations and plots that either partake of or suggest mythical
archetypes; his concern in making his novels the concrete expression of spiritual or moral assumptions; his suggestion of an inevitability in human actions akin to the ancient concept of Fate; his use of irony as a major narrative technique' (Johnston 249). Like the classics, the time and place of Golding's story are vague, lending it a flexible universality and facilitating the application of the novel's message to our own lives. At the same time, the novel bears the hallmark of more modern literary developments, particularly in the psychological sophistication of its threedimensional characters.
An allegory is an extended metaphor that gives the story two realities a physical reality and a parallel reality that caricatures or parodies the physical reality. An allegory typically contains moral, social, religious or political significance, and the characters in the story are generally personifications of some abstract notion such as goodness or truth. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Orwell's Animal Farm are other examples. As L.L. Dickson and other critics have noted, Lord
of the Flies clearly works as a political allegory, with Ralph representing democracy and Jack
personifying totalitarianism. The story also works on the level of religious allegory, with Ralph as the force of good, Jack the force of evil and Simon the Christ figure. Further, many have seen the novel as a psychoanalytical allegory, giving life to the Freudian tripartite Piggy the superego, Ralph the ego and Jack the Id.
Golding makes clear his allegorical intent: 'The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. The whole book is symbolic in nature' (204).
The novel is written in third person narrative.
Themes and Motifs
Allegorical Cast: As stated in the Style section, the allegory of the novel works on a number of levels and thus is a fruitful arena for exploration. On a political level, Ralph represents democracy and order, while Jack represents tyranny and chaos. On a
psychoanalytic level, Piggy, Jack and Ralph represent the three divisions of the Freudian psyche: Piggy is the Superego, standing for the parental conscience and societal
dictums; Jack is the Id, the most profound tier of the subconscious, ruled wholly by the immediate gratification of instinctual desires; and Ralph is the Ego, mediating between the other two. On a religious level. Simon is the prophet, the Christfigure who
of Golding's craftsmanship, however, prevents these symbols from working in pat or neat ways. He threads contradictions and subtle variations into each of them, constantly challenging our assumptions.
Power of Belief: Golding suggests that the boys are vested with the power to create simply by believing. The power of their belief is the darker version of Peter Pan's 'happy thoughts' technique of flight, indicating a more ominous side of psychosuggestion. The boys have the ability to conjure and invoke spirits but are perilously unaware of this ability. The most notable example is the vote Ralph calls for, which proves the boys' belief in ghosts and monsters. Ralph and Piggy violently protest the vote's outcome because they share the sense that a collective expression of the belief will create the very ghosts and monsters they question. In fact, the boys' tangible beast arrives at the start of the next chapter, born of their belief. There are countless instances of this phenomenon at work throughout the book, pointing to the way the monsters we externalise are actually born of us.
Original Sin: It' s easy to assume that Golding writes as a Christian moralist, given everything from the fight between good and evil which dominates the text, to the suggestive origins of the title, to the admitted formulation of Simon as a Christfigure. However, Samuel Hynes puts it well when he writes that Golding's idea of evil 'is
compatible with but not limited to the Christian idea of Original Sin [ . . . ] Golding makes no reference to Grace or Divinity [ . . . ] This novel tells us a great deal about evil; but about salvation it is silent' (Swisher 64). Putting aside the limitations of a strict Christian moralist reading, then, the idea of an inherent, ineluctable human depravity, some variety of Original Sin, is very present in the novel, and the reenactments of Biblical moments are plentiful.
Self Discovery: The age of the abandoned boys is significant; the 'biguns', on whom the story focuses, are all around 12 years old, just on the cusp of puberty. These boys are about to embark on the arduous journey to adulthood, a time ordinarily full of discoveries both physical and emotional. On this island, however, as they degenerate into savages, the boys experience very different revelations about themselves. At the end of the novel, Ralph's breakdown marks the completion of his own selfdiscovery process human nature in all its harsh contours has been revealed to him. The entire novel preceding that moment is made up of small revelations leading to that conclusion, and Golding explores the effects of this on the individual boys.
Just a Game: The boys' first response to crashing on the island is sheer joy; free from the scrutiny of the adult gaze, the boys can spend their time playing games, treating the island as a vast and bountiful playground. All of the events on the island are regarded as fun voting for a leader, erecting shelters, building a fire, killing and roasting pigs and later the application of masks, the torture of littluns and the protecting of Castle Rock. Even after the boys have killed Simon and created the groundwork for a manhunt, they mask their violence in the supposed harmlessness of a game. The moment when Ralph says, 'Being rescued isn't a game'(197), marks an important juncture in the text he has left behind the protective device of the 'makebelieve', and his main goal thereafter is to convince the others to adopt his point of view
Costume: An essential part of any wellcrafted fantasy game is, of course, the costumes. In the boys' island life, the costumes become powerful enough to act as accomplices in many of the crimes committed. Their first costumes, their school uniforms, shroud them in the safety of civilisation, but life on the island soon reduces their clothes first to rags and finally to nothing. The boys remain literally naked, vulnerable to external forces and worse, to internal forces that ravage them. The most awesome force of liberation is unleashed through the mask, discovered by Jack and employed quickly thereafter by most of the boys.
which enables him to become chief. The pig's head, the Lord of the Flies, is also a talisman, both for Jack's tribe, who believe it protects them from the beast, and for Simon, to whom it actually reveals valuable information.
Take Home Point: draws attention to key images, word choices and events in the text
Exploration Point: has the potential for an essay or paper, or for further research
Theme Alert: provides insight on the theme's emergence at a particular point in the narrative
Quotable: identifies passages that merit close stylistic or narrative analysis
Title
The phrase 'The Lord of the Flies' is actually a mistranslation of the Greek name for the devil, Beelzebub. The most obvious incarnation of the Lord of the Flies is Jack's sacrificial pig head, which stands rotting in the sun, festering with flies. However, there are many figures in the novel who could be thought of in the same terms, including the dead parachutist, the shape shifting 'beast' and even Jack, the Lucifer figure who heads the splinter tribe.
Chapter One: The Sound of the Shell
In the aftermath of a storm and a plane crash, a group of young British boys, ranging in age from six to twelve, is scattered about an uninhabited island. Ralph, fairhaired and attractive, and Piggy, overweight and myopic, attempt to ascertain where they are and what has happened. Piggy, whose real name is never revealed, tries to befriend Ralph, and the two fall into a relationship in which Piggy places himself in a subservient position.
Although the island initially appears to be Edenic, lush in verdure, rich in fruit and replete with exotic but harmless animals, some of Golding's word choices foreshadow the danger to come. In the first paragraph alone, a bird utters a 'witchlike cry' (1), and Ralph is surrounded by 'the long scar smashed into the jungle' (1). The 'scar' refers to an area of the island that has been scorched by the plane's cabin as it crashed; it represents the toll human encounter exacts upon a paradise.
Ralph speculates that they are on an island, and the boys realise there are no adults. As they make their way out of the forest and toward the lagoon, they find palm trees shading natural platforms of pink granite and a pool within the lagoon with water so warm that it is like
'swimming in a huge bath' (8). Despite Ralph's claim that his father, a commander in the navy, will rescue them, Piggy refuses to be placated, reminding him of the atomic bomb that caused their evacuation from England.
As he undresses for a swim, Ralph undoes the 'snakeclasp of his belt' (5).
Power of Belief: As soon as the nameless fat boy reveals his nickname to Ralph, the text refers to him as Piggy. It is almost as if merely speaking the word has created it as his name. Piggy believed that he could start from scratch on this blank slate of an island, but the new location turns out to be no different from anywhere else, and he is treated just the same.
The introduction of the atomic bomb into the plot presumably places the story within the context of a world war. Thus we might surmise that everything that happens on this island will represent the events of the larger world. It is also significant that Golding does not specify a time or place for his story, lending it one of the characteristics of a fable.
The happy mood broken, Ralph and Piggy continue to explore their surroundings. When they stumble upon a conch, Piggy sees it as the perfect instrument to summon other boys who might have survived the crash. Although he can't blow the conch himself, Piggy instructs Ralph. Soon the beach and the jungle reverberate with the sound of the giant shell.
Talisman: From its first mention, the conch is a magical object capable of great transformation. While it seems at first to simply be a lovely and fragile find, its practical function transforms it in the boys' eyes. The conch transforms itself, becoming a 'gleaming tusk' (13); it transforms Ralph, making his face 'dark with the violent pleasure of making this stupendous sound' (14), and it transforms the island, where 'signs of life were now visible [ . . . ]' (14).
Within minutes, children of various ages appear. As the boys assemble on the large natural platform of coral, Piggy learns their names. Out of the haze created by the heat, a platoon of older boys, dressed in choir robes, arrives, led by Jack Merridew.
Allegorical Cast: The entire light of the scene seems to shift as Jack makes his first entrance, leading his band: 'Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along' (16).
Costume: Jack's band of choirboys are clad in 'strangely eccentric clothing' (18): long black choir robes and black caps. Many critics have likened their appearance to a band of Nazis or a cartoonlike troupe of miniature Grim Reapers.
Consider the significance of the fact that Jack's boys are members of a choir (and are thus associated with religious symbolism). These are the children who immediately become the hunters of the island and demonstrate the most savage qualities. At the heart of scholarly debate over the meaning of Golding's symbolism is the question of his fable's relationship to Christianity. Although many believe him to be a rigid Christian moralist, others disagree, claiming that a truly Christian fable would include a figure of redemption, which, aside from the Christlike Simon, is prominently absent here. Consider how Golding's use of the choir fits into this debate. By aligning them with evil, is he making a critique of Christianity?
Ralph suggests they select a leader. Jack claims the position, but the others insist on voting. Ralph is elected. Ralph assuages Jack's ego and makes a potential enemy into an ally by placing Jack in charge of his choir and granting him the right to decide their purpose. Jack proclaims them hunters. Ralph, Jack and Simon climb to the top of a mountain and confirm they are the sole inhabitants. On their way down, the three find a piglet tangled in vines. Jack removes a knife from his belt. Poised to strike, he hesitates and allows the piglet to escape.
a miniature civilisation modelled after the one their parents have created in England. Although the boys are concerned with doing the right thing and making England proud, voting is really just a novel way to pass the time. Golding makes this clear when he writes that '[t]he toy of voting was almost as pleasing as the conch' (19, emphasis added).
Coskren also notes that the beginning of Lord of the Flies owes a great deal to Rousseau's social philosophy, which imagines a group of children as the unalienable symbol of innocence and an uninhabited tropical island as the symbol of earthy paradise. However, Coskren goes on to point out that the rest of the novel 'puts Rousseau's social contract to the test' (Epstein 246); instead of restoring humankind to its 'natural dignity', the lack of societal constructs on the island leads to total degeneration, chaos and death.
Chapter Two: Fire on the Mountain
When Ralph, Jack and Simon return, Ralph blows the conch, summoning the rest of the boys to the platform. The three inform the group that they are indeed on a deserted island. Amid a cacophony of questions and comments, Ralph creates the first golden rule: during meetings, only the one who has the conch can speak. The rule is broken, reestablished and tenuously obeyed during the remainder of the meeting.
Once again, Piggy momentarily squelches the boys' excitement and sense of adventure by forcing them to understand the reality of their isolation. A small boy, distinguished by a large birthmark on his face, shakes the group with his talk of a 'snake thing'(35). Jack indirectly undermines Ralph's assertion that there is no such beast by stating that he and his hunters will look for it just the same and will kill it if they find it.
Power of Belief: Once more the act of naming of a thing seems to create the thing itself, in this case initiating conflict between Jack and Ralph. Ralph seems to understand that even the possibility of such an existence must not be voiced, because once a thing is named and collectively agreed on (just as with Piggy's name), it becomes 'real'. His fears are borne out when, by the close of the meeting, the beast has fully formed as a figure among the boys. Through the rest of the novel it will only grow in power.
Self Discovery: In this scene we witness Ralph's first recognition that there is something new in the way he thinks on this island: 'He felt himself facing something ungraspable [ . . . ]
something he had not known was there rose in him and compelled him to make the point' (37).
Ralph explains the need for a signal to alert any ship coming near the island and orders that a fire be made on top of the mountain to create smoke. The thought of playing with fire,
something that would never have been allowed by grownups back in civilised society, sends the entire assembly scrambling toward the mountain. Only Ralph, still holding the conch, and Piggy, disgusted with the boys' juvenile behaviour, remain. Without warning, Ralph runs toward the noise and laughter of the other boys. A disgruntled Piggy slowly follows.
Allegorical Cast: The idea of Piggy as superego in the Freudian tripartite is affirmed by his frustrated exclamation, 'Like kids! Acting like a crowd of kids' (38). Piggy's inability to play, attributable to the physical limitations of his myopia, asthma and weight, as well as his wholly scientific perspective on the world, severs his ties to childhood. His is the voice of adult reason, typified by the way he regards the others, 'with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children' (39).
and sending a shower of sparks floating into the air, carried by the light breeze.
Piggy, who is carrying the conch, launches into a bitter tirade on the boys' irresponsibility with fire. Accusations and threats fly, but Ralph restores order, deciding that what they need are more rules. Jack gains stature among the boys by generously offering to split his choir into two groups: one to hunt and one to build and keep a fire going.
'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' (44). Golding's sarcasm, born of the atrocities he witnessed during WWII, is very evident here; the novel will demonstrate very effectively that the quoted statement is in fact the opposite of the truth. The sarcasm is in keeping with Golding's literary purpose of expressing the universality of evil.
Jack is the first to advocate the imposition of rules, but his main concern is with the
punishment exacted after they are broken: ''We'll have rules! Lots of rules. Then when anyone breaks 'em ''(33). His interests here already betray his alignment with more totalitarian forms of society.
Piggy, who has retrieved his glasses, looks down the mountain and sneers, 'You got your small fire all right' (45). The rest of the boys follow his gaze to see that the sparks from the original fire have caught piles of dried wood on fire, and half the mountainside is ablaze. Piggy, filled with indignation, launches into a diatribe, chastising the boys' carelessness and bringing up the new topic of shelters.
Piggy continues to lecture, and the realisation dawns on the older boys that many of the smaller children are not among them. Prominently missing is the small boy with the birthmark who had broached the topic of the beast; he is soon revealed to be dead.
The first of the boys to mention the beast, the boy with the birthmark, is also the first to die. This establishes the fate of prophets and shamanism within the world of the novel; those who are vested with a true understanding of the evil within humankind are sacrificed in their attempt to spread the truth.
As if on cue, a tree explodes from the intense heat and long, flaming tendrils of creepers drift into the air, creating the illusion of burning snakes.
As Jack and Ralph carry a heavy log together, Ralph comments, 'Almost too heavy', but Jack smiles and replies, 'Not for the two of us' (39).
When Ralph and Jack work together and combine their talents, order and peace reign on the island. They are human, however, driven by ego and ambition, so continual collaboration is impossible, and their friendship slowly deteriorates into a merciless rivalry.
'Ralph realised that the boys were falling still and silent, feeling the beginnings of awe at the power set free below them. The knowledge and the awe made them savage' (46). According to the JudeoChristian tradition, Adam's acquisition of knowledge marked him and the entirety of the human race with sin. Golding seems to play with this religious symbolism here.
The sound of the fire spreading on the island is repeatedly described as a 'drumroll'; e.g., 'The separate noises of the fire merged into a drumroll that seemed to shake the mountain' (46). The drumroll suggests an announcement that something is on its way; this imagery
Chapter Three: Huts on the Beach
A short time has passed, and the boys continue the assimilation process. Jack proves himself to be an adept hunter, and hunting becomes not only a practical activity for him but also a driving passion. Ralph, in the meantime, attempts to construct shelters, with only marginal success.
Allegorical Cast: Jack has become increasingly animalised. In the first page of this chapter alone, he is described as 'doglike', 'apelike' and with 'flared nostrils'(51).
Ralph and Jack's first real altercation occurs over the construction of the huts on the beach. Jack returns from another unsuccessful hunt to find Ralph and Simon struggling to erect a third wobbly hut. The others who had promised to help had soon become bored with the task and run off to bathe, eat, or play. Ralph pointedly comments that Jack's hunters had gone
swimming instead of pitching in with the building of the huts. The tension mounts when Ralph reminds Jack that his hunters are also supposed to keep the fire going so that the boys can eventually be rescued.
Jack suddenly becomes animated, so much so that for a moment Ralph thinks that he might have sighted a ship. However, it has suddenly dawned on Jack where the pigs might be hiding and how to catch them. An infuriated Ralph attacks Jack verbally, downplaying the importance of the pigs in relationship to the shelters and the fire. Jack, with surprising understanding, offers to help a little with the huts.
'If you're hunting sometimes . . . you can feel as if you're not hunting, but being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle' (56). This enigmatic statement an
instance of antithesis, a literary device indicating a reversal refers to the idea that what is 'hunting' Jack is his own innate capacity for evil. Like all the other boys, Jack tries to defend himself from this with rules and clothing and all the other trappings of civilisation, but to no avail: 'He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him' (54).
Ralph explains to Jack that the difference between their respective labours is that Jack likes hunting.
It has become clear that Jack is not hunting to sate the longings of his stomach but to fulfill an even more primal instinct. In fact the boys do not really need pig meat but are able to subsist, albeit unsatisfyingly, on the plentiful fruit and fish the island offers.
Golding describes the complex relationship of Ralph and Jack in the following terms: 'They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate . . .they looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate' (55). Consider the nature of the boys'
interdependence: why does Golding refer to their 'love and hate'? Recall the interpretation that suggests that these two represent parts of a psychoanalytical model, with Jack as the Id and Ralph as the Ego. How do these 'two continents' relate to one another? Do they need each other? Is Golding suggesting that good cannot exist without evil?
Simon has wandered away from the others, attracting the attention of the littluns. While avoiding most of the bigger boys, they naturally gravitate toward Simon, who collects fruit for them. Simon worms his way into the middle of a great mat of creepers that form the outside 'wall' of a small cabinlike enclosure. Inside this secret place, he meditates, basking in solitude and giving himself up to the sounds and smells around him.
jungle and are given handfuls of ripe fruit solidly supports the idea of Simon as a spiritual provider. Note too that Simon's gifts to the children, unlike the hunting of the pigs, require no bloodlust. His association with peace and tranquility (and higher states of mind) is further reinforced by his meditation within the natural enclosure.
Chapter Four: Painted Faces and Long Hair
The boys have divided themselves into two distinct groups, the biguns and the littluns. The littluns, offering no practical use to the group as a whole, are tolerated by some, aided by others and targeted by a few. Roger, one of the biguns, discovers the power and pleasure of his
stature by hurling rocks at one of the littluns until summoned by Jack.
When Roger is hurling rocks at a littlun, the littlun is protected by a space about six yards in diameter where Roger will not throw the rocks: 'Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilisation that knew nothing of him and was in ruins' (67). Here, the powerful dictums of civilisation linger even in Roger, the most violent of all of the boys. Yet this picture of civilisation is tainted Golding paints it as decaying and decrepit.
Golding writes, 'The sun gazed down like an angry eye'(62), suggesting the disapproval of a nameless authority. During the day, while the sun assumes the role of the adult, vigilantly scrutinising the boys' behaviour, their savagery is limited. But when night takes over, anything becomes possible. The boys' fear of night and the nightmares that invariably visit them are things they discuss frequently throughout the book.
At this early point in the novel, the boys are experimenting with their baser instincts but are greatly constrained by the behavioural guidelines that have shaped their childhoods; e.g., 'In his other life, Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing' (65). For insight into the power of this residual 'unease of wrongdoing', examine Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish. Pay particular attention to the chapter in which he discusses the mechanics of selfdisciplining with regards to a prison model.
Jack explains to Roger and the twins, Sam and Eric, that the pigs have eluded him because they see him. Using coloured clay, Jack smears a mask over his face that both camouflages him and, much to his amazement, liberates him: 'He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger' (68). Gathering all of his hunters, Jack plans a new assault on the pigs.
Costume; Power of Belief; Talismans: The creation and application of the mask is a symbolic point of no return for Jack. It is a very deliberate choice: 'Jack planned his new face'(67, emphasis added); however, although Jack creates the mask, he soon loses control over his creation: 'The mask was a thing in its own . . . the mask compelled them' (69). Notice that when Golding wishes to particularly emphasise the size and potency of a certain object, such as the conch, he calls it a 'thing', almost as if this word initiates the object into the society of talismans.
Masks are essential to countless performance forms, from Kabuki and Noh theatre to Kathikali dance to Jim Carey movies and bigring circuses. Do some research on masks, exploring the way they function in one of these theatrical forms. How does this background lend insight not only into Jack's character but into the effect of the mask on the boys who are unmasked?
whose hair never seemed to grow' (69). Piggy, associated with the superego, is never tempted to hunt or become savage and retains a comparatively wellmanaged appearance.
Ralph, Piggy, Simon and the rest relax during the hottest part of the day, as is now their custom, swimming and lying in the shade near the lagoon. Their languidness is shattered by Ralph's realisation that a ship is passing on the horizon and that their signal fire atop the mountain has gone out. A mad scramble up the mountain ensues, but the arrival of the boys only confirms what they already knew. The fire was unattended, cold and dead, and the ship gone.
As the boys brood over their lost opportunity for rescue, Jack arrives with his hunters, ecstatic over the fact that he has finally made his kill. As they approach the ashes of the fire and the cluster of boys, a ritual chanting issues from them: 'Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood' (74). The hunters' enthusiasm is blunted by Ralph's words: 'You let the fire go out' (75). However, Jack, still enthralled by the kill, fails to comprehend the gravity of the situation, protesting that the fire can always be relit.
Original Sin: Once again, Golding describes the boys' journey towards the expression of their baser instincts as a reenactment of the Biblical fall. Jack's acquisition of the knowledge of what violence can do is what continues to launch him into his everincreasing savagery: 'His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink' (76, emphases added).
The simplicity of Ralph's language after the ship is lost is notable, and indeed, it startles Jack. Golding's use of repetition in Ralph's dialogue quite effectively expresses the devastation of his loss.
An anguished Piggy, sickened over what has taken place, refuses to let matters alone, attacking Jack and his hunters verbally. Jack, his finest moment now tainted by the lost opportunity, lashes out violently, punching Piggy in the stomach and destroying one of the lenses in his glasses. Ralph sides with Piggy, albeit too late, but Jack saves face by apologising for letting the fire go out.
Allegorical Cast: Note the religious imagery associated with Simon here. Golding writes that '[p]assions beat about Simon on the mountain top with awful wings' (78). The mountaintop is a typical site for spiritual revelation (consider the Old Testament story of Moses and the Ten Commandments), the wings connote a heavenly messenger, and, most importantly, the passions are meant in the oldest sense of the word, as suffering (a 'passion play', for instance, is a dramatic reenactment of the crucifixion of Christ). Simon's death in the next chapter, and its religious significance, is strongly alluded to here.
The disappointment of the ship fades once a new fire is lit and the pig cooked. Jack hacks at the pig, doling out portions for the hungry boys while ignoring Piggy, who provokes Jack to anger by whining about how he deserves meat as well. Before Jack can have his sport, Simon takes his piece of meat and gives it to Piggy. This act of kindness only provokes Jack's wrath. Slashing off a large piece of meat, Jack flings it at Simon's feet and orders him to eat.
Over the fire, the boys ask for a blowbyblow of the kill. Within minutes, the hunters form a circle, and one of the boys pretends to be the pig. The kill is reenacted, and their violent chant goes up once more. When the chant dies away, an angry but envious Ralph calls an assembly, turns away and walks down the mountain.
while he desperately seeks companionship in this frightening journey, there is none to be found. Golding might be expressing the loneliness of any powerful tyrant when he writes, 'Jack looked round for understanding but he found only respect' (81).
Chapter Five: Beast from Water
Ralph calls an assembly, which is suffused with an air of seriousness and disappointment. He lectures the boys on the need for better huts, basic sanitation and continuous fire on the mountaintop.
In Ralph's view, 'fire is the most important thing on this island' (88). This is because it is the only connection they have with home, the only hope they have for a return to their previous lives. The constant extinguishing of the fire and the increasing effort it takes to relight it symbolise the boys' battle to keep hope alive.
Then Ralph addresses the fear that has been percolating among the boys, especially the littluns. Though his intention is to dispel the fear, Ralph finds himself in the middle of a debate that only serves to escalate it. Piggy, trying to bring logic into the discussion, announces that he does not believe in beasts and explains that the only really frightening creatures on the island are the people.
SelfDiscovery: Ralph asks himself, 'If faces were different when lit from above or below, what was a face? What was anything? What was a man?' (85). His inner musings take an existential turn here, but what he is really expressing is his growing understanding that everything he has learned before coming to the island is now subject to question in the face of this new world.
The littluns are questioned about their nightmares, and they push forward their spokesperson, a small boy named Percival. He is asked where the beast could live, considering that the hunters had already explored almost the entire island without encountering anything more dangerous than a pig. The group is stunned by Piggy, who announces that 'the beast comes out of the sea' (97). The possibility of what might reside in the unknown depths of the ocean sparks a new debate.
Simon takes the conch and expands on Piggy's original proposition: 'Maybe there is a beast . . . What I mean is . . . maybe it's only us' (98).
SelfDiscovery: 'Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness. Inspiration came to him. 'What's the dirtiest thing there is?'' (98). Simon always understands the origin of the conflict on the island, and he always understands what must be done to reach resolution. His difficulty comes in the translating of his easy understanding to an idea the others can grasp. His moments of linguistic frustration align him with the other boys in the story, who are undergoing an enormous process of selfdiscovery that has unhinged in them many feelings and thoughts for which there are not yet words.
The meeting explodes into chaos, and a violent tussle between Jack and Piggy for control of the conch ensues. Significantly, it is Ralph who pushes between them and wrests the conch away from both. Again Ralph blunders, insisting that they vote on whether or not there are ghosts; he is shocked and dismayed when the majority indicate that they believe in ghosts.
Piggy vehemently protests against the vote, provoking Jack to anger. Ralph intervenes,
admonishing Jack for breaking the rules and speaking without the conch. Jack blithely exclaims that he no longer cares about the rules, and with a wild whoop, he leaps off the platform and runs down the beach. The majority of the boys follow him, imitating his wild shouts.
themselves merely by saying they believe. The importance of this vote is expressed by Piggy's desperate protests: '"I didn't vote for no ghosts"' (100). Piggy, like Ralph, seems to
understand intuitively the power a thought can have, especially when shared by many.
Piggy begs Ralph to blow the conch and summon them back to the platform. Ralph refuses. Depressed by the turn of events, Ralph contemplates giving up his position. Horrified at the thought, Piggy begs Ralph not to do it. Simon, the only other bigun who hasn't followed Jack, seconds Piggy, telling Ralph that he must remain chief if anything positive is going to be accomplished. In the distance, the hysterical crying of Percival Wemys Madison splits the night.
'If only they could send us something grownup' (105), Ralph laments to Piggy, after the two relax into a reverie on 'the majesty of adult life' (104). This comment expresses what E.M. Forster calls 'the supreme irony' (Introduction 2) of the book, as the boys will indeed soon receive a 'gift' from the grownup world: a dead parachutist who fulfils their nightmarish idea of a beast and propels the rest of the book's tragedies. This turn of events suggests that the best the 'grown up' world can do is death.
Chapter Six: Beast from Air
Unknown to the boys, a battle is being fought ten miles above them while they sleep. A plane explodes in the sky, and a dead parachutist drifts through the night, the chute caught by the air currents. The body is dragged upwards by the windfilled parachute until it lodges between large rocks at the top of the mountain. The corpse's posture is such that it appears to be sitting, arms draped over pulledup knees and head dangling between them. When gusts of wind fill the tattered chute, it looks like billowing wings behind the dead man, and it pulls his torso upright, holding it in its new position until the wind stops.
On another mountain ledge, less than fifteen yards away, Samneric, the twins, awake. As the glow from the fire combines with the coming of morning, Eric scans the horizon and realises that something is different. Horrified, he points the 'beast' out to Sam, and as the two watch, a strong breeze makes the dead parachutist 'sit up'. Samneric flee, screaming, down the
mountain.
Golding's beautiful descriptions of the mirages caused by the island's oppressive heat contribute to the feeling that the island is shrouded in mystery and magic. The mention of mirages is especially notable in this chapter, which focuses on the way the power of the island changes the form of the parachutist in the boys' eyes.
Samneric wake Ralph and Piggy and recount the horror they have discovered. Ralph orders them to quietly wake the others and tell them to assemble at the platform. After the twins tell their story once again, Jack decides that he must hunt and kill the beast. As is always the case, arguments ensue about the right way and the wrong way to deal with the newest threat to the boys' safety. Finally, the decision is made that Ralph, Jack, Simon and some of the other hunters will search for the beast.
Allegorical Cast: This scene witnesses the completion of Jack's descent to totalitarian tyrant: 'We don't need the conch anymore. Its time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us'(114). By stating that only certain members of the community merit the right to contribute their opinions, Jack stands for the total demolition of democracy on the island.
I'll go. Don't argue' (117).
There is no beast. When the rest of the boys join Ralph and Jack, the group explores the new place. The towerlike appearance and the natural ledges give it the appearance of a castle turret. Jack excitedly declares that it would make a great fort. Much to the dismay of Jack and the others, Ralph calls an end to the frolicking and orders them to follow him to the other mountain. The fire must be lit. Angrily, Jack leads the way down the rock; the rest of the boys, including Ralph, follow him.
Chapter Seven: Shadows and Tall Trees
As the boys make their way toward the dead fire, they pause to rest. Ralph reflects on his desire to cleanse himself to cut his hair, wash his clothes and brush his teeth. Simon assures Ralph that he will get back all right. When Ralph asks him how he can be so sure, Simon simply restates that Ralph will make it back.
Ralph, like the others, exhibits an appearance which the island necessitates his hair has grown irritatingly long, his body filthy, his nails bitten to the quick. In his frustration, Ralph mutters, 'Be sucking my thumb next' (124). Ralph associates the process of societal alienation that the boys are experiencing with a growing immaturity and loss of control. He perceives the way in which the boys are being subsumed by the natural world around them as a return to infancy. This is ironic, as he and the rest of the boys are simultaneously being forced to act like adults for the first time in their lives.
Allegorical Cast: Instead of assuring Ralph, 'We'll get back all right', Simon very specifically tells him, 'You'll get back all right' (125, emphasis added). As a spiritual martyr, Simon seems to know what will befall him and accepts his fate with little protest.
As the boys continue the climb upward, they stumble upon a pig trail and stop to investigate. A boar bursts out of the bushes ahead of them and charges the group. Ralph slings his wooden spear at the boar, hitting it in the snout; however, it escapes. Ralph, the focus of attention and new respect, basks in the moment. Jack steals the show, however, when he reveals a bloody arm where the boar gored him slightly as it bolted away.
When the boys encounter pig droppings on their path, Golding writes, 'Jack bent down to them as though he loved them' (126). The image of this young boy nearing his face to pig dung with tender love is a rather alarming and disgusting one that completes the
animalisation of his character.
Once again, the boys begin to act out a pig kill. They make a circle around a boy named Robert, who pretends to be the pig, and soon they are caught up in the frenzy of the activity. The chanting grows, and Robert is poked with the butt end of spears. Jack orders the boys to hold him, grabs Robert's hair, jerks his head back, and draws his knife. Even Ralph is seduced by the violence. Jack brings his knife arm down, and the circle of boys cheer. Robert, crying softly, tries to laugh away his fear by making a joke out if. The rest agree that it was a great game, but just a game.
Ralph very bluntly asks Jack in this scene, 'Why do you hate me?' (134), and the boys 'stirred uneasily, as though something indecent had been said' (134).
These are the very children who have just deliberately hurt Robert in a violent and savage reenactment of a pig kill and who are about to kill their friends and destroy the island. Yet the thing that they react to as indecent is the mention of the truth.
imminent death. However, both times, the boys collectively refer to their activity as '[j]ust a game' (130), attempting to make their behaviour appear innocuous to themselves and each other.
The boys debate the need to continue up the mountain. Ralph insists that they need to find out if the mountain is clear or if the beast is still up there. Tension peaks as they get closer to the top; the group is almost overwhelmed with fear of what they might find awaiting them. Jack refuses to turn back and challenges Ralph to go with him.
Jack declares his decision to go up 'viciously, as though [his words] were a curse' (135). Here we find another instance of a tool used as a weapon; Jack implements his words not to bind him to the others, not to express his thoughts, but to destroy, to maim, to curse.
Only Roger decides to accompany Jack and Ralph to the top. The three boys clamber up the last of the incline, scramble about in the dark and locate the cold ashes of the fire. As they stare towards the other ledge, the wind picks up and the moon breaks the horizon, and 'the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face' (123). The boys flee down the mountain.
'The darkness seemed to flow around them like a tide' (136). Golding's language reveals that the darkness serves as the boys' enemy in yet another way it separates them, dividing them from each other as the ocean's tide separates them from rescue.
When Ralph actually encounters the monster, he is momentarily paralysed. 'He bound himself with his will, fused his fear and loathing into a hatred, and stood up'. (140). The only way he can go on is to use his fear and hatred to power his steps, just as Jack does. An additional parallel is drawn between the two in the moment when Ralph spears a pig and finds himself enthralled by the rush that accompanies the act. What keeps Ralph from turning into Jack, and vice versa? The book focuses a great deal on the instances in which they are brought together and on the ties that bind them. What are the rifts that separate them?
Chapter Eight: Gift for the Darkness
To the dismay of the rest of the boys, Ralph verifies the existence of the monster. Dejectedly, he states that they are beaten, that they cannot go back and light the fire. Jack insists that his hunters can deal with the beast, but Ralph, forgetting any tact, calls them 'boys armed with sticks' (142). Piggy chides Ralph for causing more problems by insulting Jack's hunters. The discussion is interrupted by the conch being poorly blown by Jack. The boys assemble once more, this time for Jack
Ralph calls the hunters, 'Boys armed with sticks'(142), and in doing so, assumes an adult perspective. In this respect, his comment prefigures the final moment of the book, where we see the boys from the adult perspective of the naval officer. Ralph momentarily robs the hunters of their power, ripping away the veil of their fantasy to reveal them for what they are.
Talisman: The conch, like all the sacred talismans on the island, defines the individual who uses it. The fact that Ralph is the only one that can use it correctly, as a tool, proves that he is the rightful leader. Jack's failed attempt to blow the conch only makes his inability to lead more glaring.
along the beach, crying as he goes.
Games: Jack's break from the group, a pivotal moment which sets into motion the rest of what happens on the island, is described in the language of games: 'I'm not going to play any longer. Not with you' (145).
This chapter mirrors the story of Lucifer's fall from heaven the dissenting angel, Jack, leaves good behind to follow his own vain pursuits. He fears the leader, Ralph, does not love him as much as Piggy, and he takes some of his followers with him. Explore this parallel, especially in the context of what happens later between the two rival tribes.
As morning turns into afternoon, Piggy comes up with a plan: they can build the fire on the beach; they do not have to return to the mountain. Buoyed by Piggy's solution, the boys start to gather wood to make a fire. Piggy and Ralph decide to make a new list of who is to look after the fire, and it is then that they realise that some of the boys, mostly biguns, are missing. Piggy confirms that he saw many of them slipping away while everyone was busy gathering bits and pieces for the fire. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric rationalise that they are better off now there will be no more dissention, and they will be better able to control the immediate situation. Ralph, however, is uneasy, and then it dawns on him that Simon is missing, too.
Allegorical Cast: When the others ask Simon why he thinks they should climb the mountain, he responds in his typically cryptic way with a question: 'What else is there to do?' (146). He is, of course, right again had the boys climbed the mountain in the clear light of day, they would have seen the monster for what it really was and destroyed the allpowerful fear before it could motivate the atrocities to follow.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the beach, Jack addresses his new 'tribe' and announces that he will be chief. There is no disagreement. To celebrate his new status, Jack orders a hunt. The hunters come upon a drove of pigs, including a bloated sow feeding her piglets. A cruel, sadistic attack ensues, and after a long, painful chase, the female pig falls. In the aftermath of the kill, Jack orders that a stick be sharpened at both ends and lodged into the ground. He proceeds to mount the pig's head on the stick as an offering to the beast.
Allegorical Cast: Golding draws a parallel between Jack and Lucifer by using angelic imagery to describe the boys: 'Each of them wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure lines and their voices had been the songs of angels' (151).
Golding's description of the hunters killing the sow is undoubtedly one of the most violent and disturbing passages in the novel. It is the only place in which the boys' sexuality is addressed and it is not only addressed, but exhausted. Golding sexualises the hunt, describing it as both a comingofage sexual experience and a collective rape. At first this is only obliquely hinted at (e.g., 'the hunters followed, wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase' (154)), but by the time the sow is actually killed, the language is unambiguous; the boys are described as a 'dreadful eruption' to which she 'squealed and bucked and the air was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror'. Afterwards, '[t]he sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her' (154). The sow's penetration is completed by a spear thrust over and over again '[r]ight up her arse!' (155). Golding critically links violence, rape and rites of masculinity.
As a last point, the sow is also equated with adult life: 'Her halfshut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life' (157). The boys are not only engaging in a sexual coming of age, but also launching a merciless attack on adult life.
After the pig kill, Jack and four of the others run towards Ralph and the huts. They need fire, and they know where to get it. Jack and his followers burst out of the forest and seize burning branches from the fire. Jack, naked except for his war paint and a belt to hold his knife,
announces that anyone who wants to come to the feast he is having in the evening may do so. He adds that if any of them want to join his tribe, he will consider accepting them.
Just a Game: Piggy mistakenly think the boys have raided the camp for the conch; he doesn't know that Jack has discovered a new toy which invests him with the power to speak: 'Jack lifted his spear and began to shout' (160). His spear is his conch, and the appropriation of this new (and significantly phallic) toy marks the official abandonment of democracy by Jack's tribe.
Simon has gone off by himself, retreating to his secret place near the clearing where the hunters had slaughtered the sow. He had seen the attack on the pig, and now he stares at the head on the stick. His head pounding, sweat pouring off his face, Simon hallucinates as he gazes at the flycovered pig's head. The head talks to him, telling him that he had been right all along, that the beast was not a creature but part of each of them. The pig's head warns Simon that he had better forget what he knows, that the others won't like him if he ruins their fun, that they'll kill him if he tries to tell them the truth. Then Simon, staring into the mouth of the pig, sees a spreading blackness and is engulfed by darkness.
Chapter Nine: A View to a Death
A storm threatens. Simon awakens with a nosebleed. With a fatalistic shrug, he emerges from his private meditation place and heads up the mountain to confront the beast. When he arrives at the top of the mountain, Simon discovers the creature, broken, bloated, and covered with flies. The foul smell of the parachutist's corpse makes Simon vomit, but he untangles the lines of the chute, freeing it from rocks. Spying a trickle of smoke down on the beach where Jack and his tribe are cooking the pig, Simon begins his journey to bring the boys the truth about the 'beast'.
The understanding Simon gleans from his interview with the Lord of the Flies has aged him; he is now possessed of 'a glum determination like an old man' (167). Seen in this light, his exchange with the beast resembles a falling from grace; he eats from the forbidden fruit of truth and comes out on the other side no longer a child.
Piggy and Ralph decide that they should attend the feast to make sure that nothing happens. When they arrive, the feast is in full swing and all the boys are eating the meat. Jack spies Ralph and Piggy and orders his hunters to bring them meat. After everyone has eaten, Jack asks the rows of boys to join his tribe. Ralph attempts to sway the others, stating that he is the elected chief. A brief argument takes place, but Ralph receives no support, and Jack confidently asks again for all to join his tribe. Almost all of the boys accept the chance.
Golding comments on the necessity of the scapegoat to unite divided groups: 'Piggy once more became the object of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal' (171). The unity and optimism of the rest is enjoyed at the expense of the outsider, whose discomfort cheers them because of his distance from their experience.
makes his way into the circle. The boys believe Simon is the beast and beat him to death.
The irony of this frenzied attack is that in the attempt to fight off 'the beast', the boys become beastlike themselves; they 'screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no
movements but the tearing of teeth and claws' (175). It is as if they are fighting against the horrific vision of themselves.
One of the most surprising aspects of the murder is that Ralph and Piggy participate in it. We are given an indication of their reasons here: 'They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable' (174). Perhaps Piggy, the perpetual outsider, is relieved at not being the victim for once. Consider the alluring seduction of being in company, no matter how awful and terrifying. In the final chapter of the novel, Ralph still finds himself attempting to be close to the band of boys that are intent on killing him. What is it that keeps 'good boys' like Ralph coming back to join the others?
The impending storm hits, and torrents of water pour down upon the boys. Looking toward the sky, a black figure glides down from the mountain and towards the beach, sweeping over the hysteria and out to sea. The boys flee into the forest. Later the beach is deserted, except for the body of a small boy. Tiny luminescent sea creatures crawl over the corpse, coating Simon's shoulders and cheek line. Simon's hair becomes filled with the silver glowing things. As the tide increases in size and power, the body of Simon is lifted and swept out to sea.
Allegorical Cast: The last two pages of the chapter, which draw a lovely picture of Simon's body being pulled out to sea by luminous 'moonbeamed bodied creatures' (176), are integral to understanding Golding's use of religious symbolism. The parallels to the story of Christ are particularly striking: Simon is murdered in his effort to bring truth, and his martyrdom is followed by its own variety of resurrection. While Simon does not actually come back to life, there is a sense that he is given a life beyond death in the vast bounty of the forgiving sea. He is immortalised and garlanded by the breathtaking creatures, which shroud him like a band of angels: '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. The strange attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapours, busied themselves round his head' (177).
James Baker raises an interesting comparison between Lord of the Flies and Euripides' The Bacchae. The comparison takes on particular relevance in relation to this scene since in Euripides' text, the crazed and bloodthirsty maenads (analogous to Golding's tribe) also mistake their King, Pentheus, for a beast and tear him limb from limb. Considering Golding's avowed admiration of the classics, an exploration of the two texts together seems promising. See William Golding: A Critical Study by James Baker for further research.
Chapter Ten: The Shell and the Glasses
Piggy and Ralph awake on the platform the next morning with injuries that bear testimony to the fact that they took part in the attack on the 'beast'. Ralph, needing to unburden himself, states that they murdered Simon. Piggy rationalises that it was all an accident, blaming Simon for crawling out of the forest in the dark and finally convincing Ralph that they were both on the outside, and neither directly participated in the attack. Samneric emerge from the forest, bearing cuts and bruises. They explain that they had left the feast early, before the dancing started, because they were tired. Timidly, they ask if either Ralph or Piggy had seen 'the dancing'. Piggy states that they too had left early. Ralph remains silent.
Talismans: Ralph now fully understands the uselessness of the conch; all its magic has been stolen, and it is revealed as nothing but an exceptionally fragile shell. When Piggy encourages him to call an assembly, assuring him he is still the chief, he mocks the naiveté of this
SelfDiscovery: It is only after Simon's death that Ralph understands the true identity of the beast: 'I'm frightened. Of us'. (181). He understands that none of them may be exculpated he is just as much to blame as the creature that used to be Jack Merridew.
Jack has moved his tribe into Castle Rock, the 'fort' made out of the mountainous outcropping of coral at the end of the bridge. He has just finished beating one of his hunters for some unknown offence. Jack announces to the nearly naked boys in front of him that the beast came in a disguise and that they had not killed it. Jack tells the boys that they will continue to hunt and to stay on the right side of the beast by leaving the head of their kills in homage to the beast. He decides that another night raid for fire is needed.
Ralph, Piggy and Samneric enter the only shelter that remains standing and fall into a fitful sleep. Piggy and Ralph wake to noises that are coming from outside the hut, voices in the dark calling Piggy's name. Suddenly the shelter explodes as Jack and several of his hunters attack. Almost too quickly, the fight is over and the boys are struck down by a new revelation the others had come neither for fire nor for the conch but for Piggy's glasses.
'There was something good about a fire. Something overwhelmingly good' (188). As time goes on and his world becomes more and more unfamiliar, Ralph becomes increasingly forgetful of simple truths, such as why a fire is necessary. Golding describes his forgetfulness as a curtain going down, one which separates Ralph from the idea he is trying to reach. Although Ralph is striving desperately to retain order, he is losing control not only of his group, but of his ability to reason.
Chapter Eleven: Castle Rock
Ralph reluctantly calls one last, meagrely attended assembly in which Piggy announces that he is going to confront Jack and insist that Jack return his glasses. Piggy still firmly believes that his logic will force Jack to concede. Ralph and the others attempt to dissuade Piggy from marching on Jack with only the conch as a shield, but Piggy is now blind and determined, and the three others agree to go with him. Before they set out, Ralph tells them that they should clean up. When Ralph complains, as he has done so many times before, about the length of his hair, Piggy suggests that he could pull it back and tie it. Ralph declines, saying that it will make him look like a girl.
Just a Game: Ralph and his group plan to confront Jack after cleaning up because they 'aren't savages really and being rescued isn't a game' (197). This is one of very few times that one of the boys acknowledges the danger of treating all the business of the island as though it were a game. Ralph's response to this acknowledgement is to strip himself of the costume he has worn to play his part in the game filthy skin, tangled hair. He believes that removing the trappings of the savage will eviscerate the savage within.
The mention of 'the devastated fruit trees' (199) affords us an understanding of how the island, once an idyllic paradise, bountiful in every way, has been victimised by mankind. Golding has made mention, from the beginning of the novel, of the way contact with humans has ravaged the island. Initially, all the island bears is a 'scar' left by the crashing of the boys' aircraft, but by the close of the novel, the entire island is subsumed in flames and destroyed.
![Ethyl 2 [5 (4 fluorophenyl)pyridin 3 yl] 1 [3 (2 oxopyrrolidin 1 yl)propyl] 1H benzimidazole 5 carboxylate](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==)