Just before this part of the novel, Golding sets the unnerving atmosphere for this vital chapter. This is done through a conversation between Simon and Ralph. Simon, regardless of everyone’s nervousness of confronting the beast that ‘Samneric’ saw from on top of the mountain, tells Ralph that he will return safely. When Ralph replies that Simon is ‘batty’, Simon gets angry and insists that he simply has a feeling that Ralph will ‘get back all right’. What is unsettling about this conversation is that Simon doesn’t predict his own safe return. Again like Christ, the godlike figure that Simon represents, he knows that he will die soon just as Christ did on the Garden of Gethsemane.
Golding uses the characters’ speech to show the degeneration of their society and the culture which they were brought up within and that Ralph had attempted to maintain on the island. It becomes unclear as to who is speaking at any given time in the novel and all the characters seem to speak as one, as they finish each other’s sentences, are classified in groups like ‘the littluns’ and ‘Samneric’. No longer is there any individual identity on the island just categories that the boys fit into. There is no longer any attempt at finding out the names of the younger boys they are just referred to as the ‘littluns’ collectively, as are the twins, originally ‘Sam and Eric’ but now ‘Samneric’.
Golding also uses ‘the game’ here, to emphasize just how brutal their culture has become before he ultimately overwhelms the reader with the final demonstration of the natural, vicious human instinct that is the main theme of the novel. During ‘the game’ the boys viciously repeat their chant, ‘Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!’ again creating the chilling atmosphere that the readers experience throughout this chapter. It stresses how bloodthirsty and uncivilized the boys have become as they surround Robert, chanting and pretending to attack him, however this pretence actually becomes reality and Robert’s initial squeals of ‘mock terror’ become those of ‘real pain’. ‘The game’ shows just how dangerous natural human instinct can be, as all of the boys initially pretending to attack Robert, result in him ‘screaming and struggling with the strength of the frenzy’. ‘The game’ is also the reason why Jack cruelly suggests using a ‘littlun’ as the pretend pig who they could circle, chase, terrify and hang over a fire. ‘The game’ also enhances the reader’s disbelief at Ralph’s sudden change in character after his excitement at having speared a boar, he later has a ‘desire to squeeze and hurt that was over-mastering’ during ‘the game’ as he ‘too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh’. After ‘the game’ ended and the boys ‘lay quiet, panting, listening to Robert’s frightened snivels’ we see how terrifying the extent of the boys’ change from pretend to real murderous behaviour was, towards Robert, again indicating that the boys culture has become utterly violent and without morals. This adds to the already alarming atmosphere which Golding has created.
Due to the completely separate ideologies and principles that each character represents and the fact that Ralph has so far always followed the moralistic values of life and been intent on his desire to escape through the symbolism of the fire and its smoke signal. The fact that we suddenly see Ralph as a character similar to Jack, as he returns to his natural savage human instincts stuns the reader and builds up the atmosphere of disbelief and astonishment until the even greater shock that they receive from Jack at the close of this segment of the novel which, signifies the poignant decline in their once civilized culture turned brutal and cruel. When Robert says, ‘“You want a real pig, because you’ve got to kill him”’ after the suggestion of a drum, a fire and someone to pretend to be a pig whilst they play ‘the game’, and Jack replies, ‘“Use a littlun” … and everybody laughed’ we see the most outrageous show of the removal of care and kindness from within their savage society yet. Golding cleverly uses the art of astounding the reader after the creation of a fitting atmosphere to make this a highly significant moment in the novel.
