Select one chapter from Lord of the Flies and assess its importance to the novel as a whole.

October 24th 2003 Jaspreet Kular L5a

Assignment 1 Unit 7 Literature Coursework:

Prose post 1914:

Lord of the Flies

Select one chapter from Lord of the Flies and assess its importance to the novel as a whole.

This essay will be looking at chapter six of Lord of the Flies (Beast from Air), and its importance in terms to the rest of the novel. The essay will consider the plot, characters of the chapter, structure/style of writing, the language, setting and themes of the chapter.

This sixth chapter is appropriately titled "Beast from Air". The beast is literally a dead airman who drops onto the island by parachute. But he is more than just a lifeless human being; the airman is the signal from the world of society and grown-ups that Ralph and Piggy had wished for. Sardonically, the only sign that civilization still exists outside the island comes in the form of a dead man from a dying world that is being destroyed by war. It is a completely negative image.

On a metaphorical level, the image becomes less harsh. The dead airman can be observed as the ‘fallen man’ (sinful man) snarled in the tree of life. His head is light, dipping up and down with no thought, and his body is crumpled, overpowered by life. Simon, who is often depicted as a Christ figure, comes to the airman’s rescue he ‘literally’ saves him from entanglement in the tree of life.

Chapter six signifies the beginning of the second part to the novel. As the second part is much more savage and horrific, compared to when the boys were naive and inexperienced with the island in the first part of the novel. The chapter opens with the threat of the beast taking on physical realism, with the appearance of the dead parachutist. Golding describes the scene:

‘There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky; then darkness again and stars. There was a speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs.’

Golding’s writes in a plain impartial style. His language is not complex or elaborate. Yet at the same time, it is not too casual. He uses a great deal of imagery as can be seen in his description above. Throughout the chapter Golding embarks on using new or previously unused vocabulary in many of his descriptions. For example, ‘tremulously’ meaning to show a fear of something, probably the beast in this instance. ‘Bristled’ meaning reacted angrily to something/made something stand on end). ‘Relentlessly’ meaning ceaseless and intense/persistently hostile. This all has an effect on the novel; it reflects the boys’ childlike and naive behaviour, but also makes the novel flow more easily in that it is more simplistic to read and understand.

The parachutist is then carried by the wind and lands near the signal fire on the mountain where the twins (Sam and Eric) have fallen asleep. They awake and are petrified by the body of the lifeless parachutist and shadows of the parachutist cast by the fire. Shocked by what they have seen they run to the shelters to tell of the dreadful news to Ralph, who is dreaming of his home:

‘Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where he came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over ...

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‘Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where he came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall.’

When daybreak arrives Ralph calls an assembly and Sam and Eric ensue with the telling of their come across of the beast, with overstated details.

The decision is made to search the island for the beast. A group led by Ralph set off to locate the beast, with Jack, Simon and others following at the rear. As they set out, Simon considers his incapability to speak before the group and has a visualization of the beast:

‘However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight 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.’

Simon imagines the beast as being heroic, but sick; in other words, man is capable of great things, but is destroyed by sin and evil.

On their investigation of the island the boys discover Castle Rock; this is a place Jack uses as a base for his tribe later on into the novel. They realize there is no beast at Castle Rock and this aggravates the boys, especially Ralph. The hunters want to stay on a while longer to build a fort and roll rocks, but Ralph convinces them to continue to the mountain;

‘I’m chief. We’ve got to make certain. Can’t you see the mountain? There’s no signal showing. There may be a ship out there. Are you all off your rockers?’

This quotation taken from the end of chapter six, shows in particular Ralph’s desire to leave the island and return to adult society. His character represents order, leadership, and civilization in the novel. Golding uses Ralph to represent the ideal human; someone who does well but is not so out-of-touch that he can’t relate to typical human temptations.

This chapter uses many symbols to represent ideas and concepts important within the novel. The most significant symbol in the chapter is the parachutist. It symbolises the end of adult supervision of the boys on the island. This shows that society’s rules and democracy is failing and starting to crumble on the island. A good example of this in the chapter is when Jack speaks out against the conch:

‘Conch! Conch! We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things.’

Jack has spoken out strongly against the power of the conch, and democracy, that this is a pivotal point in the novel.

The airman stands for the loss of civilisation and slow decline of old ways in the boys’ new society. Civilisation has died and cannot be saved. This tells us the boys were preoccupied with events on the island. They were no longer children of the Old World, nor did they care for it, they were now children of the island. The dead man was no longer one of them, but an outsider, who did not matter.

The symbol of the parachutist brings up another important symbol in the chapter and novel, the island. The Lord of the Flies takes place on an island during a nuclear war sometime in the future and the night time battle that takes place at the beginning of the chapter serves as more evidence that a war is going on in the outside world. The island is significant since the remoteness forms a type of civilization and community, a microcosm to the real world. At the same time, the island lacks a society and the common laws and rules allowing for the boys to run wild and show their true, ugly, inner selves. Since the island is a microcosm, Golding uses it to reflect our world and his opinions of the world we live in. Contrary to belief that man is innocent and society evil, the story shows that laws and rules are necessary to keep the darker side of human nature in line. When these are ignored or slip away, mankind reverts to a more primitive part of their nature.

In chapter five Ralph had prayed for a sign from the adult world, the irony here is what he actually got is the dead airman, who is powerless to help them. They must look to themselves to solve their own problems.

Consequently, the signal fire becomes a symbol for the boys' connection to civilization. As long as the fire is well maintained, the boys show a desire to return to society, but when the fire burns low or goes out, the boys lose their wish to be rescued. To Ralph and Piggy it stands for the moral influence of their old life.

The novel as it has been said, takes place on an island but in historical aspects it takes place during World War Two, what is interesting is that the war is indirectly mentioned in opening chapter of the novel (chapter one), halfway through the novel (chapter six) and in the concluding chapter of the novel (chapter twelve). The war is not mentioned anywhere else in the novel; this is a significant literary device of Golding.

Other important symbols used throughout this chapter are:

The assembly towards the beginning of the chapter (the name given for the democratic meeting sessions held for the group when led by Ralph).

The conch, the shell used to call to the boys together for an assembly, when it is held it gives the holder the right to speak. In this chapter Ralph does not blow the conch to attract the boys’ attention, instead he holds it up as a signal that an assembly is to be held. Interestingly he does not blow the conch for fear of the beast hearing the conch.

‘Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat and held it to his lips; but then he hesitated and did not blow. He held he shell up instead and showed it to them and they understood.’

Castle Rock, it is within this chapter that Castle Rock is first discovered and this becomes a significant symbol later on in the novel, as it serves as a fort for Jack and his tribe.

‘Jack was excited.

“What a place for a fort!”’

Mountain, this was the site of the signal fire. As the myth of the beast grows, this is thought to be the place where it lies.

The main characters in chapter six are Ralph and Jack, and this chapter focuses on their disintegrating relationship which is highly significant later on in the novel. Jack has a clear enemy in Ralph, who insists on rules and self-control over wild adventures and hunting. Ralph remains focused on the clear objective of keeping the fire burning to alert possible passing ships, while Jack is dedicated to only those pursuits that allow him to behave in a vicious manner. From the very start of the novel Jack takes a certain dislike to Ralph, although this may be small at first; as Jack has always been jealous of Ralph for being elected to become the island’s leader. However further on into the novel we see a reversal of changes with Jack’s status among the boys consistently increasing, while Ralph’s status declines. Within this it can be foreseen of the coming trouble between these two characters.

An interpretation of this chapter can be made. So far, the beast has only supposedly seen by the littluns, but now Sam and Eric have also claimed to have seen the beast. A search takes place to find the beast, but Jack begins manipulating the boys’ fear of the beast so as to gain a firm hold over them. His is the best hunter they have, who else is better than him to hunt and kill the beast? Little do the boys realise, that if they to go down the same path that Jack is leading them they all become beast-like. Only Simon is the one to understand fully what the beast is and that it is not a creature, but a paranormal force which is beginning to grow in some of the boys. In conclusion, I believe chapter six ‘Beast from Air’ is an important chapter for its small, key details and elements of prophesy within the plot of the chapter.