Ralph is furious when he finds that a ship is passing, and the fire at the top of the mountain is out. The hunter’s were so excited over their first pig kill that they forgot about the fire. Piggy insults Jack, who hits Piggy, causing him to break one of the lenses of his glasses.
Ralph calls for a meeting, where he finds that the ‘littluns” are having increased fears about a “beast” on the island. The older boys, too, are beginning to have this fear, and the boys begin brainstorming about where the beast may live.
The night of the meeting, a parachute lands on the island. The twins, Sam and Eric, who were in charge of watching the signal fire that night, wake to see the movement and sound of the parachute. Terrified, they sprint back to camp to tell the others about their encounter with the beast.
Ralph organizes a meeting, and the older boys soon set out on an expedition to find the beast. The boys reach the one area of the island they have not explored, which is a giant hill with caves in it. Ralph volunteers to check the premises first, and Jack soon follows, but there is no sign of the beast.
The next day, the boys continue their search for the beast, but Jack begins a hunt as well. Ralph joins the hunt, and is thrilled when he is the only one to stick his spear in a passing boar.
That night, the boys climb the mountain on another hunt for the beast. There, they see what seems like a “great ape.” Jack calls another meeting where Ralph and him tell the others what they saw. Jack announces that he feels Ralph is a “coward” like Piggy and should not be their leader, but the other boys disagree. Furious, Jack leaves to call the other hunters to join him. The others begin to build another signal fire on the beach, but soon most of boys have gone off to join Jack.
Under Jack’s lead, the new party of boys kills a sow, placing its head on a stake as an offering to the beast. They then go to Ralph’s camp, where they try to convince the rest of Ralph’s followers to join the “fun side” for dinner. Simon soon goes off by himself, where he comes across the head of the sow surrounded by flies. There, he has a vision of this “Lord of the Flies” speaking to him, telling him that he will never escape him because he is “part” of him, causing Simon to pass out.
After waking, Simon goes to the mountain, where he finds the dead man who landed on the island with his parachute. He heads to the beach to tell the others all that he has seen, but when he arrives he finds that everyone, including Ralph and Piggy, has joined Jack’s chaotic feast. The group mistakes Simon for the beast, and slaughters him as if her were a sow.
The next morning, Ralph and Piggy discuss what happened the night before, but Piggy does not admit that he had been involved in the murder.
Jack’s party creates a fort at “Castle Rock,” where they all believe that Simon really was the beast, but that the beast can never truly die. Without the use of Piggy’s glasses, Jack’s group has no way of cooking, so they raid Ralph’s camp. Once in possession of the glasses, Jack feels that he is in total control of his party.
Ralph, Piggy and Samneric decide to go to Castle Rock in hopes of gaining back control. There, they are met by a group of boys standing guard, and soon by Jack himself. Jack and Ralph begin to fight, and, after Jack orders for Sam and Eric to be captured. Piggy tries to be heard over the fight, but Roger soon pushes a large rock towards him, breaking the conch shell and knocking piggy off of a cliff.
Ralph spends the night hiding, and the next morning Jack’s party attempts to smoke Ralph out of the forest. Ralph stays in the forest as long as he can, where he finds and kicks over the sow’s head. Soon, the entire forest is on fire, and all of the boys run to the beach. After arriving, they find that that fire has created a giant signal, attracting the attention of a British ship. An officer is shocked by the sight of the wild children, and asks Ralph to explain. Unable to describe what has happened, Ralph and the other boys begin to cry. Feeling both touched and “embarrassed,” the officer turns away to give the boys a chance to calm down.