In addition to the development of the Ralph/Jack conflict and the continued development of the boys' island civilization, the emergence of Simon as a symbolic figure is another important development in Chapter 3. Simon's basic characteristics become clear from his actions in this chapter. He helps Ralph build the huts when the other boys would rather play, indicating his helpfulness, discipline, and dedication to the common good. He helps the littluns reach a high branch of fruit, indicating his kindness and sympathy; many of the older boys would rather torment the littluns than help them. And he sits alone in the jungle glade marveling at the beauty of nature, indicating his basic connection with the natural world. Whereas most of the boys seem to have their ideas of goodness and morality imposed on them by the external forces of civilization, so that the longer they are away from human society the more eroded their moral sense becomes, Simon's basic goodness and kindness seem to come from within him, tied to his connection with nature. As this idea develops in the novel, Simon emerges as an important figure to contrast with Ralph and Jack. Where Ralph represents the "good" of civilization and Jack the "evil" of uncivilized instinct, Simon represents a third quality—a kind of natural, uncivilized goodness. In this way, Simon complicates the symbolic structure of Lord of the Flies and adds a great deal of moral nuance.
Chapter 4
Summary
Life on the island soon develops a daily rhythm. Morning is pleasant, with cool air and sweet smells, and the boys are able to play happily. By afternoon, though, the sun becomes oppressively hot, and the boys nap fitfully, often troubled by bizarre images that seem to flicker over the water. dismisses these images as mirages caused by the sun's bright rays striking the water. Evening again brings cooler temperatures, but darkness falls quickly, and nighttime is difficult, as the boys are increasingly frightened by the idea of beasts and monsters lurking in the thick jungle foliage.
The littluns, who spend most of their days eating fruit and playing with one another, are particularly troubled by visions and bad dreams. They continue to talk about the "beastie" and to fear that a monster hunts in the darkness. The large amount of fruit that they eat causes them to develop chronic diarrhea and stomach ailments. Their lives are quite separate from those of the older boys, and they are often tormented by the older hunters. One vicious boy named joins Maurice in cruelly stomping on a sand castle they have built. Roger even throws stones at one of the boys. But the harassment is still rather tame, as he is careful not to actually hit the boy with his stones.
Jack, obsessed with the idea of killing a pig, camouflages his face with clay and charcoal, then enters the jungle to hunt, accompanied by several other boys. On the beach, Ralph and Piggy see that a ship has appeared on the horizon; they also see that the signal fire has gone out. They hurry to the top of the hill, but it is too late to rekindle the flame, and the ship does not come for them. Ralph is furious with Jack, because it was the hunters' responsibility to see that the fire was maintained.
Jack and the hunters return from the jungle, covered with blood and chanting a bizarre song. They carry a dead pig on a stake between them. Furious at the hunters' irresponsibility, Ralph accosts Jack about the signal fire, but the hunters, having actually managed to catch and kill a pig, are so excited and drunk with bloodlust that Ralph's anger fails to affect them. When shrilly complains about the hunters' immaturity, Jack slaps him hard, breaking one of the lenses of his glasses. Piggy begins to cry, and Jack taunts him by mimicking his whining voice. Angered anew, Ralph lunges toward Jack. At last, Jack admits his culpability in the failure of the signal fire. But he refuses to apologize to Piggy. The boys again use Piggy's glasses to light a fire; they roast the pig, and the hunters dance wildly around the fire, singing and reenacting the savagery of the hunt. Ralph declares that he is calling a meeting, and he stalks down the hill toward the beach alone.
Analysis
Like much of Chapter 3, Chapter 4 is devoted to describing the civilization that emerges as time passes on the island and to developing the dramatic conflict between Ralph and Jack that will define the shape of the rest of the novel. The issue of power and control has been central to the boys' lives since the beginning of the book; their first act was to elect a leader, and from the moment that Ralph was elected, Jack has been deeply covetous of his power. Now that the group has been living on the island for some time, their society more clearly resembles a political state. Indeed, Golding intends for it to symbolize one, with the faceless and frightened littluns serving as surrogates for the masses of common people and the various older boys filling positions of power and importance with regard to these underlings. Some of the older boys, such as Ralph and especially Simon, are kind to the littluns; others, such as Roger and Jack, are cruel to them.
In this way, two basic conceptions of power slowly emerge on the island, each corresponding to one of the novel's philosophical poles—civilization and savagery. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy represent the idea that power should be used for the good of the group and the protection of the littluns; this notion is associated with the instinct toward civilization, order, and morality. Roger and Jack represent the idea that power should enable those who hold it to gratify their own desires and act on their impulses, treating the littluns as servants or objects for their own amusement; this notion is associated with the savagery and amorality that they constantly exhibit.
When Jack's irresponsibility leads to the failure of the signal fire, an important symbol of the boys' connection to civilization, and thwarts the boys' first chance at being rescued, Ralph flies into a rage, indicating that he is still governed by order, morality, and a desire to achieve the good of the whole group. But Jack has killed a pig, and he is too excited and gratified by his accomplishment to care very much about the missed chance to escape the island; his bloodlust and thirst for power have overwhelmed his interest in civilization. Whereas he previously justified his commitment to hunting by claiming that it was for the good of the group, now he no longer feels the need to justify his behavior at all. Instead, he indicates his new orientation toward savagery by painting his face like a barbarian; leading wild, eerie chants among the hunters; and apologizing for his failure to maintain the signal fire only when Ralph seems ready to fight him over it.
But Ralph is hardly the main practitioner of physical force at this stage of the novel, in which the disintegration of the instinct of civilization is indicated by the extent to which the strong begin to bully the weak rather than protect them. Since the beginning, the boys have bullied the whiny, intellectual Piggy whenever they needed to feel powerful and important; now their harassment of him intensifies. Jack begins to hit him openly. Despite his position of power and responsibility in the group, Jack shows no qualms about abusing the other boys physically. Some of the other hunters, especially Roger, seem even crueler and less swayed by moral impulses. The civilized Ralph is unable to understand this monomaniacal behavior: he simply cannot conceive of the ways in which physical bullying creates a self-gratifying sense of power. The boys' failure to understand each other's points of view creates a gulf between them, one that will widen as resentment and open hostility set in.
Chapter 5
Summary
walks alone along the beach, thinking with frustration about the disintegration of the boys' efforts to improve their lives on the island in an orderly, civilized way that will maximize their chances of being rescued. The cruel behavior, love of savagery, and lack of discipline have accelerated to such a degree, especially among the hunters, that Ralph fears for the whole group. He decides to call a meeting to attempt to bring the group back into line. Late in the evening, he blows the conch shell, and the boys gather on the beach
At the meeting place, Ralph grips the conch shell and berates the boys for their failure to uphold the group's rules. They have not done anything required of them: they refuse to work at building shelters, they do not gather drinking water, they neglect the signal fire, and they do not even use the designated toilet area. He restates the importance of the signal fire and attempts to allay the group's growing fear of beasts and monsters. The littluns, in particular, have been increasingly plagued by nightmare visions. When seconds Ralph's rational claim that there are no monsters on the island, Jack interrupts him and talks about the beasts that might lurk on the island. A ripple of fear runs through the group. One of the littluns claims to have actually seen a beast, and when he is pressed by the others about where it could hide during the daytime, he suggests that it might come up from the ocean at night. This previously unthought-of explanation terrifies all the boys, and the meeting plunges into chaos. Jack torments Piggy and runs away, and many of the other boys run after him. Eventually only Ralph, Piggy, and are left. In the distance, the hunters who have followed Jack dance and chant.
Piggy urges Ralph to blow the conch shell and summon the boys back to the group, but Ralph is afraid that the summons will be ignored and that any vestige of order will then disintegrate. He tells Piggy and Simon that he might relinquish leadership of the group, but his friends reassure him that the boys need his guidance. As the group drifts off to sleep, the sound of a littlun crying echoes along the beach.
Analysis
The boys' fear of the beast has been an increasingly important aspect of their lives, especially at night, ever since the first littlun claimed to have seen a snake-monster in Chapter 2. In Chapter 5, the fear of the beast finally explodes, ruining Ralph's attempt to restore order to the island and precipitating the final split between Ralph and Jack. The beast does not really exist, but it nevertheless serves as one of the most important symbols in the novel. The beast represents both the terror and the allure of the ancient, primordial instincts toward violence, power, and savagery that lurk within every human soul.
Because the symbolism of this novel is so resonant, it can be interpreted allegorically in many different ways. In a religious reading, for instance, the beast can represent the devil; in a Freudian reading, it can represent the id, or the amoral desires of the mind. But however one interprets the notion, it is quite clear that the littlun's idea of the monster rising from the sea terrifies the boys, for it represents the beast's emergence from their own unconscious minds. As Simon eventually realizes, the beast is not something that exists outside in the jungle. Rather, it exists inside each boy's mind and soul, and it is the capacity for savagery and evil that slowly overwhelms them.
Lurking in the darkness of their psyches, the idea of the beast increasingly fills the boys, especially the hunters, with bloodlust, cruelty, and savagery, as represented in the hunters' wild and violent dance. Jack manipulates the boys' fear of the beast, hinting that it exists when he knows that it probably does not. This is one source of his power, but another explanation for his charisma is that he enables the boys to act as the beast—to express the instinct for savagery that civilization has previously held in check. Because that instinct is natural and present within each human being, Golding asserts that we are all capable of becoming the beast. This notion will take on symbolic clarity later in the book, when the other boys, mistaking Simon for the beast, fall upon him and kill him like animals, with their bare hands and teeth.
Chapter 6
Summary
In the darkness late that night, and carry the littluns back to the shelter before going to sleep. As the boys sleep, military airplanes battle fiercely above the island. Yet none of the boys see the explosions and flashes in the clouds, because , who were supposed to watch the signal fire, have fallen asleep. A dead parachutist drifts down from the sky onto the island; his chute becomes tangled in some rocks and flaps in the wind, while his shape casts fearful shadows on the ground. His body is covered up by the parachute, but his head seems to rise and fall in the wind
When Sam and Eric awake, they tend to the fire to make the flames brighter. In the flickering firelight, they see the twisted form of the dead parachutist. They mistake the shadowy image for the figure of the dreaded beast and rush back to the camp, claiming breathlessly that they have been attacked by the beast. They wake Ralph and tell him what they have seen. Ralph immediately calls for a meeting, at which the twins reiterate their claim of having been assaulted by a monster. The boys, electrified and horrified by their claims, organize an expedition to search the island for monsters. Most of the boys are afraid to go, but they are even more afraid to be left behind. Armed with wooden spears, they set out to find the beast. Only and the littluns remain behind.
As they set out on the search, insists to Ralph that he is now in charge, because he is the head of the hunters and the search for the beast is a kind of hunt. Ralph is irritated, but in the exertion of the search the conflict quickly recedes. The boys soon reach a part of the island that none of them has ever explored before, a hill dotted with dark caves and grottoes. The boys are afraid to go into the dark grottoes, so Ralph goes in to investigate them alone. He finds that while he is frightened to go into the darkness when he is among the other boys, he quickly regains his confidence once he is alone in the dark. Soon, Jack joins him in the cave.
The group climbs the hill, and Ralph and Jack feel the old bond between them rekindling. But the other boys begin playing games, pushing rocks into the sea, and many of them lose sight of the purpose of their expedition. Ralph angrily reminds them that they are looking for the beast, and says that they must return to the other mountain so that they can rebuild the signal fire. The other boys, lost in whimsical plans to build a fort on the new hill, are displeased by his commands, but they grudgingly obey.
Analysis
At the beginning of the novel, Ralph's hold on the other boys was quite secure; they all understood the need for order and purposive action, even if they did not always want to be bothered with rules. By this point in the book, however, as the learned conventions of civilization begin to erode among the boys, Ralph's hold on them is slipping, and Jack is becoming a more powerful and menacing figure in the camp. In Chapter 5, Ralph's attempt to reason with the boys was ineffective; by Chapter 6, Jack is able to manipulate Ralph's behavior by calling him a coward, forcing him to act irrationally simply for the sake of preserving his status among the other boys. This breakdown in the group's desire for morality, order, and civilization is increasingly enabled (or excused) by the presence of the monster, the beast that has frightened the littluns since the beginning of the novel and that is quickly assuming an almost religious significance in the camp.
Chapter 6 also serves to remind us of the larger setting of Lord of the Flies: though the boys lead an isolated life on the island, we know that a bloody war is being waged elsewhere in the world, a war in which England is involved. The war is apparently a terrible holocaust; all we know is that England has been threatened by atom bombs in a war against "the reds" and that the boys were evacuated just before the impending destruction of their civilization. The war is also responsible for the boys' crash landing on the island in the first place, because their transport plane was gunned down by enemy aircraft. Now the war is responsible for another important development in their lives. The air battle above the island results in Sam and Eric's encounter with the dead parachutist and fosters their subsequent belief that they have seen the beast.
Although the war remains in the background of the novel, it is nevertheless an important extension of the main themes of the book. Just as the boys struggle with the conflict between civilization and savagery on the island, the outside world is gripped in a similar conflict. War represents the savage outbursts of civilization, when the desire for violence and power overwhelms the desire for order and peace. The outside world has imposed a moral sense and an instinct for civilization upon the boys, but even within the civilization that has nurtured them, the danger of savagery remains real.
Chapter 7
Summary
As they travel toward the mountain, the boys stop to eat. gazes disconsolately at the choppy ocean, thinking that the boys have become slovenly and undisciplined. As he looks out at the vast expanse of water, he feels that the ocean is like an impenetrable wall blocking any hope the boys have of escaping the island. But lifts his spirits by reassuring him that they will be rescued soon.
That afternoon, the hunters find pig droppings, and suggests that they should hunt the pig while they continue to search for the beast. The boys agree and quickly track a large boar, which leads them on a wild chase. Ralph has never been on a hunt before, and he quickly becomes caught up in the exhilaration of the chase. He excitedly flings his spear at the boar. It glances off the animal's snout, but Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship, nonetheless. Jack holds up a bloodied arm, which was grazed by the boar's tusks. The boar escapes, but the boys are in a frenzy in the aftermath of the hunt. Excited, they reenact the chase among themselves with a boy named Robert playing the boar. They dance and chant and jab Robert with their spears, eventually losing sight of the fact that they are only playing a game. Beaten and in danger, Robert tries to drag himself away. The group nearly kills Robert before they remember themselves. When Robert suggests that they use a real boar in the game next time, Jack replies that they should use a littlun instead. The boys laugh, delighted and stirred up by Jack's audacity. Ralph tries to remind everyone that they were only playing a game.
Darkness falls, and Ralph proposes that they wait until morning to climb the mountain, since it will do no good to hunt the monster at night. Jack calls him a coward, and Ralph finally agrees to go on the hunt simply to regain his position in the eyes of the group. volunteers to return to the beach to tell and the littluns that they will not return until late that night. Ralph, , and Jack start to climb the mountain; then Ralph and Roger wait at the halfway point while Jack climbs alone to the top. He returns, breathlessly claiming to have seen the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up to have a look and see a terrifying specter: a large, shadowy form, with the shape of a giant ape, making a strange flapping sound in the wind. Horrified, the boys hurry down the mountain to warn the group.
Analysis
Chapter 7 continues to explore the subtheme of power and its connection to the primitive instincts represented by the beast and the bloodlust of the hunt. Ralph's power has already eroded among the boys, but until Chapter 7 he was largely baffled about why the group was increasingly more concerned with hunting, dancing, bullying, and feasting than with building huts, maintaining the signal fire, and trying to be rescued. Now even Ralph cannot avoid the instinctive excitement of the hunt, as he is caught up with the other boys in bloodlust and egomania. The scene following the failed hunt is the most suggestive symbol we have yet seen of the inextricable connection between the thrill of the hunt and the desire for power. Robert is nearly killed, as the boys, caught up again in their excitement, lose sight of the limits of the game in their mad desire to kill a pig. Afterward, when Jack suggests killing a littlun in place of a pig, the group laughs. Probably none of them (except possibly Jack and Roger) would go so far as to actually initiate such a plan, but instead of being horrified at the possibility, they find it titillating.
Golding also continues to develop the conflict between Ralph and Jack, now escalated to a real struggle for power, as Jack's brand of violence and savagery almost completely replaces Ralph's disciplined community in the boys' conception of their lives on the island. Ralph's exhilaration in the hunt and his participation in the ritual that nearly kills Robert is, in a sense, a major victory for Jack, since the experience shakes Ralph's confidence in the primacy of his civilized, moral ideals. As befits a power struggle in a savage group, the conflict between the boys manifests itself not as a competition to prove who would be the better leader but as a competition of sheer strength and courage. Just as Ralph went boldly into the dark caves alone to prove his bravery in the previous chapter, Jack goes up the mountain alone now. (It is also significant that Ralph discovers nothing, while Jack discovers what he thinks is the beast: Ralph does not believe in the beast, while it forms a major part of Jack's attitude toward life on the island.)
Additionally, Jack gains leverage within the group by using the competition in bravery to force Ralph to commit unwise acts of leadership, such as his decision to go up the mountainside at night. Ralph realizes that it is foolish to hunt the beast at night, but, in a society based on strength, he cannot risk appearing to be a coward. In this way, Jack manages to weaken Ralph's position in the group. Tellingly, Ralph's decision to explore the mountain at night means that he loses the opportunity to prove to everyone that did not see the beast. Had the boys climbed the mountain in the daylight, they would have seen the dead parachutist for what it was; because they go at night, they see it distorted by shadows and believe that they are seeing the beast. In this way, each boy is prone to see the beast to the exact extent that he gives in to the demands of savagery, strengthening the idea that the beast is a symbolic manifestation of the boys' primitive inner instincts.
Chapter 8
Summary
The next morning, the boys are back at the beach, and the news of the monster has them in a state of uproar. , who was not at the mountain, is baffled by the other boys' claims to have seen the monster. seizes the conch shell and blows into it clumsily, calling for an assembly. Jack tells the others that there is definitely a beast on the mountain and goes on to claim that Ralph is a coward who should be removed from his leadership role. The other boys, however, refuse to vote Ralph out of power. Jack is enraged, and he storms away from the group, saying that he is leaving and that anyone who likes is welcome to join him. Deeply troubled, Ralph does not know what to do. Piggy is thrilled to see Jack go, and suggests that they should return to the mountain in search of the beast. The other boys are too afraid to act on his suggestion. Ralph slips into a depression, but Piggy cheers him up with an idea: they should build a new signal fire, on the beach instead of the mountain. Piggy's idea restores Ralph's hope that they will be rescued. The boys set to work and build a new fire, but many of them disappear, sneaking away into the night to join Jack's group. Piggy tries to convince Ralph that they are better off without the deserters.
Along another stretch of sand, Jack gathers his new tribe and declares himself the chief. In a savage frenzy, the hunters kill a mother sow, driving his spear forcefully into the sow's anus. Then the boys leave its head on a sharpened stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast. As they place the head upright in the forest, something suddenly seems wrong to them; the black blood drips down the sow's teeth, and the boys, suddenly terrified, run away.
As Piggy and Ralph sit in the old camp discussing the desertion, the hunters from Jack's tribe descend upon them, shrieking and whooping. The hunters steal burning sticks from the fire on the beach. Jack tells Ralph's followers that they are welcome to come to his feast that night, and even to join his tribe. The hungry boys are tempted by the idea of pig's meat.
Before the raid, Simon slips away from the camp, returning to the jungle glade where he previously sat marveling at the beauty of nature. Now, however, he finds the sow's head impaled on the stake in the middle of the clearing. Simon sits alone in the clearing, staring with rapt attention at the impaled pig's head, which now swarms with flies. The sight mesmerizes him; it even seems as if the head comes to life. The head speaks to him in the voice of the "," ominously declaring that Simon will never be able to escape him, for he lies within all human beings. He also promises to have some "fun" with Simon. Terrified and troubled by the apparition, Simon collapses in a faint.
Analysis
The titillation the boys felt when Jack suggested killing a littlun comes to grotesque fruition in the vicious and bloody hunt following Jack's rise to power among members of his new tribe. Jack's ascent is directly connected to the supposed confirmation of the existence of the beast. Once the boys, who have seen the silhouette of the dead parachutist and mistaken it for a monster, come to believe fully in the existence of the beast, all the remaining power of civilization and culture begins to diminish rapidly; in a world where the beast is real, rules and morals become weak and utterly dispensable. The original democracy led by Ralph devolves into a cult-like despotism, with Jack as a tyrant and the beast as both an enemy and a god. The boys' devotion to the idea of the beast deepens with their leaving the sow's head on the stake as an offering. No longer simply a childish nightmare, the beast has assumed a primal, religious importance in their lives. Jack will use the beast ingeniously to rule his savage kingdom, and each important character will struggle to come to terms with it. Piggy, who still seems to have no irrational side at this point in the book, is simply baffled and disgusted. Ralph, who has seen what he thinks is the beast, is listless and depressed, unsure of how to reconcile his civilized ideals with the sight he saw on the mountaintop. But the most complex reaction of all belongs to one of the book's most complex characters, Simon.
Simon's confrontation with the Lord of the Flies—the sow's head impaled on a stake in the forest glade—is in some ways the most important scene in the book. It is also one of the most complex. Numerous readings of the book have centered on the scene in which Simon confronts the Lord of the Flies. Critics have asserted that the story parallels the history of civilization, that its symbols correspond exactly to the elements of the Freudian unconscious (with Jack as the id, Ralph as the ego, and Simon as the superego), and that it demonstrates the origin of human religious belief in systems of power based on fear of the unknown. The book may indeed support each of these readings, but it is crucial to remember that all of the novel's characters and episodes are thoroughly sublimated to its primary purpose: dramatizing the conflict between the civilizing and savage instincts in human beings.
Nevertheless, the subtheme of religious belief is important to the novel and stands as one of its most complex issues, especially as it relates to Simon. Simon is often described as a Christ figure, a character with a mystical connection to his environment, who possesses a saintly and selfless disposition and whose death is tragic and sacrificial. Each of these characterizations is accurate, but connecting Simon too overtly with Christ limits his role in the novel. Simon does not fit neatly into the matrix framed by Jack at the one end and Ralph at the other. He is kindhearted and firmly on the side of order and civilization, but he is also intrigued by the idea of the beast and feels a deep connection with nature and the wilderness on the island. While Jack and Roger connect with the wilderness on a level that plunges them into primal lust and violence, Simon finds it a source of mystical comfort and joy. Simon's rapport with the jungle combined with his behavior throughout the novel therefore makes him the only character not to feel morality as an artificial imposition of society but as a way of life proceeding directly and easily from nature. The book is deeply preoccupied with the problem of fundamental, natural human evil; Simon is the sole exponent of fundamental, natural good. In a wholly nonreligious way, Simon complicates the philosophical statement the novel makes about human beings, proposing an alternative to the natural-savage model presented by Jack and the obedient-civilized model presented by Ralph. In a world where such a thing is barely possible, Simon is both natural and good.
Simon's confrontation with the Lord of the Flies, then, is more than a Christian allegory representing the meeting of Jesus and Satan. Simon, unlike Jesus, is not a supernatural being, and none of the boys could possibly find salvation from the Lord of the Flies through faith in Simon. Rather, Simon's terror and his swoon indicate the horrific persuasive power of the chaos-impulse represented by the Lord of the Flies. Simon has a deep human insight, realizing that the hunters' behavior is not inspired by any monstrous beast but by a principle of savagery embedded deep within all of them. Fearing that it is embedded within himself as well, he seems to hear the Lord of the Flies speaking to him, threatening him with what he most fears. Unable to stand the sight any longer, Simon collapses into a very human faint. Simon's complicated position in the novel's thematic structure will be emphasized by the manner of his death in the next chapter—foreshadowed by the Lord of the Flies' promise to have some "fun" with him—which further distinguishes Simon's story from that of Christ.
Chapter 9
Summary
awakens. The air is dark and humid with an approaching storm. His nose is bleeding, and he staggers toward the mountain in a daze. He crawls up the hill and, in the failing light, he sees the dead pilot with his flapping parachute. Upon seeing the parachute rise and fall with the wind, Simon realizes that the boys have mistaken this harmless object for the deadly beast that has plunged their entire group into chaos. When Simon sees the corpse of the parachutist, he begins to vomit. When he is finished, he untangles the parachute lines, freeing the parachute from the rocks. Anxious to prove to the group that the beast is not real after all, Simon stumbles toward the distant light of the fire at 's feast to tell the other boys what he has seen.
and go to the feast, hoping that they will be able to keep some control over events. At the feast, the boys are laughing and eating the roasted pig. Jack sits like a king on a throne, his face painted like a savage, waited on by boys acting as his servants and languidly issuing commands. After the large meal, Jack extends an invitation to all of Ralph's followers to join his tribe; most of them accept, despite Ralph's attempts to dissuade them. In the heavy twilight, Jack orders his tribe to do its wild hunting dance. Chanting and dancing wildly around the fire, the boys are caught up in a kind of frenzy; even Ralph and Piggy, swept away by the excitement, dance on the fringes of the group. The boys once again reenact the hunting of the pig, reaching a high pitch of frenzied energy as they chant and dance. Suddenly, the boys see a shadowy figure creep out of the forest: it is Simon. In their wild state, however, they do not recognize him. Shouting that he is the beast, the boys descend upon Simon and start tearing him apart with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tries desperately to explain what has happened and to remind them of who he is, but he trips and plunges over the rocks onto the beach. The boys fall upon him violently and kill him.
The storm explodes over the island. In the whipping rain, the boys run for shelter. Howling wind and waves wash Simon's mangled corpse into the ocean, where it drifts away, surrounded by glowing fish. At the same time, the body of the parachutist is blown out into the lagoon, never to be discovered by the other boys.
Analysis
Chapter 9 is an important turning point in the novel. With the brutal, animalistic murder of Simon, the last vestige of civilized order on the island is stripped away; savagery now reigns. The boys in Jack's camp are now all but inhuman savages, and Ralph's few remaining allies suffer dwindling spirits and consider joining Jack. Even Piggy is swept up in the ritual dance around Jack's banquet fire. The storm that explodes over the island after Simon's death is a dramatic device that pounds home the importance of the murder as well as the chaos and anarchy that have overtaken the island. The storm is also important because it washes away the bodies of Simon and the parachutist. There will now be no proof that the beast does not exist.
Indeed, Jack has already made the beast into a godlike figure, attributing to it both immortality and the power to change form; he uses it as a kind of totem with which to rule his tribe. The importance of the figure of the beast in the novel cannot be overstated, for it gives Jack's tribe a common enemy (the beast), a common system of belief (belief in the mythical creature), a reason to obey Jack (protection from the beast), and even a developing system of primitive symbolism and iconography (face paint and the ).
As horrible as Simon's murder is, there is a sense in which it is merely a logical extension of his encounter with the in Chapter 8. Recall that the beast had foreshadowed Simon's death by promising to have some "fun" with him. Further, Simon learned that the beast exists inside all human beings. Thus, Simon's confrontation with the beast is not complete until he comes face to face with the beast that exists within the other boys. What prompts the boys to kill Simon is certainly the savage instinct that the beast represents. Additionally, the manner of Simon's death continues the parallel between Simon and Christ: they both die sacrificial deaths after learning profound truths about human morality. But Simon's death is different enough from that of Christ to complicate the idea that Simon is simply a Christ figure. Again, Lord of the Flies is more than a simple religious allegory: Jesus and Simon both die sacrificial deaths, but while Jesus was killed for his beliefs, Simon is killed because of the other boys' delusions. Jesus died after conveying his message to the world; Simon dies before he is able to speak to the boys. In the biblical tradition, Jesus dies to alleviate the burden of mankind's sin; Simon's death simply intensifies the burden of sin pressing down upon the island. Finally, in the Bible, Jesus' death shows others the way to salvation; in Lord of the Flies, Simon's death merely exemplifies the power of evil within the human soul.
Chapter 10
Summary
The next morning, and meet on the beach. They are bruised and sore, and they feel awkward and deeply ashamed of their behavior. Piggy, who is unable to confront his role in 's death, attributes the tragedy to mere accident. But Ralph, clutching the conch desperately and laughing hysterically, insists that they have been participants in a murder. Piggy whiningly denies the charge. In any case, the two are now virtually alone; everyone except and a handful of littluns has joined 's tribe at Castle Rock.
There, Jack rules with absolute power; is now his lieutenant. Boys who disobey are swiftly and viciously punished. A boy named Wilfred is badly beaten for a minor infraction. Jack convinces the boys who feel guilty about Simon's death that it really was the beast that appeared to them, that the beast is capable of assuming any disguise. He states that they must continue to guard against the beast, for it is never truly dead. He warns the boys against Ralph and his small group, saying that they are a danger to the tribe. He says that he and the other hunters should raid Ralph's camp in order to obtain more fire and that they will hunt again tomorrow.
The boys at Ralph's camp drift off to sleep, depressed and losing interest even in the signal fire. Ralph sleeps fitfully, plagued by nightmares. They are awakened by howling and shrieking, and are suddenly attacked by a group of Jack's hunters. They are badly beaten, and when the attack is over, they do not even know why they were assaulted, since they would have gladly shared the fire with the other boys. But Piggy knows why: they have stolen his glasses. Now Jack has taken from them the power to make fire.
Analysis
Chapter 10 covers a period of relative calm following Simon's murder, broken only by the vicious raid on Ralph's camp by Jack and his hunters. In the power dynamic of the island, the situation that has been slowly brewing now comes to a full boil; by the end of Chapter 10, Jack's power over the island is complete, and Ralph is an outcast, subject to Jack's whims. As the power of the civilizing instinct has eroded among the boys, so has Ralph's power and influence, to the extent that none of the boys protests when Jack declares him an enemy of the tribe.
Chapter 10 also develops the novel's symbolism by connecting it to the dynamic of power and force on the island. As Jack's power reaches its high point, the figures of the beast and the attain prominence. Similarly, as Ralph's power reaches its low point, the influence and importance of other symbols in the novel—such as the conch shell and Piggy's glasses—decline as well. As Ralph and Piggy discuss the murder of Simon on the beach the following morning, Ralph clutches the conch shell to him for solace, but the once-potent symbol of order and civilization is now useless; in the next chapter, Ralph will be laughed at for blowing the shell in an attempt to bring the boys together. Here, Ralph clings to it as a vestige of civilized behavior, but with its symbolic power fading, the conch shell is merely an object. Like the signal fire, it can no longer give Ralph comfort. The other major symbol of civilization, Piggy's glasses, has fallen into Jack's hands. Jack's control of the ability to make fire symbolizes both his power over the island and the demise of the boys' hopes of being rescued.
This chapter also contains an interesting sequence of character development as each of the important boys reacts to the death of Simon, highlighting the natural contrast between them. Piggy, who is used to being right because of his superior intelligence, finds it impossible to accept any guilt for what happened. Instead, he devotes his intelligence to rationalizing his role in the affair. Ralph refuses to accept Piggy's easy rationalization that Simon's death was accidental. He insists that the death was a murder. Yet the word "murder," a category within a rational system of law and a civilized moral code, now seems strangely at odds with the collective madness of the killing. The word serves as a harsh reminder of just how far the boys have traveled along the moral spectrum since the time when they were forced to follow the rules of adults.
For his part, Jack has become an expert in using the boys' fear of the beast to enhance his own power. He claims that Simon really was the beast, implying that the boys have a better grasp of the truth in their frenzied, chanting orgies of bloodlust than in their calmer moments of reflection. This is perfectly appropriate to Jack's character, which is based on his almost palpable addiction to that state of bloodlust and frenzy. In some sense, his ability to convince the other boys that that state is a valid way of interacting with the world is partially responsible for their eroding moral sense. Here we see his psychological manipulation in action.
Chapter 11
Summary
The next morning, and , along with , try to light the fire in the cold air. Without Piggy's glasses, the attempt is hopeless. Piggy, squinting blindly without his spectacles, suggests that Ralph hold a meeting to discuss their options. Ralph blows the conch shell, and the boys who have not gone to join 's tribe assemble on the beach. They decide that their only choice is to travel to Castle Rock to make Jack and his followers see reason. The signal fire has burned out, and without his glasses Piggy is nearly blind.
Ralph decides to take the conch shell to Castle Rock, hoping that it will remind Jack's followers of his former authority. Once at Jack's camp, however, the group is met by armed guards. Ralph blows the conch shell, but the guards taunt the boys and pelt them with stones. Suddenly, Jack and a group of hunters emerge from the forest, dragging a dead pig. Jack and Ralph immediately face off: Jack commands Ralph to leave his camp, and Ralph demands that Jack return Piggy's glasses. Jack attacks Ralph, and they fight. Ralph struggles to make Jack understand the importance of the signal fire to any hope the boys might have of ever being rescued, but Jack orders his hunters to capture Sam and Eric and tie them up. This sends Ralph into a fury, and he lunges at Jack.
They fight for a second time. Piggy cries out shrilly, struggling to make himself heard over the brawl. But as he tries to speak, hoping to remind the group of the importance of the fire, shoves a massive rock down the mountain slope. Piggy hears it thundering toward him, but he cannot see it. The rock explodes into many pieces, and the conch shell shatters. Piggy plunges onto a red rock forty feet below and dies. Jack throws his spear at Ralph, and the other boys quickly join in. Ralph escapes into the jungle, and Roger and Jack begin torturing Sam and Eric, forcing them to submit to Jack's authority and join his tribe.
Analysis
The conflict between Jack and Ralph, between civilization and savagery, marks the beginning of the book's climax. In the ensuing chaos, the two natural objects that have come to symbolize each side—the conch shell and the –are destroyed by allies of the opposite side. Roger, the character least able to understand the civilizing impulse, crushes the conch shell as he kills Piggy, the character least able to understand the savage impulse. In the next chapter, Ralph, the governing exponent of civilization, will destroy the Lord of the Flies, the governing totem of the dark impulses within each individual. With Piggy's death and Sam and Eric's forced conversion to Jack's tribe, Ralph is left alone on the island, doomed to defeat by the forces of bloodlust and primal chaos.
Given the development of the novel to this point, it also seems appropriate that Ralph's defeat should come in the form of the hunt. From the beginning of the book, the hunters have been the characters most swayed by the experience of savagery and violence, simply because they experienced it first and most often. The conflict between Ralph and Jack has often manifested itself as the conflict between the interests of the hunters and the interests of the rest of the group. In Chapter 3, for instance, the boys argued over whether Jack's followers should be allowed to hunt or forced to build huts with Ralph and . Now that Jack and the forces of savagery have risen to unchallenged prominence on the island, the hunt has thoroughly won out over the more peaceful civilizing instinct. Rather than successfully mitigating the power of the hunt with the rules and structures of civilization, Ralph has become a victim of the savage forces represented by the hunt. He has literally become the prey.
Chapter 12
Summary
Ralph hides in the jungle, thinking miserably about the chaos that has subsumed the island. He thinks about the deaths of and , realizing that, with the destruction of the conch shell, all vestiges of civilization have been stripped from the island. He stumbles across the sow's head, the , now merely a gleaming white skull—as white as the conch shell, he thinks. Disgusted and angry, Ralph knocks the skull to the ground and takes the stake upon which it was perched to use as a weapon against .
That night, Ralph sneaks down to the camp at Castle Rock and finds guarding the entrance. The twins give him food, but they refuse to join him. They tell him that Jack plans to send the entire tribe after him the next day. Ralph hides in a thicket and struggles to stay awake. In the morning, he hears some boys talking and learns that Sam and Eric have been tortured and have told Jack where he is hiding. A group of boys tries to fight their way into the thicket, but Ralph fends them off. Several boys try to break into the thicket by rolling a boulder, but the thicket is too secure. Then Ralph smells smoke: Jack has set the jungle on fire in order to smoke him out. Ralph abandons his hiding place and fights his way through a group of Jack's hunters. Chased by a group of body-painted warrior-boys wielding sharp wooden spears, Ralph plunges frantically through the undergrowth, fleeing like a hunted animal, looking only for a place to hide. At last he is forced onto the beach, where he collapses in exhaustion, his pursuers close behind.
Suddenly, Ralph looks up to see a naval officer standing over him. The officer tells the boy that his ship has come to the island after seeing the blazing fire in the jungle. Jack's hunters reach the beach; upon seeing the officer, they stop in their tracks. The officer, stunned at the sight of this group of bloodthirsty child-savages, asks Ralph to explain. When he learns what has happened on the island, the officer is reproachful: how could this group of boys, he asks, and English boys at that, have lost all reverence for the rules of civilization in so short a time? For his part, Ralph is overwhelmed by the knowledge that he has been rescued, that he will escape the island after coming so close to a violent death. He begins to sob, as do the other boys. Stuffily, the naval officer turns his back so that the boys may regain their composure.
Analysis
After Ralph's tense, exciting stand against the hunters, the ending of Lord of the Flies is rife with irony. Throughout the book, Ralph has thought that a signal fire was the only way to lure rescuers to the island, and the fire has been a symbol of civilization. Now, the navy ship is lured to the island by fire, but rather than being the ordered signal fire of civilization, it is the haphazard forest fire set by Jack's hunters solely for the purpose of killing Ralph. Throughout the book, Ralph has worked assiduously to retain the structure of civilization and maximize the boys' chances of being rescued. Now, when all he can do is struggle to stay alive as long as possible, the deus ex machina (an improbable or unexpected device or character introduced to resolve a situation) of the naval officer appears at the last possible moment to bring the boys back to the world of law, order, and society.
Golding's use of irony in the novel's last chapter complicates the boundaries between civilization and savagery, implying that the two are more closely connected than the story has illustrated. After all, the boys' appalling savagery brings about the rescue that their most coordinated and purposive efforts were unable to achieve. Still, many readers of Lord of the Flies have criticized its ending, feeling that Ralph's death would have provided a more appropriate conclusion to this dark novel.
It is certainly true that the biting irony permeating Golding's characterization of the naval officer—who is unable to understand how upstanding British lads could have acted with such poor form—is tonally inconsistent with the dramatic register of the rest of the book. In other words, his appearance is somewhat anti-climactic. But it is important to recognize that the novel's ending is not particularly happy, and that the moment in which the officer encounters the boys is not one of pure, untainted joy. The "civilized" officer adds further irony to the scene, as he is part of an adult world in which violence and war coexist with civilization and social order. He reacts to the savage children with disgust, yet this disgust is tinged with hypocrisy. Similarly, the children are so shocked by the officer's presence, and are now psychologically so far removed from his world, that they do not instantly celebrate his arrival. Rather, they stand there baffled and bewildered. Even Ralph, whose life has literally been saved by the presence of the ship, weeps tears of grief rather than joy. For Ralph, as for the other boys, nothing can ever be as it was before coming to the island of the Lord of the Flies.
Study Questions
What does it mean to say that Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel? What are its important symbols?
Answer for Question 1
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel because its important characters and objects directly represent the book's themes and ideas. In the same way that the conch shell represents the power of civilization, the sow's head in the jungle represents the power of the impulse to savagery that exists within each person. Each character serves as the representative of a certain idea: represents the civilizing impulse, the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization, the impulse to savagery and the desire for power, and so on.
Compare and contrast Ralph and . Both seem to be "good" characters. Is there a difference in their goodness?
Answer for Question 2
The two boys are motivated toward goodness by different sources. For Simon, goodness is not a restraint forced upon him by civilization. Instead, his goodness seems to flow from his connection to nature, and he lives according to the moral regulations of civilization simply because he is temperamentally suited to them: he is kind, thoughtful, and helpful by nature. Simon realizes that society's rules are in everyone's best interest. In contrast, like the other boys, Ralph is capable of moral behavior, but this behavior seems learned rather than innate. Like the others, he is swept up by bloodlust during the hunt and subsequent dance. Thus, while Ralph is capable of leadership, it is Simon who recognizes that the beast does not exist in tangible form on the island but exists as an impulse to evil within each individual.
How does Jack use the beast to control the other boys? In what way is Lord of the Flies a religious novel?
Answer for Question 3
Jack expertly uses the beast to manipulate the other boys. The frightful symbol provides his tribe with a common enemy, a common idol, a common fear, and a common system of beliefs all in one. Jack invokes different aspects of the beast depending on which effects he wants to achieve. The boys' belief in the monster also gives Lord of the Flies religious undertones, since the boys' various nightmares about monsters eventually take the form of a single monster that they all believe in. By leaving the sow's head in the forest as an offering to the beast, Jack's tribe solidifies its collective belief in the reality of the nightmare; the skull becomes a kind of religious totem with extraordinary psychological power. Yet, as a religion, the beliefs the boys develop on the island are one-sided, since they are all oriented toward the savage or evil impulse that exists in all human beings. Although Simon seems to represent a kind of innately good alternative to the models of Jack and Ralph, the novel does not really explore the idea of innate human goodness, only that of innate human evil. Thus, positive moral aspects of religion are almost wholly absent from the book.
Suggested Essay Topics
4. Of all the characters, it is Piggy who most often has useful ideas and sees the correct way for the boys to organize themselves. Yet the other boys rarely listen to him and frequently abuse him. Why do you think this is the case? In what ways does Golding use Piggy to advance the novel's themes?
5. What, if anything, might the dead parachutist symbolize? Does he symbolize something other than what the beast and the symbolize?
6. The sow's head and the conch shell each wield a certain kind of power over the boys. In what ways do their powers differ? In what way is Lord of the Flies a novel about power? About the power of symbols? About the power of a person to use symbols to control a group?
7. What role do the littluns play in the novel? Certainly they serve as gauges of the older boys' moral positions; we see whether a boy is kind or cruel depending on how he treats the littluns. But are the littluns important in and of themselves? What might they represent?
Important Quotations Explained
Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there 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. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.
Explanation for Quotation 1
This quote from Chapter 4 describes the beginnings of 's cruelty to the littluns, an important early step in the group's decline into savagery. In Chapter 4, the boys are still building their civilization, and the civilized instinct still dominates the savage instinct. But the cracks are beginning to show, particularly in some of the older boys' willingness to use physical force and violence to give them a sense of superiority over the smaller boys. This quote describes the psychological workings behind the beginnings of that willingness.Roger wants to torment Henry, the littlun, by pelting him with stones, but the vestiges of socially imposed standards of behavior are still too strong for him to completely give in to his savage urges. He feels constrained by "parents and school and policemen and the law," all agencies that enforce society's moral code. Before long, Roger and most of the other boys will lose their respect for those forces, and violence, torture, and murder will break out as the savage instinct replaces the instinct of civilization among the group.
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.
Explanation for Quotation 2
This quote, also from Chapter 4, explores 's mental state in the aftermath of killing his first pig, another milestone in the boys' decline into savage behavior. The quote emphasizes Jack's excitement ("his mind was crowded with memories") and exhilaration, which is explicitly based on the feelings of power and superiority he experienced in killing the pig. He is not excited to have helped the group but to have "outwitted" another creature and "imposed" his will upon it. Earlier, Jack claimed that hunting was important to provide meat for the group; now, it becomes clear that Jack's obsession with hunting is due to the satisfaction it provides his primal instincts and has nothing to do with helping the group.
"What I Explanation for Quotation 3
This line is spoken by in Chapter 5, at the meeting in which the boys consider the question of the beast. One littlun has proposed the terrifying idea that the beast may emerge from the water at night, and the boys argue about whether the beast might actually exist. Though it is laughed off by the other boys, Simon's statement that the boys themselves are the beast is central to the novel's theme of innate human evil. This is the first moment in which the beast is explained not as an external force but as a component of human nature. Simon does not yet fully understand his own idea; it will become clearer to him during his encounter with the in Chapter 8. mean is ... Maybe it's only us ..."
"There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast ... Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! ... 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 the way they are?"
Explanation for Quotation 4
The Lord of the Flies speaks these lines to Simon in Chapter 8. Like Simon's statement in Chapter 5, they are central to the novel's theme of innate human savagery. The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the beast and acknowledges to Simon that it exists within all human beings. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" The creature's grotesque language and bizarre appropriation of the boys' slang ("I'm the reason why it's no go") is Golding's way of making him seem hideous and devilish to the reader, which is appropriate, since "Lord of the Flies" is a translation of Beelzebub, the name of a biblical demon.
Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.
Explanation for Quotation 5
These lines from the end of Chapter 12 occur at the close of the novel, after the boys have encountered the deus ex machina of the naval officer, who has come from nowhere to save them. The sudden realization that he is safe and will be returned to civilization plunges into a reflective despair as he realizes that although he is saved from death on the island, he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within all human beings. Here Golding explicitly connects the sources of Ralph's despair to two of the main themes of the novel: the end of innocence and the "darkness of man's heart," a consequence of the savage instincts lurking within all human beings, even at the height of civilization.