When Ralph is angry about Jack letting the fire out, just for hunting pig, he doesn’t think about when he’s calling an assembly, and as it is about the beast, he chose the wrong time to talk about it. During the assembly Ralph tries to explain his thoughts on the beast, but because the original suggestion of the beast was that it was seen in the dark, nearly everyone was scared, and nobody was particularly listening to what he was saying. This was also because he was giving them a long list of complaints, so they weren’t interested. ‘ “Then people started getting frightened.” A murmur, almost a moan, rose and passed away. “But that’s littluns’ talks….deciding on the fear… I’m frightened myself, sometimes; only that’s nonsense…”’ page 88. At the end he says that he’s sometimes frightened himself. He brings this up very quickly to show that he is just like one of them being scared, but he knows that he’s being silly, and shouldn’t believe in things like the beast.
As soon as Samneric first come to Ralph and claim that they’ve seen the beast, when they’ve actually seen a dead parachutist moving in the wind, Ralph asks Piggy so quickly for the spears, as if he had always feared the beast along with the other boys, even though he didn’t show it. ‘ “We saw the beast-”… “Piggy – where are the spears?” ’page 107. After this point in the novel all the boys except from Simon believe in the beast and now are all thinking about hunting and killing it to be safe. Ralph now realises, that being chief, he should lead the hunt of the beast and not Jack. ‘ “This is more than a hunter’s job…”’ page 111. This is showing that Ralph thinks more practically than Jack, as he thinks about all aspects of this hunt.
Jack first dismisses the idea but then takes this opportunity to show that he was better than Ralph, and could look after the boys better than Ralph could. ‘ “Ralph’s right of course…But if there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it…And we’ll look for the snake too-” ’ He is saying that if there was any dangerous things around he would kill it and make sure everyone’s safe, and probably is hoping to be the hero and become chief. Also it is another reason for him to kill and hunt, and this idea of him killing and hunting shows that he is braver than anybody else, to take on such a big responsibility, even if there isn’t a beast.
But then after a few days of being on the island, and unsuccessful hunting Jack started to hint to Ralph that there was something on the island. ‘ “They’re frightened…They talk and scream…as you’re not hunting, but – being hunted;…” ’ page 52-53. Jack was the first one of the big boys to admit that there could be some kind of beast on the island, but because he was the first big boy, he didn’t want anyone to think that he was scared, and not brave enough to be a hunter, that’s why he kept on saying that it was only a kind of feeling that he had.
In the assembly which was held in the dark Jack started to take over Ralph, by saying the same thing about the beast but in a different manner. ‘ “The thing is – fear can’t hurt you more than a dream…I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it…”page 88 – 89. Jack here is reassuring everyone by saying that he has been all over the island, and would have seen anything if there was a beast. This was a better way to explain to the littluns that there was no beast, and you shouldn’t have fear, than Ralph tried to explain it.
When Jack first hears that the beast is up on the mountain, he didn’t think practically like Ralph, just wanted to go, hunt and kill. ‘ “Let’s be moving,” said Jack restlessly, “we’re wasting our time.”... “This is a hunter’s job.” page 110 – 111. Jack here, is thinking like a beast, no sense, just wants to get on with the killing and hunting.
Jack wasn’t totally convinced that there was a beast, as he had said that there was not any place that he had not visited except from Castle rocks. But when they had not found a beast there he was quite convinced that there was no beast, and so was willing to go up to the mountain by himself at night, to check if there was a beast. ‘ “I’ll go when we get there.” He is saying this to make Ralph look like a coward in front of all the other big boys. He is saying in front of all the others, so that when they get back down to the beach, he’ll have some witnesses to say that he was the bravest one, and should become chief.
Simon however throughout the whole book just says that he does not believe in the beast at all, even though Samneric say they’ve seen it. He is the one who likes to be with nature, and appreciates it as well s he just does not think that it is possible to have a beast on such a beautiful island. ‘ “As if,” said Simon, “the beastie, the beastie or the snake thing was real. Remember?” ’page 53. Here when Jack talks about the littluns being scared of the beast, Simon reminds them of their first adventure round the island, reminding them how nice it was and it was impossible for a beast to live on this island.
Simon always being the sensible, and civilised person, suggests to everyone that maybe the beast is a part of themselves, and something that cannot be hunted, but no-one listens to him and disagrees with him. ‘ “What I mean is … maybe it’s only us.” ’ page 96. Here he is trying to tell everyone that the fear, the beast is all a part of themselves, but because he could not make himself clear enough, they thought that he was going on about ghosts. And this scares everyone, especially because the assembly is in the dark, and so Simon doesn’t talk about it any more.
After Samneric had clarified that they had seen the beast on top of the mountain, everyone was panicking and thinking about going to hunt the beast. Simon however remained obstinate and said that he didn’t believe in the beast, and so did not want to join in with the hunt, but Ralph forced him to. ‘Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity – a beast with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric.’ page 112. Simon was suspecting if there was any beast at all there, because it had claws, it left no tracks and could not catch Samneric. So what kind of a beast could that be? ‘Simon mumbled confusedly: “I don’t believe in the beast.” ’ page 114. Even though Ralph is just about to enter the Castle Rocks to find out if there is a beast or not, Simon still says that he does not believe in beasts. This is quite significant as four people have now reported to have seen the beast, and it has bought all the boys together, but Simon is always kept separate.
When Simon is sitting alone in the forest, he sees the dead pig’s head on the stick and has a hallucinated conversation with it about the beast. The Lord of the Flies here tells him that the beast is within them selves. ‘ “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill…I’m part of you…” ’ This has confirmed what Simon had been saying all this time, that the beast is just the evil, savage part of them. And to prove this he went up to the mountain to check. But when trying to tell the other boys, gets killed savagely by all the other boys. ‘Simon was crying out something about a dead man…The beast struggled…There were no words and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.’ page 168 – 169. This is quite important because the only person who knew about the beast had now just been killed by the beast within the other boys.
One of the main themes throughout the book is shown as part of the boys. Although at the beginning the beast had no importance in the novel, near the end it was the only theme to concentrate on as everyone could only think about torture, hunt and kill. Before Simon had died, there was some kind civilisation around, and people weren’t that much afraid of the beast, as they knew they had someone saying that there was no beast. But after the beast inside themselves kill Simon, everything becomes wild and savage, and there is more of the fear of the unknown.
