The boys stop when they come to a fruit tree and eat. Ralph suddenly notices
how dirty they all are and he really wants a hair cut and a tooth brush. He
looks at the sea and sees wave after wave rise and fall. He is amazed by its
infinite size. Back at the lagoon, it was actually a realistic thought that
they could be rescued. Looking at the sea now, it seems quite hopeless.
Agreeing on the need of food even though they are hunting for something else,
the boys want to try to catch a pig. Totally unexpected, a boar comes out
of the bushes. Ralph hits it with his wooden stick, but doesn’t kill
it. He is very proud. But now Jack comes back, very angry. He cannot understand
why they couldn’t catch the pig. He shows them a huge bruise which the
boar has given him. The boys’ attention is now towards Jack. Ralph becomes
jealous. A wild game with Roger as pig starts. It gets out of hands.
The boys start moving again. They walk along the beach. Simon is sent through
the woods to tell Piggy that they won’t be home this night. The rest
of them keep walking towards the mountain. They are tired, and most of them
run off, wanting to rest at the platform. Roger, Jack and Ralph keep walking,
heading towards the mountain to light the fire and to find the beast. Arriving
at the top they see a rock which is not supposed to be there. The "rock"
gets up and walks away. The three boys run off, terrified. They tell the other
boys what they have seen.
Jack blows in the conch and wakes up everybody. He speaks to the crowd telling
them that the beast really exists (they have seen it) and that Ralph is a
coward, not a real leader. He just gives orders, and he has never helped them
hunt. Jack asks the kids "whoever wants Ralph not to be chief?"
- but nobody raises their hands. Jack gets furious and runs away from the
crowd. The others decide to make a new fire on the beach. Afterwards, they
discover that Bill and Roger are gone.
Jack and a small group of boys stand on the beach on the other side of the
island. Now they will concentrate on surviving, not trying to be saved. They
manage to kill a sow, and the painted children dance the ritual dance to celebrate.
They are going to bring it to the beach so they can eat it, but they don’t
have a fire. Their plan is now to steal fire from the others. But before they
do so, they cut the pig’s head off and put it on a stick in the clearing.
What they don’t know is that Simon is watching them.
Simon is up on the hill, watching the pig’s head on the stick. The head
is surrounded by flies, until they “attack” Simon, who can’t
stop staring at the pig’s head.
Meanwhile, Ralph and Piggy are having a conversation at the beach. The fact
that nobody realizes how important the fire is, scares them. They are afraid
that they are going to be savages as well. Suddenly they are attacked by Jack
and some of the other boys, who grab some burning sticks. Jack offers all
of the kids to join his tribe. They are hunting and having fun, and in the
evening they will have a feast and eat meat. Then Jack and the savages leave.
Ralph, Piggy and the twins are discussing whether they should go to Jack's
feast or not. They can't think of any reason why they shouldn't.
Meanwhile Simon is deep in the jungle, hallucinating. The pig's head - The
Lord of the Flies - is talking to him. The head threatens to kill him. It
says that it is the beast, and that nobody can hunt for it and kill it. Simon
finally looses consciousness.
The weather is foreshadowing the events that take place. The flies crowd around
the mountain. The beast has scared the boys completely and the result of this
is that they begin to have fear of themselves. After having examined the parachuter
on top of the mountain, Simon realizes what the "beast" really is.
Later Ralph throws water at Piggy and instead of retreating, Piggy throws
water back at Ralph. Without Jack and the boys present, Piggy regains his
self-confidence and is able to get back at Ralph. The two boys soon start
to talk in earnest. They are discussing why Jack and the other boys have gone
away. After a while, Piggy suggests that they also should go after them.
Because of Jack, Ralph has lost his position as chief among the boys. Piggy
is scared and turns to Ralph who is obviously also a little bit scared. Lightning
and heavy rain set in, and the boys start their ritual dance. This is a result
of the pig hunt. In a way they are celebrating the killings.
The littleuns become more and more afraid of the biguns, and the littleuns
seem to be left out of the gang. Piggy and Ralph feel a sort of belonging
to the biguns and join their circle. There is a big desire to kill among the
biguns.
They think Simon is the beast as he comes running out of the woods. Before
he has a chance to tell them about the man with the parachute, Simon gets
killed and the chapter ends with his body floating into the sea.
The rain wash away the blood and the remains of Simon`s body. The "beast"
on the mountain, the dead body with the parachute, is also taken away into
the water by the storm.
Review:
The climax occurs when order is completely lost, the conch is crush, and
Piggy is killed. Jack takes over the group.
The falling action is the brief period between the time where Jack takes
over and the officer arrives. We see the innate evil within the boys which
is a reflection of the evil within the entire mankind.
Simon is the saint in the story. He is the one that seems to best understand
the inner evil, and the first to understand the beast. Sadly, his insight
is lost among the boys as he is k
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