Science: Chemistry: Periodic Table

The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular method of displaying the chemical elements. Although precursors to this table exist, its invention is generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Mendeleev intended the table to illustrate recurring ("periodic") trends in the properties of the elements. The layout of the table has been refined and extended over time, as new elements have been discovered, and new theoretical models have been developed to explain chemical behavior.[1]

The periodic table is now ubiquitous within the academic discipline of chemistry, providing an extremely useful framework to classify, systematize and compare all the many different forms of chemical behavior. The table has also found wide application in physics, biology, engineering, and industry. The current standard table contains 117 elements as of January 27, 2008 (elements 1-116 and element 118).

The layout of the periodic table demonstrates recurring ("periodic") chemical properties. Elements are listed in order of increasing atomic number (i.e. the number of protons in the atomic nucleus). Rows are arranged so that elements with similar properties fall into the same vertical columns ("groups"). According to quantum mechanical theories of electron configuration within atoms, each horizontal row ("period") in the table corresponded to the filling of a quantum shell of electrons. There are progressively longer periods further down the table, grouping the elements into s-, p-, d- and f-blocks to reflect their electron configuration.

In printed tables, each element is usually listed with its element symbol and atomic number; many versions of the table also list the element's atomic mass and other information, such as its abbreviated electron configuration, electronegativity and most common valence numbers.

As of 2006, the table contains 117 chemical elements whose discoveries have been confirmed. Ninety-four are found naturally on Earth, and the rest are synthetic elements that have been produced artificially in particle accelerators. Elements 43 (technetium), 61 (promethium), 93 (neptunium) and 94 (plutonium) have no stable isotopes and were first discovered synthetically; however, they were later discovered in trace amounts on earth as products of natural radioactive decay processes.

In Ancient Greece, the influential Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that there were four main elements: air, fire, earth and water. All of these elements could be reacted to create another one; e.g., earth and fire combined to form lava. However, this theory was dismissed when the real chemical elements started being discovered. Scientists needed an easily accessible, well organized database with which information about the elements could be recorded and accessed. This was to be known as the periodic table.

The original table was created before the discovery of subatomic particles or the formulation of current quantum mechanical theories of atomic structure. If one orders the elements by atomic mass, and then plots certain other properties against atomic mass, one sees an undulation or periodicity to these properties as a function of atomic mass. The first to recognize these regularities was the German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner who, in 1829, noticed a number of triads of similar elements:
Some triads Element Molar mass
(g/mol) Density
(g/cm³)
chlorine 35.453 0.0032
bromine 79.904 3.1028
iodine 126.90447 4.933

calcium 40.078 1.55
strontium 87.62 2.54
barium 137.327 3.594

In 1829 Döbereiner proposed the Law of Triads: The middle element in the triad had atomic weight that was the average of the other two members. The densities of some triads followed a similar pattern. Soon other scientists found chemical relationships extended beyond triads. Fluorine was added to Cl/Br/I group; sulfur, oxygen, selenium and tellurium were grouped into a family; nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth were classified as another group.
Dmitri Mendeleev, father of the periodic table
Dmitri Mendeleev, father of the periodic table

This was followed by the English chemist John Newlands, who noticed in 1865 that when placed in order of increasing atomic weight, elements of similar physical and chemical properties recurred at intervals of eight, which he likened to the octaves of music, though his law of octaves was ridiculed by his contemporaries.[3] However, while successful for some elements, Newlands' law of octaves failed for two reasons:

1. It was not valid for elements that had atomic masses higher than Ca.
2. When further elements were discovered, such as the noble gases (He, Ne, Ar), they could not be accommodated in his table.

Finally, in 1869 the Russian chemistry professor Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev and four months later the German Julius Lothar Meyer independently developed the first periodic table, arranging the elements by mass. However, Mendeleev plotted a few elements out of strict mass sequence in order to make a better match to the properties of their neighbors in the table, corrected mistakes in the values of several atomic masses, and predicted the existence and properties of a few new elements in the empty cells of his table. Mendeleev was later vindicated by the discovery of the electronic structure of the elements in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Earlier attempts to list the elements to show the relationships between them (for example by Newlands) had usually involved putting them in order of atomic mass. Mendeleev's key insight in devising the periodic table was to lay out the elements to illustrate recurring ("periodic") chemical properties (even if this meant some of them were not in mass order), and to leave gaps for "missing" elements. Mendeleev used his table to predict the properties of these "missing elements", and many of them were indeed discovered and fit the predictions well.

With the development of theories of atomic structure (for instance by Henry Moseley) it became apparent that Mendeleev had listed the elements in order of increasing atomic number (i.e. the net amount of positive charge on the atomic nucleus). This sequence is nearly identical to that resulting from ascending atomic mass.

In order to illustrate recurring properties, Mendeleev began new rows in his table so that elements with similar properties fell into the same vertical columns ("groups").

With the development of modern quantum mechanical theories of electron configuration within atoms, it became apparent that each horizontal row ("period") in the table corresponded to the filling of a quantum shell of electrons. In Mendeleev's original table, each period was the same length. Modern tables have progressively longer periods further down the table, and group the elements into s-, p-, d- and f-blocks to reflect our understanding of their electron configuration.

In the 1940s Glenn T. Seaborg identified the transuranic lanthanides and the actinides, which may be placed within the table, or below (as shown above).

Science: Physics: Uses of Optical Fibres

In this section we will show you how optical fibres are used. As you will be able to see when you read further, optical fibres are revolutionising fields like communications and medicine.

Telecommunications Industry

Until the optical fibre network was developed, telephone calls were mainly sent as electrical signals along copper wire cables. As demand for the systems to carry more telephone calls increased, simple copper wires did not have the capacity, known as bandwidth, to carry the amount of information required.

Systems using coaxial cables like TV aerial leads were used but as the need for more bandwidth grew, these systems became more and more expensive especially over long distances when more signal regenerators were needed. As demand increases and higher frequency signals are carried, eventually the electronic circuits in the regenerators just cannot cope.

Optical fibres offer huge communication capacity. A single fibre can carry the conversations of every man, woman and child on the face of this planet, at the same time, twice over. The latest generations of optical transmission systems are beginning to exploit a significant part of this huge capacity, to satisfy the rapidly growing demand for data communications and the Internet.

The main advantages of using optical fibres in the communications industry are:

- A much greater amount of information can be carried on an optical fibre compared to a copper cable.

- In all cables some of the energy is lost as the signal goes along the cable. The signal then needs to be boosted using regenerators. For copper cable systems these are required every 2 to 3km but with optical fibre systems they are only needed every 50km.

- Unlike copper cables, optical fibres do not experience any electrical interference. Neither will they cause sparks so they can be used in explosive environments such as oil refineries or gas pumping stations.

- For equal capacity, optical fibres are cheaper and thinner than copper cables which makes them easier to install and maintain.

Case Study: British Telecom

In the UK at the moment there are three million kilometres of optical fibre cable in the BT network. Most of BT's trunk network now uses optical fibre cables. In a recent trial in Bishop's Stortford optical fibres were actually laid into homes. This allowed customers to receive cable TV and stereo radio as well as phone and information services.

Optical fibres could be put into all homes but currently the cost of the system including lasers and detectors would be too high for simple telephone calls. Some companies have a direct optical fibre link if they need to send large quantities of information by phone, for example between computers at different business centres.

Optical fibre submarine links are in use all around the world. Because of the low loss and high bandwidth of optical fibre systems they are ideal for submarine systems where you want to minimise the amount of complex electronics in regenerators sitting on the sea bed. In fact, the link from the UK to the English Channel Islands is achieved directly without any submerged regenerators.

The world's first international optical fibre submarine cable was laid by BT in 1986 between the UK and Belgium. It is 112Km in length and has only 3 regenerators. BT was a major partner in the first transatlantic optical fibre cable system - TAT 8 (Transatlantic Telecommunications cable no 8) which was capable of carrying 40,000 telephone calls at once, or the equivalent in data, facsimile, or TV pictures.

The second transatlantic cable, TAT 9, which came into service in 1992, has twice that capacity and links five separate landing points in the UK the USA, Canada, France and Spain. The transatlantic optical fibre cable network, completed in 1996, spanned 14,000Km and linked the UK, France and the USA . It could handle up to 320,000 phone calls at one time.

Undersea cables consist of fibres with a copper coated steel conductor which are covered in protective layers of steel and polypropylene. In shallow waters, e.g. the continental shelf, a submersible remote-controlled plough is used to bury the cables one metre below the seabed, to protect them from damage by trawling and ships' anchors.

Medicine Industry

The advent of practicable optical fibres has seen the development of much medical technology. Optical fibres have paved the way for a whole new field of surgery, called laproscopic surgery (or more commonly, keyhole surgery), which is usually used for operations in the stomach area such as appendectomies. Keyhole surgery usually makes use of two or three bundles of optical fibres. A "bundle" can contain thousands of individual fibres". The surgeon makes a number of small incisions in the target area and the area can then be filled with air to provide more room.

One bundle of optical fibres can be used to illuminate the chosen area, and another bundle can be used to bring information back to the surgeon. Moreover, this can be coupled with laser surgery, by using an optical fibre to carry the laser beam to the relevent spot, which would then be able to be used to cut the tissue or affect it in some other way.

Other Uses

- Optical fibres can be used for the purposes of illumination, often carrying light from outside to rooms in the interiors of large buildings.

- Another important application of optical fibres is in sensors. If a fibre is stretched or squeezed, heated or cooled or subjected to some other change of environment, there is usually a small but measurable change in light transmission. Hence, a rather cheap sensor can be made which can be put in a tank of acid, or near an explosion or in a mine and connected back, perhaps through kilometres of fibre, to a central point where the effects can be measured.

An advantage of fibre-optic sensors is that it is possible to measure the data at different points along the fibre and to know to what points the different measurements relate. These are the so-called distributed sensors.

- Fibre optics are also used to carry high power laser beams from fixed installations within factories to the point of use of the laser light for welding, cutting or drilling. The fibre provides a flexible and safe means of distributing high power laser radiation around a factory so that robots or machine tools can be provided with laser machining capability.

- Optical fibres can also be used as simple light guides. At least one fancy modern car has a single high intensity lamp under its bonnet, with optical fibres taking the light to a series of mini-headlamps on the front. Less high tech versions carry light from bulbs to the glove compartment etc.

- A research group at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, is designing a laser installation at the William Hershel Telescope on La Palma to help astronomers make an 'artificial' star in the layer of atomic sodium which exists at a height of 100km above the Earth's surface.

The Earth's atmosphere is a big problem for astronomers. It is a gas that is constantly moving which makes the light traveling through it from distant starts flicker. If astronomers could use a reference 'star' whose brightness they knew, then they could allow for this twinkling.

The telescope will look at how the atmosphere is effecting the artificial star second by second and adjust the telescope's mirror to compensate. This should allow astronomers to capture pictures of astronomical objects of a quality previously only obtainable from the Hubble Space Telescope. The optical fibre in this case is used to pipe the laser power needed to create the artificial star from the lasers to the telescope itself.

- As light is not affected noticeably by electromagnetic fields. It also does not interfere with other instruments that do use electricity. For this reason, fibre-optics are also becoming very important for short-range communication and information transfer in applications situations like aircraft. This application is now being extended into motor cars, and plastic optical fibres will soon (say in 5-8 years time) be very common for transmitting information around the car.



So we can see that optical fibres are not just passive light pipes. Researchers are finding ways in which they can make the fibres become the active elements of the circuit, e.g. amplifiers or filters. This means that the information could remain in light form from one end of a link to the other, removing the limitations of the electronics in circuits and enabling more of the theoretical information carrying capacity to be used.

Engineers of the future can look forward to designing and using telecommunications systems that have no loss, infinite bandwidth and high reliability. New services for customers, such as 3D high definition TV and virtual reality information and entertainment systems, could be more easily provided as well as giving them the benefits of lower costs and greater flexibility - an exciting future.

Eng. Lang./Litera.: Lord of The Flies, Key Facts

full title · Lord of the Flies

author · William Golding

type of work · Novel

genre · Allegory; adventure story; castaway fiction; loss-of-innocence fiction

language · English

time and place written · Early 1950s; Salisbury, England

date of first publication · 1954

publisher · Faber and Faber

narrator · The story is told by an anonymous third-person narrator who conveys the events of the novel without commenting on the action or intruding into the story.

point of view · The narrator speaks in the third person, primarily focusing on Ralph's point of view but following Jack and Simon in certain episodes. The narrator is omniscient and gives us access to the characters' inner thoughts.

tone · Dark; violent; pessimistic; tragic; unsparing

tense · Immediate past

setting (time) · Near future

setting (place) · A deserted tropical island

protagonist · Ralph

major conflict · Free from the rules that adult society formerly imposed on them, the boys marooned on the island struggle with the conflicting human instincts that exist within each of them—the instinct to work toward civilization and order and the instinct to descend into savagery, violence, and chaos.

rising action · The boys assemble on the beach. In the election for leader, Ralph defeats Jack, who is furious when he loses. As the boys explore the island, tension grows between Jack, who is interested only in hunting, and Ralph, who believes most of the boys' efforts should go toward building shelters and maintaining a signal fire. When rumors surface that there is some sort of beast living on the island, the boys grow fearful, and the group begins to divide into two camps supporting Ralph and Jack, respectively. Ultimately, Jack forms a new tribe altogether, fully immersing himself in the savagery of the hunt.

climax · Simon encounters the Lord of the Flies in the forest glade and realizes that the beast is not a physical entity but rather something that exists within each boy on the island. When Simon tries to approach the other boys and convey this message to them, they fall on him and kill him savagely.

falling action · Virtually all the boys on the island abandon Jack and Piggy and descend further into savagery and chaos. When the other boys kill Piggy and destroy the conch shell, Ralph flees from Jack's tribe and encounters the naval officer on the beach.

themes · Civilization vs. savagery; the loss of innocence; innate human evil

motifs · Biblical parallels; natural beauty; the bullying of the weak by the strong; the outward trappings of savagery (face paint, spears, totems, chants)

symbols · The conch shell; Piggy's glasses; the signal fire; the beast; the Lord of the Flies; Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, and Roger

foreshadowing · The rolling of the boulders off the Castle Rock in Chapter 6 foreshadows Piggy's death; the Lord of the Flies's promise to have some “fun” with Simon foreshadows Simon's death

For more information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_flies
AND VISIT http://gayorayo.blogspot.com

Eng. Lang./Litera.: L.O.T.F., Practice Exam Questions

1. What does it mean to say that Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel? What are its important symbols?

2. Compare and contrast Ralph and Simon. Both seem to be “good” characters. Is there a difference in their goodness?

3. How does Jack use the beast to control the other boys?

ANSWERS AT THE END

Other questions for practice:

1. 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?

2. What, if anything, might the dead parachutist symbolize? Does he symbolize something other than what the beast and the Lord of the Flies symbolize?

3. The sow's head and the conch shell each wield a certain kind of power over the boys. In what ways do these objects' 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?

4. What role do the littluns play in the novel? In one respect, they serve as gauges of the older boys' moral positions, for we see whether an older boy is kind or cruel based on how he treats the littluns. But are the littluns important in and of themselves? What might they represent?

ANSWERS TO FIRST 3 QUESTIONS:

1.Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel in that it contains characters and objects that directly represent the novel's themes and ideas. Golding's central point in the novel is that a conflict between the impulse toward civilization and the impulse toward savagery rages within each human individual. Each of the main characters in the novel represents a certain idea or aspect of this spectrum between civilization and savagery. Ralph, for instance, embodies the civilizing impulse, as he strives from the start to create order among the boys and to build a stable society on the island. Piggy, meanwhile, represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. At the other end of the spectrum, Jack embodies the impulse toward savagery and the unchecked desire for power and domination. Even more extreme is Roger, who represents the drive for violence and bloodlust in its purest form. Furthermore, just as various characters embody thematic concepts in the novel, a number of objects do as well. The conch shell, which is used to summon the boys to gatherings and as a emblem of the right to speak at those gatherings, represents order, civilization, and political legitimacy. Piggy's glasses, which are used to make fire, represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor. The sow's head in the jungle, meanwhile, embodies the human impulse toward savagery, violence, and barbarism that exists within each person. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding uses these characters and objects to represent and emphasize elements of the themes and ideas he explores in the novel.

2.Both Ralph and Simon are motivated toward goodness throughout the novel. Both boys work to establish and maintain order and harmony with the rest of the group and are kind and protective in their interactions with the littluns. However, as the novel progresses, we get the sense that Ralph's and Simon's motivations for doing good stem from different sources. Ralph behaves and acts according to moral guidelines, but this behavior and these guidelines seem learned rather than innate. Ralph seems to have darker instinctual urges beneath: like the other boys, he gets swept up by bloodlust during the hunt and the dance afterward. Simon, on the other hand, displays a goodness and kindness that do not seem to have been forced or imposed upon him by civilization. Instead, Simon's goodness seems to be innate or to flow from his connection to nature. He lives in accordance with the moral regulations of civilization simply because he is temperamentally suited to them: he is kind, thoughtful, and helpful by nature. In the end, though Ralph is capable of leadership, we see that he shares the hidden instinct toward savagery and violence that Jack and his tribe embrace. Although Ralph does prove an effective leaders, it is Simon who recognizes the truth that stands at the core of the novel—that the beast does not exist in tangible form on the island but rather exists as an impulse toward evil within each individual.

3.Jack expertly uses the beast to manipulate the other boys by establishing the beast as his tribe's common enemy, common idol, and common system of beliefs all in one. Jack invokes different aspects of the beast depending on which effects he wants to achieve. He uses the boys' fear of the beast to justify his iron-fisted control of the group and the violence he perpetrates. He sets up the beast as a sort of idol in order to fuel the boys' bloodlust and establish a cultlike view toward the hunt. The boys' belief in the monster gives Lord of the Flies religious undertones, for the boys' various nightmares about monsters eventually take the form of a single monster that they all believe in and fear. 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, driving the boys to abandon their desire for civilization and order and give in to their violent and savage impulses.

Eng. Lang./Litera.: Lord of The Flies, Themes

Civilization vs. Savagery

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one's immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one's will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through the dissolution of the young English boys' civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects. He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel's two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power.

As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow's head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural, innate goodness.

Loss of Innocence

As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the guileless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow's head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.
Biblical Parallels

Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as a retelling of episodes from the Bible. While that description may be an oversimplification, the novel does echo certain Christian images and themes. Golding does not make any explicit or direct connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies; instead, these biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif in the novel, adding thematic resonance to the main ideas of the story. The island itself, particularly Simon's glade in the forest, recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine place that is corrupted by the introduction of evil. Similarly, we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of the devil, for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many critics have drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among the boys, Simon is the one who arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence of having discovered this truth. Simon's conversation with the Lord of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels.

However, it is important to remember that the parallels between Simon and Christ are not complete, and that there are limits to reading Lord of the Flies purely as a Christian allegory. Save for Simon's two uncanny predictions of the future, he lacks the supernatural connection to God that Jesus has in Christian tradition. Although Simon is wise in many ways, his death does not bring salvation to the island; rather, his death plunges the island deeper into savagery and moral guilt. Moreover, Simon dies before he is able to tell the boys the truth he has discovered. Jesus, in contrast, was killed while spreading his moral philosophy. In this way, Simon—and Lord of the Flies as a whole—echoes Christian ideas and themes without developing explicit, precise parallels with them. The novel's biblical parallels enhance its moral themes but are not necessarily the primary key to interpreting the story.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Conch Shell

Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them. Used in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys' meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack's camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island.

Piggy's Glasses

Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy's glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack's hunters raid Ralph's camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph's group helpless.

The Signal Fire

The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boys' connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, we realize that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack's gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.

The Beast

The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys' behavior is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become.

The Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies is the bloody, severed sow's head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol becomes the most important image in the novel when Simon confronts the sow's head in the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart and promising to have some “fun” with him. (This “fun” foreshadows Simon's death in the following chapter.) In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name “Lord of the Flies” is a literal translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell sometimes thought to be the devil himself.

Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, and many of its characters signify important ideas or themes. Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Jack represents unbridled savagery and the desire for power. Simon represents natural human goodness. Roger represents brutality and bloodlust at their most extreme. To the extent that the boys' society resembles a political state, the littluns might be seen as the common people, while the older boys represent the ruling classes and political leaders. The relationships that develop between the older boys and the younger ones emphasize the older boys' connection to either the civilized or the savage instinct: civilized boys like Ralph and Simon use their power to protect the younger boys and advance the good of the group; savage boys like Jack and Roger use their power to gratify their own desires, treating the littler boys as objects for their own amusement.

General Culture: William Golding Biography

Golding was born in St. Columb Minor in Cornall, England on September 19, 1911, to Alec A. and Mildred Golding. After being educated at Marlborough Grammar School where his father was a teacher, he studied the sciences for two years at Brasenose College, Oxford until abandoning science in favor of English language and literature, particularly that of the Anglo-Saxon period. After graduating Oxford in 1935 he worked in a London settlement house and devoted his spare time to writing and acting in "very, very far-off-Broadway theater." In 1939 he began teaching philosophy and English at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury. At the onset of World War II he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 29 and was involved in several major conflicts including the sinking of the German battleship Bismark and, during the invasion of France in 1944, commanded a rocket-launching craft. At the close of the war he resumed teaching in Salisbury until 1961.

In the post-war period following his return to civilian life, the focus of his writing turned to mimic the current popular style . However, after three such books were rejected for publication, he decided simply to write for himself, for pleasure, rather than with an intent to please the public. Thus in 1954, surprisingly, the release of Lord of the Flies was met with great success in Britain. However, his true rise to popularity came in 1959 when the first editions were published in the United States. Quickly becoming a campus favorite, rivaling even J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies soon earned Golding enough money to retire from teaching in 1961 to write full-time. Other writings include The Inheritors (1955), Pincher Martin (1956), Free Fall (1959), The Spire (1964), The Pyramid (1967), Darkness Visible (1979), a trilogy consisting of Rites of Passage (1980), The Paper Men (1984), Close Quarters (1987), and Fire Down Below (1989), as well as several plays and various essays.

However, with the presentation of each novel after Lord of the Flies, his works met with increasing controversy among British and American audiences alike. As he continued with his plan of "writing for himself," each new literary piece generated misunderstanding and evoked greater and greater confusion amongst his readers. Described as an "allegorist," his consistent theme throughout his later, unsuccessful works seemed to be the same as in Lord of the Flies: man's capacity for evil and his ultimate isolation and loneliness. Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983 and was knighted in 1988. Until his death on June 19, 1993 in Perranarworthal, Cornwall, he resided in Wiltshire, England with his wife who bore him two children. His interests included: sailing, archaeology, playing the piano, cello and oboe. In naming his mentors for writing, he shouts "thunderous great names like Euripides, Sophocles, and perhaps even Herodotus" because "his favorite reading is still Greek literature and history, in the original [language]." Indeed, his philosophy of human existence is one much closer rooted to the ancient Greeks than to any contemporary view. Until his death, it would seem, he continued this idea of "writing for himself"--the purpose for writing, Golding once said, is to help people "to understand their humanity."

Eng. Lang./Litera.: L.O.T.F., Objects/Places and Major Characters

Objects/Places

Assembly: The name given for the democratic meeting sessions held for the group when led by Ralph. It is the opposite of Jack's tribe, which develops later.

Conch: The shell used to call the boys together. When this object is held, it gives the holder the right to speak during assembly; it is later smashed to pieces by the boulder that kills Piggy.

Candlebuds: A certain white flower on the island to which Simon gives a name.

Caps: The uniform hats worn by Jack's choir. Later, as hunters, the boys still wear these on their heads.

Castle Rock: The fort Jack adopts as the base for his tribe. Roger drops a boulder onto Piggy here, killing him instantly. The conch is also shattered here.

Creepers: The long vine-like plants which encompass the island.

Fire: Created with Piggy's glasses, it is first used as a rescue beacon for Ralph and later to cook the pigs slain by Jack.

Fruit: The original food source for the boys; Jack however, insists that they need meat instead. Simon hands out fruit to littluns when they cannot reach the higher branches of the fruit trees.

Granite Platform: The meeting center for Ralph's democratic assembly.

Knife: Jack's weapon used to stab into trees and later to cut pig's throats.

Mountain: Site of the original signal fire. As the myth of the beast grows, this is the location where it is thought to inhabit.

Piggy's Glasses (spectacles): Used to start all of the fires on the island. One lens is smashed by Jack in a fight and later the glasses are stolen to make cooking fires to roast pigs for Jack's tribe.

Pilot: A pilot whose plane crashed on the island after being shot down in an air battle. His body is mistaken as the beast on the mountain by Samneric. After Simon's death, the pilot's body is carried by the wind out to sea, never giving the boys a chance to discover Samneric's mistake.

Pig-run: Path made by the pigs on the island and later used by boys as a trail up the mountainside to investigate the presence of the beast.

Shelters: Built at Ralph's insistence as a 'home' for the littluns, these structures are consumed by flames as the island burns in the end.

Sand Castles: Built by littluns Percival, Henry and Johnny, these sand castles are destroyed when Roger and Maurice who throw rocks at them.

Sow: A mother pig whose head is severed by Jack's knife, becoming a 'gift' for the beast. The head is left in the forest on a wooden stake driven into the ground. Simon visits the head, waiting for the beast, and 'speaks' with this head, the Lord of the Flies.

Stick sharpened at both ends: Used to support the sow's head and later taken by Ralph to be used as a weapon after he shatters the head with his fist. Samneric warn him that in preparing to hunt him, Jack's hunters have 'sharpened a stick at both ends', implying that he will be decapitated like the sow and his head is also to be left as a gift for the beast.

Major Characters

Jack Merridew: Even at the onset, Jack appears to be an ominous figure; the lead singer in the school choir, he holds a certain power over the other choirboys as they walk towards the beach to follow the first sound of the conch. He does allow them to rest despite the heat and fatigue of wearing full black uniform gowns and caps while they walk in two parallel lines toward the conch. Only when Simon faints does he show sympathy. Described as 'tall, thin, and bony...his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was...freckled, and ugly without silliness' (Chapter 1 pg. 19). It is Jack who leads the boys' turn to savagery, or at least gives it a certain order. He is Ralph's chief nemesis; it is he who has brought with him a knife and who gradually becomes obsessed with hunting and killing the pigs on the island. It is these behaviors which later lead to the murders of Simon, Piggy and nearly that of Ralph had grown-ups not come to the boys' rescue at the very last moment.

Piggy: Considered to be the intellectual of the group, he is grossly overweight (leading to the nickname 'Piggy') and he wears coke-bottle glasses, without which he cannot see. He initially discovers the conch sitting at the bottom of the lagoon and suggests that Ralph use it to call everyone. He is always left to babysit the littluns when the boys go off on adventures, told by Ralph that he "isn't good for this sort of thing." Obviously made fun of in school, he often feels left out and isolated early on in the story although increasingly as Jack and Ralph drift apart, Piggy's voice of reason and insight come to fill the gap, and he and Ralph become good friends. Even though he is ridiculed, his glasses are still crucial to the boys' survival: both for keeping the signal fire lit (for Ralph) and for roasting the meat they have hunted (for Jack). As a result, he becomes an object stuck between these two forces. Later, blinded when his glasses are stolen, he is slain when Roger drops a rock on him from above. After landing on the beach below, Piggy's dead body, true to his name, "twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." (Chapter 11 pg. 165).

Ralph: His body described as 'golden', it is Ralph who establishes a mock-democratic government for the group in order for them to be rescued, and to maintain peace and order. But due to the opposition of Jack, Ralph's chief goals of maintaining a signal fire to alert passing ships of their presence, building the shelters and holding assemblies end up in the dust as nearly all of the boys, over time, join Jack's 'tribe', whose chief focus is to hunt, kill and eat the wild pigs of the island. Ralph is the one boy at the close of the novel who is not a hunter. Having been pursued ruthlessly by Jack and his tribe, Ralph begins weeping on the beach before his grown-up rescuers. The naval officer shows disapproval at the destructive state of things on the island, which Ralph laments that he had done everything he could do to be a good leader.

Roger: He is a sullen figure, one of the original members of Jack's choir. It is he who begins throwing rocks at the littluns as they build sand castles on the beach, watching their reactions intently. Later he drops the boulder at Castle Rock, killing Piggy. Roger accompanies Ralph and Jack when climbing up to the mountain where the beast lives. He rams a stick 'right up [the] ass' of a sow, killing her in a vulgar manner then pretends to be the beast in their hunting ritual the night that Simon is killed. In the tribe, he has become the center of much wickedness, becoming the torturer of Samneric. He is assigned the duty of making 'a stick sharpened at both ends', on which, it is assumed, they'll put Ralph's head.

Sam and Eric (Samneric): These two twins are described as one entity, one brother often finishing the other's sentence. They are frightened off of the mountain when attending to the signal fire, mistaking a dead pilot to be the beast. Later, Ralph has an odd dream that they are fighting one another, wrestling. Having resisted joining Jack's tribe, they are finally seized, tied up and tortured, forced to serve Jack. Samneric betray Ralph's trust and tell Jack where his hiding place is, which the hunters soon run to attack.

Simon: A curious figure and originally a member of the choir, the only one who resists becoming a hunter. The other boys think that he is 'batty'. Simon always comes to the boys' aid whenever someone needs his help, such as when he picks up Piggy's glasses for him, offers meat to Piggy when Jack refuses to give him any, gives the hungry littluns fruit to eat which they could not reach and gives words of comfort to the worried Ralph. Simon is martyr-like in his selflessness. As he goes to notify the others that there is no beast on the mountain, he is killed, as the others mistake him for the beast. Very much a Jesus figure, he is murdered by the very ones he had wanted to help.

Lord of the Flies: This is the name given to the inner beast, to which only Simon ever actually speaks. As Simon's waits for the beast's arrival near the bloody sow's head on the stake (buzzing with flies), The Lord of the Flies speaks to him, warning him not to get in its way or else he shall be killed by the boys. The Lord of the Flies name comes from the sow's head and the countless flies buzzing about it, which soon move from the sow's head to swarm around the head of Simon as the Lord of the Flies tells him, "I'm a part of you." In biblical texts, the Lord of the Flies is the title of Beelzebub (a direct translation of his name), a demon of Hell and cohort of Satan.

Auntie: Though never appearing in person, Piggy refers to her constantly in conversation, especially early on. Auntie is a prominent adult figure in his life and Piggy recalls and clings to things she had told him such as not running on account of his asthma. She kept a candy store and gave Piggy as many sweets as he wanted to eat. However, as the children's link to the world of grown-ups is increasingly severed, her name is mentioned less and less.

Bill: One of the choirboys. Bill is a follower of Jack who later becomes a hunter.

Henry: A littlun who, with Percival and Johnny, is attacked with rocks by Roger and Maurice while they are building sand castles near the beach. He is the oldest of the three littluns.

Johnny: He is the first of the boys to reach the beach on the first day, answering the conch's call. He is a 'littlun' aged about six years, Johnny is subject to torment by Roger and Maurice later on in the book while building sand castles.

Littluns: This is the general term used to describe the smaller boys, who far outnumber the 'biguns'. Though an ever-present element of the boys' society, due to their young ages they are hardly mentioned as taking part in the events of the island. It is for them Ralph shows concern for building the shelters, because at night the littluns 'talk and scream.' Concern for them gradually is forgotten as later, Jack jokingly says instead of hunting a pig, ''Use a littlun,'...' (Chapter 7 pg. 104). When the group has split up, in hearing Piggy's words that 'a few littluns' were left with them, Ralph replies, ''They don't count.'' By the close of the book their existence is hardly acknowledged at all.

Maurice: Similar to the hostile Roger but less cruel, Maurice is very much a follower. Originally a choirboy as well, he takes part with Roger in throwing rocks at the littluns while building their sand castles. He remains loyal to Jack, going with him when the split occurs from Ralph's 'society'. Only at one point does he invoke the name of his parents, when, fearing the beast during the assembly, he recalls that his ''Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.'' (Chapter 5 pg. 79)

Mulberry Birthmark Boy: A littlun, he is the first to invoke the name of the "beast" and spread fear among the boys. After the first signal fire on the mountain is not contained and burns wildly across the island, he is not seen again. Though it is never actually stated, it is assumed that he has died in the fire.

Percival Wemys Madison: This littlun would always give a full introduction of himself: 'Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage. Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone....' complete with address. He is one of the three attacked by rocks thrown by Roger and Maurice when building sand castles. By the end, when finally rescued by the grown-ups all he can say is 'I'm-- I'm--' before realizing he has forgotten his civilized identity.

Phil: A littlun who speaks about fears of the beast at night. It is discovered that he, sleep-walking in the forest, mistook Simon to be the beast, which calms the boys' for a short while.

Ralph's Dad: Ralph speaks of him much in the beginning, mirroring Piggy's talk of 'Auntie.' As his father is a Navy man, Ralph believes his dad will come to the rescue when he 'gets leave' from the service. In the end, Naval officers do finally come to the boys' rescue (though it is not said if Ralph's father is among them).

Robert: He is another choirboy and another follower to Jack. It is he who is set to guard the entrance to Castle Rock when Jack begins to establish his tribe. He is later replaced by Roger when Ralph, Piggy and Samneric come to Castle Rock.

Eng. Lang./Litera.: Lord of The Flies, Quotes

Quote 1: "'I don't care what [you] call me so long as...[it's not] what they used to call me in school...They used to call me Piggy!'" Chapter 1, pg. 11

Quote 2: "[There was] something dark...fumbling along....The creature was a party of boys, marching approximately in...two parallel lines...." Chapter 1, pg. 18

Quote 3: "[Jack was] tall, thin, and bony...his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was...freckled, and ugly without silliness." Chapter 1, pg. 19

Quote 4: "'You're no good on a job like this.'" Chapter 1, pg. 22

Quote 5: "Ralph sat on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before...before him small children squatted in the grass." Chapter 2, pg. 30

Quote 6: "'Have you got any matches?'" Chapter 2, pg. 38

Quote 7: "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'" Chapter 2, pg. 40

Quote 8: "'You got your small fire all right.'" Chapter 2, pg. 41

Quote 9: "[Jack] tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up." Chapter 3, pg. 47

Quote 10: "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach...[and] passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands." Chapter 3, pg. 51

Quote 11: "The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers....Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island." Chapter 3, pg. 52

Quote 12: "[T]here was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he [Roger] dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life." Chapter 4, pg. 56

Quote 13: "He [Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." Chapter 4, pg. 58

Quote 14: "[The hunters' thoughts were] crowded with memories...of the knowledge... that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink." Chapter 4, pp. 63-4

Quote 15: "'I painted my face--I stole up. Now you eat--all of you--and I--'" Chapter 4, pg. 67

Quote 16: "Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another." Chapter 5, pg. 71

Quote 17: "'Life...is scientific....I know there isn't no beast...but I know there isn't no fear, either....Unless we get frightened of people.'" Chapter 5, pg. 76

Quote 18: "'[F]ear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island....Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!" Chapter 5, pg. 75

Quote 19: "'Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.'" Chapter 5, pg. 79

Quote 20: "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.'" Chapter 5, pg. 80

Quote 21: "The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away." Chapter 5, pg. 82

Quote 22: "Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall." Chapter 6, pg. 89

Quote 23: "[Simon saw] 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." Chapter 6, pg. 93

Quote 24: "'Shove a palm trunk under that and if an enemy came....'" Chapter 6, pg. 96

Quote 25: "'I'm chief. We've got to make certain [that there is no beast]....There's no signal showing [on the mountain]. There may be a ship out there.'" Chapter 6, pg 98

Quote 26: "'You'll get back to where you came from.'" Chapter 7, pg. 100

Quote 27: "'Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!'" Chapter 7, pg. 104

Quote 28: "'Use a littlun...'" Chapter 7, pg. 104

Quote 29: "Ralph...was fighting to get near....The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7, pg. 104

Quote 30: "'We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, must we?'" Chapter 7, pg. 106

Quote 31: "Ralph...would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player." Chapter 7, pg. 106

Quote 32: "'[Ralph is] like Piggy....He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.'" Chapter 8, pg. 115

Quote 33: "Piggy was...so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he helped to fetch wood." Chapter 8, pg. 118

Quote 34: "'Right up her ass!'" Chapter 8, pg.123

Quote 35: "'This head is for the beast. It's a gift.'" Chapter 8, pg. 124

Quote 36: "[Simon's] eyes were half-closed as though he were imitating the obscene thing on the stick." Chapter 8, pg. 130

Quote 37: "'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 what they are?'" Chapter 8, pg. 130

Quote 38: "'You're not wanted....on this island!...So don't try [to take] it on...or else....we shall do you. See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph.'" Chapter 8, pg. 131

Quote 39: "'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'" Chapter 9, pg. 138

Quote 40: "[The boys] found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror [of the makeshift beast] and made it governable." Chapter 9, pg. 138

Quote 41: "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." Chapter 9, pg. 139

Quote 42: "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble." Chapter 9, pg. 140

Quote 43: "[S]urrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea." Chapter 9, pg. 140

Quote 44: "'We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.'" Chapter 10, pg. 143

Quote 45: "'We'd better keep on the right side of [the beast]....You can't tell what he might do.'" Chapter 10, pg. 146

Quote 46: "What could be safer than the bus center with its lamps and wheels?" Chapter 10, pg. 150

Quote 47: "'It's come...It's real!'" Chapter 10, pg. 151

Quote 48: "'This is 'jus talk....I want my glasses.'" Chapter 11, pg. 155

Quote 49: "'[We should be] looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed -- after all we aren't savages really....'" Chapter 11, pg. 155

Quote 50: "A single drop of water that had escaped Piggy's fingers now flashed on the delicate curve [of the shell] like a star." Chapter 11, pg. 156.

Quote 51: "[Jack and the two hunters] weremasked in black and green." Chapter 11, pg. 160

Quote 52: "Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it." Chapter 11, pg. 160

Quote 53: "'Ralph -- remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.'" Chapter 11, pg. 161

Quote 54: "Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization, 'Oh, I say!' '-honestly!'" Chapter 11, pg. 163

Quote 55: "'You're a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!'" Chapter 11, pg. 163

Quote 56: "'Which is better -- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is....Which is better -- to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?'" Chapter 11, pg. 164

Quote 57: "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Chapter 11, pg. 164

Quote 58: "Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." Chapter 11, pg. 165

Quote 59: "Roger advanced...as one wielding a nameless authority." Chapter 11, pg. 166

Quote 60: "'They're not as bad as that. It was an accident.'" Chapter 12, pg. 168

Quote 61: "Then there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone...." Chapter 12, pg. 168

Quote 62: "A star appeared...and was momentarily eclipsed by some movement." Chapter 12, pg. 170

Quote 63: "[Samneric had] 'to be careful and throw...spears like at a pig.'" Chapter 12, pg. 172

Quote 64: "[The boulder was] half as big as a cottage, big as a car, a tank." Chapter 12, pg. 176

Quote 65: "[Ralph] showed his teeth at the wall of branches....snarled a little, and waited." Chapter 12, pg. 177

Quote 66: "Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up." Chapter 12, pp. 177-8

Quote 67: "What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense." Chapter 12, pg. 179

Quote 68: "Couldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse?" Chapter 12, pg. 180

Quote 69: "You'll get back." Chapter 12, pg. 181

Quote 70: "He [Ralph] saw a shelter burst into flames and the fire flapped at his right shoulder...." Chapter 12, pg. 182

Quote 71: "her bows [were] hauled up and held by two ratings. In the stern-sheets another rating held a sub-machine gun." Chapter 12, pg. 182

Quote 72: "[They were] a semi-circle of little boys, their bodies streaked with colored clay, sharp sticks in their hands...." Chapter 12, pg. 182-3

Quote 73: "'I should have thought that a pack of British boys...would have been able to put up a better show than that....'" Chapter 12, pg. 184

Quote 74: "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Chapter 12, pg. 184

Eng. Lang./Litera.: L.O.T.F., Chapter 9 - 12

Chapter 9 "A View to a Death"

Simon awakens from his slumber after being confronted by the beast within, dubbed The Lord of the Flies. Although Simon's face is encrusted with dried blood from the many times they have stung him, the flies which were buzzing around him have returned to the stinking pig's head on the stake. Continuing up the mountain he alone has the will to actually stop at the sight of the bulging body all the others had feared and fled from--he sees "the beast" for what it really is, not a beast at all but simply a pitiful figure, a "poor broken thing," which, though the pilot's flesh rots, is still held together by a mass of rubber cords and cloth. Staggering now from his ordeal with the Lord of the Flies, he sees in the distance the pig-roasting fire on the beach. Assuming this is where he'll find the rest of the boys, he descends to warn them there is no beast on the mountain.

Topic Tracking: Religion 9
Topic Tracking: Beast 7

Meanwhile, Ralph leaves to go to Jack's pig roast at Piggy's insistence, who wishes to satisfy his own rumbling stomach. It is the sow whose head was cut off and given as a gift for the beast that will be devoured here. Even as Piggy fears and hates Jack he is compelled to go to him once again, bearing the first signs of inconsistency in his behavior as well. Even after Jack's hunters stole fire from them earlier to set the blaze for this feast, even as Jack has bluntly rejected Ralph's society and rules, the two still both agree to go. Upon arriving, there is a massive feast. Ralph and Piggy eat and then, after showing up for a free meal, Ralph attempts to call yet another assembly, for he has brought the sacred conch to the feast. He is laughed at and mocked by all of the boys. Without warning it begins to rain furiously and Ralph reprimands them for not having shelters to protect them from the storm.

However, Jack excitedly begins again the ritual dance enacted earlier, repeating the chant, "'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'" Chapter 9, pg. 138. The word "pig" sung in their earlier chant has been replaced with "beast" and it is this creature which Roger now mimics, surrounded by all the other boys who pretend to attack him. Ralph and even Piggy now take part as well. They "found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror [of the makeshift beast] and made it governable." Chapter 9, pg. 138. Yet again Ralph and Piggy have forgotten the signal fire, the shelters and all of the things to which they had clung and propelled them on thus far. Like Jack, they begin to forget their civilized roots and are consumed by this strange new power.

Topic Tracking: Government 11
Topic Tracking: Pig 7
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 9

As the pace grows more and more frantic and the thunderstorm above rises in fury, Simon suddenly appears from the forest and breaks through their circle, trying to warn and comfort them not to be afraid, that he has seen the beast and it is just a dead rotting body. Only he seems to remember what matters to them, trying as always to help in the midst of crisis. However, his voice is drowned out by their chanting and, knocked to the ground, Simon is stabbed by their spears, mistaken for the beast, as he was earlier by one of the sleepwalking littluns. The events are described almost as if the boys were animals or beasts themselves: "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." Chapter 9, pg. 139

At last they back off and see Simon's dead body in the sand, recognizing who he is. Simultaneously the wind breaks the pilot's body free from the mountaintop, dragging it down through the circle of boys on the beach and out to sea, scattering them in all directions, driven by fear. The wind carried it out over the reef and out to sea. Shortly after, with the rain stopped, the night stars reflect down into the sea, and "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble." Chapter 9, pg. 140. In all of the confusion, the one boy who knew and truly saw things as they were was killed, as he had been warned would happen by The Lord of the Flies if he dared to try to warn them and not conform to his inner, primitive instincts. Simon had resisted even as all the others were consumed, including Ralph and Piggy who danced and chanted with the others and had joined in killing him.

For the last time, as in past days when he would attempt to convey his wisdom to the assembly, Simon and his words were ignored. His body is swept out to the ocean after the dead pilot's: "[S]urrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea." Chapter 9, pg. 140.

Topic Tracking: Beast 8

Chapter 10 "The Shell and the Glasses"

Shortly thereafter, Ralph and Piggy converse on the beach. Only two and Samneric, aside from some littluns, remain from the original group. Even after what has happened to Simon, all but these four have defected to Jack's tribe. They express guilt about the murder of Simon, having all taken part in it. "'It was an accident,'" Piggy insists and he tells Ralph to hide the fact that they were involved. "'We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing.'" Chapter 10, pg. 143. Samneric share this sentiment as well and it remains a topic not discussed. They want to forget it happened though the deep regret and sadness lingers over them all.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 10

In the society Jack has created, the tribe, Jack's hunters obey him with a strict obedience and reverence, the kind which was never paid to Ralph. Jack has inhabited the Castle Rock with all of those under his lead. Robert is placed at the entrance like a sentinel. Everyone admires Jack's talent, dubbing him a "proper chief" in contrast to their perceptions of Ralph, who is viewed as a failure for his dependence on Piggy. Jack's orders come from no one else but himself. The boys are all painted over now, carrying spears and looking tribal; their assimilation by Jack has been completed. At a meeting of his "tribe," Jack declares that they shall soon hunt again. The issue of Simon is raised by these boys and Jack declares that the beast came in the form of Simon "disguised." It takes on a supernatural presence over them, now dubbed as a thing which cannot be killed. Jack warns them all, "'We'd better keep on the right side of [the beast]....You can't tell what he might do.'" Chapter 10, pg. 146. Here one finds the source of the power he holds over the boys: where Ralph attempted to tap into their common sense and intuition; Jack, in contrast, taps into their fears. Ralph's assembly has morphed into Jack's tribe.

Jack plans to attack Ralph that night with Maurice and Roger to steal Piggy's glasses--the one item from the civilized world they need in order to start their cooking fires.

Topic Tracking: Beast 9

Ralph and Piggy continue to decline in function. They decide to let the signal fire stop burning for the night, afraid to go into the woods to gather wood. Ralph dreams now not of the sweet ponies at his home in Devon, England, deeming them to be too savage. Wishing to escape from the savagery, as "the attraction of wildness had gone" he thinks now of "What could be safer than the bus center with its lamps and wheels?" Chapter 10, pg. 150. The solution and elimination of the primitive, of the beast and wildness in Ralph's mind, is technology and civilization. Nearby, as Ralph thinks of escaping this wildness, Samneric, usually so collected and speaking as one, are fighting one another, "locked in an embrace." Broken into two pieces, it is almost as if they are reflecting the inner battle in Ralph's mind between the savage and the civilized worlds.

Suddenly, the sleeping boys are attacked by Jack, Maurice and Roger. Piggy thinks that the hunters are really the beast descending upon them and shouts: "'It's come...It's real!'" Chapter 10, pg. 151 In the ensuing scuffle, Piggy's glasses are stolen. Assuming naively that the tribe has come for the conch, Ralph notices that it hasn't even been touched--the conch and assembly were part of Ralph's old world and have no value or worth in the new world Jack has created for the boys at Castle Rock. It is only the fire which they need for their rituals and pig roasting.

Piggy is now completely helpless in his blindness. Ralph, who has been relying on Piggy for advice and guidance, now sees his friend struck down, as powerless as himself. With this final strike, Jack has won the war, leaving Ralph and Piggy with nothing of value.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 11
Topic Tracking: Government 12
Topic Tracking: Beast 10

Chapter 11 "Castle Rock"

After deciding to go to sleep without tending to the fire, Ralph, nursing his swollen cheek from the previous night's attack in which Piggy's glasses were stolen, awakens at dawn and begins blowing into the cold embers, hoping that some spark is still burning. However the result is only to have ash blown into his eyes, mirroring the incident on the mountain earlier in which he, Jack and Roger investigated the presence of the beast.

Piggy urges him to call yet another assembly even though nobody is left except for Samneric. Ralph, though doubtful as to the necessity of this, at last agrees and blows hard into the conch. The four of them talk about how all of the problems of the island are to be blamed on Jack. Ralph insists that he would have given Jack fire to use if he had only asked rather than stealing the glasses; their not getting rescued due to the lack of a signal fire is blamed on Jack, as is the murder of Simon, in which the four of them had taken part as well.

Piggy dismisses all of this, saying: "'This is 'jus talk....I want my glasses.'" Chapter 11, pg. 155. He, as always, propels Ralph (who is described earlier as comparable to "a chess player") into action. Ralph speaks about going up to the Castle Rock where Jack has established the base for his tribe: "'[We should be] looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed -- after all we aren't savages really....'" Chapter 11, pg. 155. Here he clings again to the old nostalgia of his dreams and his yearning for home and things civilized. Though this is a symbolic gesture for their adherence to civilized behaviors, Piggy dismisses it all, seizing up the conch in order to speak, saying he is going to go up the mountain, without a spear, and walk right up to Jack and demand that his glasses back. Piggy's old timidity has completely left, as he speaks without fear. As he talks, "[a] single drop of water that had escaped Piggy's fingers now flashed on the delicate curve [of the shell] like a star." Chapter 11, pg. 156. The mention of a star here recalls the description of stars earlier, when they reflected off the dead body of Simon as it was swept out into the ocean. The remaining four boys leave to visit Castle Rock, on a mission to retrieve Piggy's glasses.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 12

As the boys approach, the thin line of a cooking fire is visible overhead and Roger stops them at the entrance. Ralph ignores his command to turn back and declares that once more he is calling an assembly, much in contrast to his earlier doubts on the beach about the futility of such action. Roger begins tossing rocks at Samneric, "aiming to miss" just as he had done with Percival, Johnny and Henry when they were building sand castles on the beach. Now at Castle Rock, this activity is repeated again. Jack is suddenly seen emerging from the forest with two other hunters, all three "masked in black and green." Chapter 11, pg. 160. Just returning from the hunt, "Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it." Chapter 11, pg. 160

Upon seeing this, Piggy begins to yell nervously. Jack and Ralph enter an argument about Piggy's glasses and the two begin to fight, swinging spears at one another, their language mirroring each anothers, the one saying, "Come on then" and the other saying, "Come on" and later, "You come on and see what you get" responded by, "You come on." They fight alike and act alike. Their struggle and scuffle is much akin to that small incident of the twins, Samneric, fighting earlier. Piggy attempts to maintain Ralph's focus and, fearing for his own safety, shouts out: "'Ralph -- remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.'" Chapter 11, pg. 161 and once more Ralph attempts to regain his senses. Caught between these two elements, Piggy and his logic versus Jack and his savagery, Ralph struggles to stop fighting and begins again with his old jargon, talking about the need for a signal fire in order to be rescued.

Topic Tracking: Government 13
Topic Tracking: Pig 8

Samneric are suddenly seized at Jack's command by his hunters and "Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization, 'Oh, I say!' '-honestly!'" Chapter 11, pg. 163. Here the two twins are both taken prisoner by the savages. Now Ralph screams out, calling out to Jack: "'You're a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!'" Chapter 11, pg. 163. As the two prepare to fight again, Piggy steps in suddenly in one last attempt to restore reason to the group, holding the conch aloft. "Let me speak...I got the conch," he says and even as he begins his monologue, Roger has already begun dropping stones upon him--this time not aiming to miss. "'Which is better--to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is....Which is better--to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?'" Chapter 11, pg. 164. Now, rather than speaking through Ralph as he has done thus far, Piggy himself speaks and attempts to lead. However, at this moment Roger presses down on a lever set in place beneath a large boulder and it falls slowly--"[t]he rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Chapter 11, pg. 164. "Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." Chapter 11, pg. 165. After he falls far down to the beach his dead body, as with the body of Simon, is sucked out to sea by the waves.

Events following occur very quickly, as Ralph attempts to speak with no sound coming out. Jack hurls a spear which catches him in the ribs and bounces off. Boundaries have been crossed as now it is a boy not a pig which is attacked by spears. Ralph takes off running into the forest, bounding over the headless sow's body still lying on the ground. Jack orders everyone back to their fort, to Castle Rock, and he draws near to Samneric, still tied up, demanding to know why they had resisted joining his tribe. Silently, Roger approaches the twins edging past Jack, "as one wielding a nameless authority." Chapter 11, pg. 166. They are about to be tortured by Roger's hands, the very same hands which had only just murdered Piggy moments before.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 13
Topic Tracking: Beast 11
Topic Tracking: Pig 9

Chapter 12 "Cry of the Hunters"

Ralph at last settles in an area of forest which he thinks he is safe, nursing the wounds and scratches from the trees which now cover his body. Intense description is now given to his senses, what he hears and sees. He attempts to rationalize, wondering what shall happen next, thinking for a fleeting moment that they would leave him alone. The old idealism continues to show through, going so far as allowing him to think about the murder of Piggy: "'They're not as bad as that. It was an accident.'" Chapter 12, pg. 168 He at last realizes this is an impossibility, for "[t]hen there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone...." Chapter 12, pg. 168 The two appear to be very much the same in character as described by their actions, having mirrored one another when engaged in battle.

Arriving at some fruit trees, Ralph feasts hungrily. Some littluns flee screaming when they see his unsightly appearance. He then comes across the same clearing where Simon had confronted The Lord of the Flies, where still stands the pig's head on the stick. Now only a hairless skull remains--all flesh has been consumed by the hundreds of flies which were surrounding it earlier. Punching the skull from fear, Ralph takes up the stick which had held it. The skull, now split into two pieces, continues to grin up at the sky. Continuing onwards in the dark of night, he nears Castle Rock again where Samneric are now described, like all the rest of the boys, as "savages." Behind the outline of these two, "A star appeared...and was momentarily eclipsed by some movement." Chapter 12, pg. 170. The presence of the star recalls again the scene of Simon's dead body and the description of the drop of water on the conch, shortly before the death of Piggy. Now a star is described, not only "covered" but undergoing an "eclipse," the covering of one heavenly body over another.

Ralph approaches and calls out to his two old friends, Samneric, but they usher him away out of fear, at first "gibbering" incoherently and then explaining that the hunters had hurt them. They warn Ralph that when the morning came, the hunters would all be hunting Ralph and how they had "'to be careful and throw...spears like at a pig.'" Chapter 12, pg. 172. The boy Ralph is viewed by the tribe the same as a pig--a thing to be hunted. The twins warn him that Roger had "sharpened a stick at both ends," implying that Ralph's head would also sit upon a stake as an offering to the beast. After giving Ralph a chunk of meat, Ralph leave and returns to hiding in order to sleep, reverting briefly to his old nostalgia, even now wishing for his home with its civilized things like "a bed and sheets." As he closes his eyes, cries of pain from Samneric are heard.

Topic Tracking: Pig 10

Ralph awakens at dawn to the sound of a noise nearby, stirring him. Rising, he enters the thicket in which the boulder which had been used to murder Piggy had passed through, observing the damage. Next there is the commotion of Jack speaking to one of the twins, saying "Are you sure?" implying that his hiding place had been disclosed by them. As he sits quietly listening and seeing everything around him, enormous boulders begin to roll past, tossed from Castle Rock; Ralph thinks of how one rock that remains there is "half as big as a cottage, big as a car, a tank." Chapter 12, pg. 176. Savages begin to fan out all around Ralph's hiding place and finally, with one directly adjacent he stabs his spear hard into its leg, twisting it. "A babble of voices" is heard and, still crouched in his hiding place, Ralph "showed his teeth at the wall of branches....snarled a little, and waited." Chapter 12, pg. 177. Ralph himself begins to act like a savage. Smoke begins to fill the area and he, realizing that they have set the entire island aflame to drive him out into the open, ponders what to do next. This brings up the fire of the first night, when they set the island aflame after lighting a signal fire for the first time--what was begun then is now nearing its end.

Viewing the scene, the savages are all masked in different colors. This is made quite clear in the description of one in "brown, black, and red" and another "striped red and white" at which "Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up." Chapter 12, pp. 177-8. Even as he thinks of these enemies as savages, he himself seems to have become consumed in the same aggression and desire to hurt others which they carry. Hiding again under a bush and still being hunted, he ponders what to do next, urging himself to think. "What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense." Chapter 12, pg. 179. Without Piggy who had urged him along thus far and maintained his focus, Ralph is lost. At last he compares his thoughts to those of a pig, wondering "if a pig would agree."

Topic Tracking: Government 14
Topic Tracking: Pig 11
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 13
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 14

Lamenting vainly that the fire has begun to burn the fruit trees, he worries still about "[w]hat would they eat tomorrow?" He compares his movement to an animal again, "[c]ouldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse?" Chapter 12, pg. 180. His thoughts begin to race with a mirage of painted faces around him, all "savages" and Simon's old words of comfort return, "You'll get back." Chapter 12, pg. 181. Now screaming again and "foaming" he attacks again and breaking into a full sprint he runs out, tailed by all of the hunters now screaming and shouting as all around him the fire burns, consuming everything. Finally nearing the beach, "[h]e saw a shelter burst into flames and the fire flapped at his right shoulder...." Chapter 12, pg. 182.

Stumbling out of the forest and into the sand, ending at last with no place left to run--stuck against the water, he falls down, covering his face with his arms in a last defensive cry for mercy, preparing for the approach of the savages. Rising to his feet, he looks up at the sight of a grown-up, a naval officer in full dress uniform. Behind him a cutter sits on the beach "her bow hauled up and held by two ratings. In the stern-sheets another rating held a sub-machine gun." Chapter 12, pg. 182. The officer asks Ralph if there are grown-ups with him; as if in a daze he shakes his head. Running up behind Ralph come all of the other "savages" now reduced to what they are: "a semi-circle of little boys, their bodies streaked with colored clay, sharp sticks in their hands...." Chapter 12, pg. 182-3. They no longer hunters but boys; they wear not elaborate paint but clay; they carry not spears but sticks. Behind them, the island continues to be consumed by flame, burning at last the coconut trees bordering the beach.

Topic Tracking: Beast 12
Topic Tracking: Religion 11

Claiming that the smoke from the huge blaze on the island, set by Jack's hunters, had drawn them there, the officer asks Ralph if they were having some sort of "war" to which he responds "yes" and states that two had already been killed. Percival walks up to introduce himself as he had before with full name and address, but now he stops only after "I'm--, I'm--" for he has forgotten his identity. After Ralph declares he is the boss there, the officer expresses disappointment at the state they had gotten themselves into saying, "'I should have thought that a pack of British boys...would have been able to put up a better show than that....'" Chapter 12, pg. 184. Ralph struggles for an answer and the officer, attempting to be helpful, replies that it must have been an adventure for them, "Like the Coral Island." This comparison was used at the book's onset in expressing the boys' original excitement of being stranded on a tropical island.

Thinking back to this, and recalling all that had happened with the murders and breakdown of the society he had tried so hard to maintain until their rescue, Ralph begins to cry; the others all join him and the sobs rise up, overwhelming the officer who turns his back to glance at the naval cruiser out in the water. No longer savages, the arrival of a grown-up and "civilization" turns them from savages back to what they were in the beginning--a group of lost boys. "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Chapter 12, pg. 184 Piggy's name, the voice of reason, is invoked here one last time, counterbalanced by the mention of "the darkness of man's heart." Everything returns to what it was and, at last, the boys are rescued by naval officers who came across their ruined island in a British ship of war.

Topic Tracking: Government 15
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 15

Eng. Lang./Litera.: L.O.T.F., Chapter 5 - 8

Chapter 5 "Beast from Water"

Ralph has called an emergency assembly by blowing the conch in order to discuss the current crisis he sees afflicting the group. This is the latest a meeting has been held so far--it is already after nightfall. At last, Ralph recognizes and adopts Piggy's pattern of thinking, respecting him now as an equal or even as a superior, contrary to his previous impressions. "Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another." Chapter 5, pg. 71. Ralph lapses into a long serious monologue intended to convey his intense worries and fears about what was happening to the group's dynamics. The coconut shells laid out to be drunk from are no longer filled; the shelters were finished by himself and Simon alone; the assigned place for lavatory use near a certain area of rocks is no longer used and the children defecate just about anywhere including near the fruit trees they eat from. He says again that the signal fire must stay lit and that fire shall burn only on the mountain, recalling Piggy's earlier reprimand when part of the island had been burnt due to their carelessness. The signal fire takes priority over the hunting and killing pigs, he says. Many of the children laugh, hardly taking his words to heart.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 4

However, the boys quickly become solemn when talk of the beast is brought up again. One littlun, Phil, speaks of nightmares he has of "something big and horrid" in the trees. As it turns out, he had been walking in his sleep in the woods and the creature moving was actually Simon, mistaken to be the beast. Percival Wemys Madison speaks next declaring that the beast comes out of the sea, quickly followed by more assurance not to worry from Ralph and Jack as well. Piggy even chimes in, "'Life...is scientific....I know there isn't no beast...but I know there isn't no fear, either....Unless we get frightened of people.'" Chapter 5, pg. 76. Here is the first suggestion that the presence of the beast as is derived from fear within their own minds. Once more Piggy's insight gives a certain clarity to the group's thoughts. Jack gives his bit next saying, "'[F]ear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island....Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!'" Chapter 5, pg. 75. His coldness and insensitivity have become even more intense after donning his painted tribal mask.

Simon ends the beast discussion in an attempt to offer what he felt was an explanation: "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.'" Chapter 5, pg. 80. This again hits closer to home than even Piggy's comment, about the fear and paranoia they boys have for each other. Taking it one step further, instead of each other person becoming a beast and an object to be potentially feared, Simon suggests that they are themselves the beast rather than it being everyone else. It is not without but a thing from within. Regretfully, no one understands him and his attempt at explaining this is a failure.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 5
Topic Tracking: Beast 3
Topic Tracking: Religion 5

Focused discussion within the assembly at this point breaks down and Ralph is at a loss as the boys talk about the beast of the island. Jack talks out of turn, declaring now that if there is a beast he and his hunters shall track it down and kill it. Ralph realizes at last how much "[t]he world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away." Chapter 5, pg. 82. With all the boys dispersing without warning, he is unable to act. Anarchy and chaos have come to dominate the assembly and the democracy he had tried so hard to establish. Only Simon and Piggy remain to comfort him. He wishes to resign his post as chief and give up but Piggy fears that without Ralph in power as his protector, Jack will harm him. Simon too blurts out another random comment as is his nature, simply: "Go on being chief." The three then try to imagine what grown-ups would do in their position, knowing that they would conduct themselves according to good standards and what is proper. Ralph laments on how "something grown-up" should be sent to them as a sign, to give them hope.

Topic Tracking: Government 6

Chapter 6 "Beasts from Air"

Little does Ralph know that his wish for "something grown-up" is granted that same night, though not exactly in the way he intended. As the boys sleep that night a battle between two planes wages on in the air above the island--one of the planes is destroyed. Drifting down to the island after the explosion is the lifeless body of its pilot, bound tightly in a pilot suit and parachute cables. The chute carries the body to rest at the summit of the mountain where their signal fire burns. The twins Sam and Eric, are tending to the fire as the pilot's body slowly shifts around as the wind courses through the parachute, moving the lifeless body like a puppet with strings, lifting its head to rise and fall. The twins speak as one person, the one finishing the other's sentence, "Sam - give us --" one begins, "--tinder wood," the other finishes. As they go off to find wood, they see the dead pilot and, mistaking the corpse for the beast, they flee back down to the beach to awaken Ralph. Ralph is in the midst of a comfortable dream, as "Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall." Chapter 6, pg. 89. He dreams of his own home. However, Ralph is jarred awake to hear the beast story from the twins. Eric's face, cut by creepers as he had fled down the mountain, is thought to be further evidence of an attack by the "beast."

Topic Tracking: Beast 4

Another assembly is called by Ralph as day breaks and again there is discussion and arguing among all the boys and escalating tension between Jack and Ralph. At last a group is sent off, led by Jack and Ralph, in order to track the beast, each with his own reason: Jack, to kill and hunt the beast, and Ralp,h to rekindle the signal fire to preserve hope for a rescue. They decide to explore a section of island they had not been to yet, leaving Piggy behind as before to watch over the littluns. In setting out, Simon thinks to himself of the beast as only "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." Chapter 6, pg. 93. He recalls his earlier inability to express what he knew about the nature of the beast as he perceived it. In attempting to warn the other children earlier he stuttered and was met only with ridicule, though he seems perhaps to be the most insightful of them all.

Topic Tracking: Religion 6

Jack sees a pink rock cliff he describes as a "castle", and they decide to try this as a possible location for the beast's hideout. He cries excitedly, forgetting their mission, "'What a place for a fort!'" as Ralph urges them to move on for the sake of rekindling the signal fire on the mountain. The others pay Ralph little mind, including Jack. As if in another world, they roll rocks down the cliff face in glee; one large boulder Jack even fantasizes about using as a catapault-type weapon, "'Shove a palm trunk under that and if an enemy came....'"Chapter 6, pg. 96. Finally Ralph, becomes extremely agitated, punches a rock and orders them harshly, "'I'm chief. We've got to make certain [that there is no beast]....There's no signal showing [on the mountain]. There may be a ship out there.'" Chapter 6, pg. 98.

Increasingly, Ralph and Jack pursue their own desires: Jack wishing to destroy and hunt; Ralph wishing to be rescued, carried back to his home and father and the ponies of which he dreams. Despite their opposite ideals and patterns of behavior, they are similar in personality and motive. Both are dreamers and seem to be distant from the true needs of those they govern; when the littluns have nightmares, Ralph does not care for them but rather is quite selfish, dreaming happy thoughts of home. Jack hardly bothers with the littuns either, referring to them frequently as "crybabies." In any case, once more Jack relents and the group continues on their way, leaving their new-found fortress behind, but surely not forgotten.

Topic Tracking: Government 7

Chapter 7 "Shadows and Tall Trees"

The boys, led by Jack and Ralph, continue their search for the beast sighted by Samneric on the mountain, walking along the pig-run. Ralph reminisces again for his old life, when he was clean and had a proper haircut; where there were ponies back home and books; where he ate cornflakes with sugar, not pig and fruit. He escapes to his thoughts, into the reflection of all the luxuries he is now forced to live without. Comfort comes from Simon who assures him simply, as if reading his thoughts, "'You'll get back to where you came from.'" Chapter 7, pg. 100.

After Roger traces out fresh pig droppings on the ground, Jack convinces Ralph to allow them to hunt as they continue along; he agrees. A boar is soon pursued by all of the boys, including Ralph, who has sticks it with a spear as it makes its escape. In the chase, Jack's arm has been cut by the pig's tusks. Even though the prey has gotten away, the boys relive the thrill of hunting by encircling Robert as if he were the pig, grabbing and pulling at him in a circle, chanting yet again: "'Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!'" Chapter 7, pg. 104 to one another. Even Ralph is compelled to join them, "fighting to get near....The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7, pg. 104.

Just as earlier rules were established to create Ralph's society with the assembly and conch, so now does this ritual cause the hunters to visualize a new type of society, with this ritual improved by "a fire [and]...a drum...to keep time." Jack adds that someone could dress up like the pig and the others would reenact the battle to slay it. The focus of the group drifts further from that envisioned by Ralph, partly due to his own participation in the hunter's activities. Even he is beginning to lose sight of his purpose by hunting the pig. Finally he remembers his purpose, as if emerging from a trance, and urges them to rekindle the signal fire, after all of their talk of pig rituals and dancing.

Topic Tracking: Pig 5
Topic Tracking: Religion 7
Topic Tracking: Government 8

Simon volunteers to go back to the camp to check up on Piggy and the littluns. Without warning, he disappears into the forest. The rest go on along the pig-run following at last to the mountain where Samneric saw the "beast." Night has fallen and as they climb ash blows through their eyes and hair, remnants of the blaze which was burnt across the island their first night there. Jack continues to cajole Ralph for being so concerned about Piggy, whom Jack has resented from the beginning, perhaps viewing Ralph's concern as betrayal to him. Sarcastically he says, "'We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, mustn't we?'" Chapter 7, pg. 106. Ralph's talent as a leader is also called into question here with the narrator's comment: "Ralph...would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player." Chapter 7, pg. 106. Rather than an ideal leader, Ralph is shown here to be quite the opposite. This is evidenced in his inconsistent behavior, such as that seen earlier when he loses sight of his own mission and allows Jack to take control of the group.

At last, only three go on to reach the summit of the mountain: Roger, Ralph and Jack; the others have stayed behind because of fear. There they see the same bowed figure of the lifeless pilot, swaying in the wind before them. Without warning they cast down their spears and all three run madly back to the security of the beach where the other children are waiting.

Topic Tracking: Government 9
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 6

Chapter 8 "Gift for the Darkness"



Upon returning to the beach, Piggy listens in disbelief to Jack and Ralph, who both say they had seen the beast with their own eyes--Ralph declares that it "had teeth and big black eyes." With the sun rising, for the third day in a row an assembly is called with a blow of the conch. It is to be the last of its kind that includes the entire group. The tension between Jack and Ralph reaches a climax with Ralph insulting Jack's hunters by calling them "boys with sticks." Jack counters by stating that Ralph is a coward who is now "like Piggy....He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.'" Chapter 8, pg. 115.

At this, Jack requests a vote from the group to remove Ralph from power. No one raises their hands and so, lacking support for the motion, he abruptly declares his defection from Ralph's society. Here is the turning point as the group officially splits, although signs of rising tensions between the two have been evident throughout. Jack disappears, inviting all who want to be a hunter to join his new "society".

Topic Tracking: Government 10
Topic Tracking: Intellectual 7

Ralph, feeling his control slip away, turns increasingly to Piggy for support. Simon urges them all to climb the mountain, though his advice is not taken seriously. Instead, Piggy has the idea of building the signal fire on the beach near the shelters. He is in good spirits at the departure of Jack, whom he has always feared as a physical threat (for it was Jack who broke his glasses after slapping his face) and he was "so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he helped to fetch wood." Chapter 8, pg. 118.

It is important to note an almost parasitic relationship which forms between these two; as Ralph learns to think and intellectualize more and more, so too does Piggy learn increasingly to be more aggressive and active in deeds like Ralph. His language becomes less and less an annoyance. Piggy's aunt, whom he would talk endlessly about like a child at the opening of the book, is no longer mentioned at all. Indeed, the boys grow up by learning from one another. To continue to rely on nonexistent adults to guide them would be insensible, so now they rely on themselves for survival, and become responsible.

Among the boys who defect to Jack's society are Bill, Maurice, Roger and others. Even Simon disappears from Ralph's group, though for other reasons--presumably to climb the mountain alone. Samneric, Ralph and Piggy thus happily sit on the beach feasting for the moment on a mountain of fruit, trying to forget their worries.

Topic Tracking: Intellectual 8

Meanwhile, Jack and his hunters slay a female sow disturbed while nursing her piglets. The method in which she is slain is almost violently sexual in nature, as Roger impales her "'Right up her ass!'" Chapter 8, pg. 123 with a spear while Jack cuts her throat, wiping the blood from his hands onto Maurice's cheeks with laughter, as if it were only fingerpaint. In a way, the pig is raped by the boys and defiled, unlike the other pig slayings. Here a boundary has been crossed. It would seem that not only are Ralph and Piggy maturing, but Jack and his hunters are growing up as well, although in a darker way. Roger is ordered to "sharpen a stick at both ends". The sow's head is cut off entirely and left to drip blood and guts onto the ground. "'This head is for the beast. It's a gift.'" Chapter 8, pg. 124 Jack declares boldly, lodging one end of the stick into the ground and placing the sow's head on the other. Picking up the remaining carcass, the boys move onward from the scene.

Topic Tracking: Pig 6
Topic Tracking: Beast 5

The focus returns to Piggy and Ralph, tending the fire on the beach. Piggy blames Jack for the group's problems and Ralph agrees. No longer a steadfast leader with his decreased following, Ralph is biased and shows disdain for Jack, blaming him for everything that has gone wrong on the island. As Simon pointed out earlier, the beast which fills the boys with such fear is actually a figment in their minds, a piece within themselves. There is further discussion of Samneric doing everything together such as tending the fire, in one turn. Thinking as always in terms of logic, Piggy disagrees with this arrangement suggesting they take separate turns at the fire. Ralph leans ever-increasingly upon Piggy for support, needing to be reminded about the need for the signal fire, even after he was the one who insisted it be kept burning in the beginning.

Abruptly, Jack's hunters burst in upon them, grabbing half-burning branches to light their own pig-roasting fire. All are invited to attend Jack's little "party" to eat more meat. The littluns, Samneric and the rest sit in expectation, even as the sky begins to grow dark with clouds.

Simon sits down to rest near the decapitated sow's head in the forest. His curiousity gets the better of him and he decides to wait to see if a beast will actually come for its gift. Flies have begun to swarm around its blood and guts at the base of the stick and they begin to attack Simon as well, and "[Simon's] eyes were half-closed as though he were imitating the obscene thing on the stick." Chapter 8, pg. 130. Suddenly a voice designated only as The Lord of the Flies speaks from nowhere and mocks him, saying "'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 what they are?'" Chapter 8, pg. 130. The pig's skull is unmoving; the voice comes from inside Simon. As he had stated earlier, the beast is a part of all of them, and so he confronts the beast within himself. The ugly beast externalized upon the stake, that pig's head buzzing with flies, suddenly mirrors Simon, eyes half closed and himself buzzing with flies as well. The outside and inside are at this moment one and the same. The beast then begins to threaten him saying, "'You're not wanted....on this island!... So don't try [to take] it on...or else....we shall do you. See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph.'" Chapter 8, pg. 131. If Simon attempts again to explain to all of the children that there is really no beast but that which is in themselves, he is warned that he shall be thus killed not only by Jack but by Ralph and Piggy too, for the beast, the voice says, is in all of them. With these words spoken from within, Simon falls unconsciousness after being swallowed by "a vast mouth [with] blackness within." (pg. 131)

Topic Tracking: Religion 8
Topic Tracking: Beast 6