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Unit 25: William Golding — Lord of the Flies: Detailed Study of Text-I

Also in Chapter Two, Golding introduces more symbols that will recur throughout the novel Notes
and which highlight important developments in the dramatic action. The fire that the boys
build signifies the group’s hope for their rescue and return to the Home Counties. A powerful
symbol of human civilization, the fire is a marker of the imposition of human industry on
wild, untamed nature; the boys’ inability to maintain the fire indicates the waning possibility
of both rescue and maintaining civilized order on the island. We may also note the introduction
in this chapter of the “beastie,” or as it is later known, the “beast.” The idea of the beast is first
mentioned by one of the younger boys though it is dismissed by most of the older children.
As Ralph reassures them, he sees a glimmer of doubt in many of their expressions, an observation
that mirrors the group’s eventual acceptance of the beast as a legitimate if improbable reality.
The beast becomes an important motif that establishes the power and danger of group-think
among the boys.

Chapter Three: Huts on the Beach
Jack scans the oppressively silent forest, looking for pigs to hunt. A bird startles him as he
progresses along the trail. He examines the texture of vines (“creepers”) to determine whether
or not pigs have run through that section of the brush. Finally, Jack spots a path cleared by
pigs (a “pig run”) and hears the pattering of hooves. He raises his spear and hurls it at a group
of pigs, driving them away and thus feeling a profound sense of impotence and frustration.
The length of Jack’s hair, the mass of freckles on his tanned back, and the tattered condition
of his shorts indicate that weeks have passed since the boys were abandoned on the island.
Jack appears to have taken up his role as group hunter with zeal, and he at least has become
talented at tracking pigs in the dense brush.
Having frightened off the pigs without a kill, Jack abandons the hunt and returns to a clearing
in the forest, where the boys are constructing crude shelters out of tree trunks and palm
leaves. He comes upon Ralph, who is working on a shelter facing the lagoon. Jack asks Ralph
for water, who directs him to a tree where coconut shells full of water are arranged. After Jack
quenches his thirst, Ralph complains to Jack that the boys are not working hard to build the
shelters. The little ones-referred to now as “littluns,” are hopeless, spending most of their time
bathing or eating. Jack reminds Ralph that he and his hunters are working hard to ensure that
the group is always fed.
Jack then tells Ralph that as chief he should just order them to work harder. Ralph admits that
even if he called a meeting, the group would agree to five minutes of work and then “wander
off to go hunting.” Recognizing this as a slight against himself and his hunters, Jack blushes,
and he explains that the group is hungry. Ralph points out that Jack’s group has yet to bring
any meat back from the forest-the hunters would rather swim than hunt. Jack explains that he
has little control over his hunters, but he has been working hard himself to “kill.” A “madness”
flashes in his eyes when he vows to kill a pig, but Ralph again reminds him that he has not
yet captured any prey.
The two argue about Jack’s contributions to the society on the island, Jack vowing to kill prey
and Ralph insisting that they need shelters more than anything. Ralph mentions that the other
boys, especially the littluns, are frightened and scream in the middle of the night. The two are
interrupted by Simon, who reminds Ralph and Jack about the littluns’ fear of the “beastie.”
The three reminisce about their first day on the island, when they explored the unknown
territory together. They laugh that the littluns are “crackers.” Jack says that when he is hunting
he often feels as if he is being hunted, but he admits that this is irrational. Nevertheless, he
says, he knows “how they feel.”

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