Page 311 - DENG404_FICTION

Unit 26: William Golding — Lord of the Flies: Detailed Study of Text-II

suggests the continuing dehumanization of the boys as they remain cut-off from the larger Notes
world and without successful social organization. Their progress from the semi-humanized
beach, with its shelters and sandcastles, to the wild forest and mountain areas, mirrors their
descent into complete savagery. The chapter’s beginning, in which Ralph compares the ocean
to an impenetrable wall, also suggests the extent to which nature remains the boys’ most
powerful antagonist. Ralph’s pessimistic observations foreshadow the following chapters, in
which Simon discovers that the “beast” is actually a dead body, whose presence on the island
can be explained rationally. It was the darkness of the night that prevented the boys from
recognizing the true nature of the creature of the mountaintop. Throughout the novel, the
natural world frustrates and threatens the boys’ understanding of their situation and their
relationships with one another. Ralph’s sense of defeat in the face of the ocean in this chapter
thus indicates that he is beginning to register the power of nature and the part it plays in their
struggle for rescue and self-government.
The conclusion of the chapter, with the boys’ collective misrecognition of the dead parachutist
as a malevolent beast, highlights the power of human nature to fear the unknown and magnify
its importance. The boys compare the figure on the mountaintop to a great ape. The primate
is a common symbol for early man and man’s origins as an animal species. The boys recognize
the ape-like creature as a monster, a moment that underscores the monstrous potential of
humanity at its most primitive and base. The parachutist, whose arrival on the island inaugurates
a series of events that lead to complete anarchy and bloodshed, thus links together evil,
nature, and humanity in a single symbol. The haste with which the boys decide the dead body
is a “monster” indicates not only the infectiousness of hysterical thinking among the boys, but
also the extent to which the beast is a projection of their fear of their own savagery and
violence.

Chapter Eight: Gift for the Darkness

The next morning, the boys gather on the beach to discuss what the hunters saw. Ralph tells
Piggy about the creature on the mountain, which he describes as a beast with teeth and big
black eyes. Piggy is skeptical. Jack assures the group that his hunters can defeat the beast, but
Ralph dismisses Jack’s group as no more than boys with sticks. Jack tells the other boys that
the beast is a hunter, and he informs them that Ralph thinks that the boys are cowards. He
continues his attack on Ralph, claiming that Ralph is no proper chief, for he is a coward
himself. Jack asks the boys if they want Ralph to be fired as chief. When nobody agrees with
him, Jack runs off in tears. He asserts that he is no longer going to be part of Ralph’s lot. Jack
leaves the group on the beach.
After Jack runs off, Piggy tells the group they can do without him, but they should stay close
to the platform. Simon suggests that they climb the mountain. Piggy says that if they climb
the mountain they can start the fire again, but he then suggests that they start a fire down by
the beach. Piggy organizes the new fire area by the beach. Ralph notices that several of the
boys are missing. Piggy is confident that they all will do well enough if they behave with
common sense, and he proposes a feast. They wonder where Simon has gone and surmise that
he might be climbing the mountain. In fact, Simon left to sit in the open space he had found
earlier.
Far off along the beach, Jack proclaims that he will be chief of the hunters and that they must
forget about the beast. He says that they might go later to the castle rock, but now they will
kill a pig and have a feast to celebrate their independence. They find a group of pigs, and Jack
kills a large sow by forcing his spear up her anus. Jack rubs the blood over Maurice’s cheeks
while Roger laughs about how the fatal blow against the sow was delivered up her ass. They

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 305