Page 326 - DENG404_FICTION

Fiction

Notes unable to state his name and address as he could when the boys first arrived on the island.
More importantly, Ralph perceives their experiences on the island as the end of their innocence.
He has witnessed the overthrow of rational society as represented by Piggy in favor of the
barbarism and tyranny of Jack. His final thoughts: “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.”
These thoughts indicate a play of the Eden myth with which Golding began. If there was an
Eden on the island, it was the special place found by Simon that none of the other boys
wanted to experience. They began out of Eden rather than inside it. Any paradise they hoped
for on the island came to an end when the boys chose nature and instinct over rationality and
awareness-compare, however, the rise of rationality and awareness in Genesis, which seems
to occur most of all after the fall. Ralph loses his innocence when he realizes that the violence
inherent in humanity is always under the surface of the order and morality that civilization
imposes on individuals.

26.2 Summary

• Golding further develops the themes he introduced in “Beast From Air”.
• Golding continues to use imagery and symbolism to trace the boys’ descent into disorder,
violence, and amorality.
• Simon believes that the pig’s head speaks to him. He thinks that it is calling him a silly
little boy.
• The political subtext of previous chapters becomes more overt in this chapter as Jack
explicitly attempts to overthrow Ralph as chief.
• The political subtext of the chapter is most evident, however, in the final confrontation
between Ralph, Piggy, and Jack.
• The murder of Piggy, however, is a more chilling event, for the boys killed Simon out
of an instinctual panic.

26.3 Keywords

Ritual : a prescribed order of performing such a ceremony.
Garland : a wreath of flowers leaves
Ominous : giving the worrying impression that something bad is going to happen.
Figurative : departing from a literal use of words.

26.4 Review Questions

1. What does Ralph day dream about his home?
2. Describe the Killing of the sow. What do the hunters do with the blood?
3. Why did the hunters raid Ralph’s group?

4. What will happen to Piggy without his glasses?
5. Why and how are the boys rescued?
6. Why does Ralph break down? What does he realize about mankind in general?

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