Chapter 11: Castle Rock

At the start of chapter eleven Ralph is trying to start the fire again by blowing it. It is no use, and they decide to call an assembly. Ralph calls the assembly by blowing into the conch. In the assembly they decide to go to Jack and get Piggy's glasses. They ate and then set out to castle rock. Ralph and Samneric carried spears, while Piggy carried the conch. When they came near castle rock a voice called "Halt! Who goes there?" (174) Ralph then blew the conch and the savages came down to where he and Samneric were. When Ralph asked about the fire and Piggy's glasses the savages laughed. Jack came from out of nowhere and asked Ralph what he wanted. They got into a pretty heated argument about the fire and Piggy's glasses and then "Jack made a rush and stabbed at Ralph's chest with his spear." (177) They used the spears as sabers, not as spears, so they were both safe. Neither won, and when they calmed down a little bit Ralph said to give back Piggy's glasses and said they need to keep a signal fire going. Jack basically ignores him and orders his tribe to grab Samneric, and tie them up. This angered Ralph and he called Jack "...a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!" (179) They charged at each other, and bounced apart from the force. Next Piggy asked to speak and he brought up how it was better to be a sensible person than a savage. While Piggy was speaking, Roger was throwing stones. I was a little confused about what Roger did to kill Piggy, but I know that a boulder came flying off the cliff, and hit Piggy. The boulder sent Piggy flying onto the red rock in the sea, which was a fourty foot drop. "His head opened and stuff came out and turned red." (181) Next Jack runs out from behind his tribe, and throws his spear at Ralph, with the intention to hit him. I think he does this to attract attention away from Piggy's death, and back to himself. Then everybody started throwing spears at Ralph, following Jack's example. Ralph ran away, and Jack and his hunters returned to their fort. I disliked this chapter because Piggy died. This is where the "savage" in Jack and his hunters really showed. Piggy was hit by a huge rock, dropped fourty feet, died, and nobody cared.