Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters

After running away from Jack's tribe, Ralph wakes up near Castle Rock. He goes and sees that Robert is on guard, and then goes to eat fruit. After he eats he goes back to Castle Rock and sees Samneric are on guard. He calls to them, and they talk. Samneric tell Ralph "They're going to hunt you tomorrow" (188) They refer to Jack and Roger. They tell Ralph how they are going to have to give signals. They talk a little more, and then someone comes to check on Samneric. Ralph hides in a thicket very near the cliff. He falls asleep. He woke up and heard a savage coming near him. Nobody could get through to the thicket, but Jack knew Ralph was there because Samneric told him. Jack's tribe went up on the cliff and started heaving rocks onto the thicket were Ralph was hiding. The last rock shot Ralph into the air, and he stabbed a savage with his spear. Ralph figured out they were lighting a fire to try to kill him because of the smoke. He ran through the forest, and hid in bushes. After a savage came close to the bushes Ralph stabbed him with the stake, and ran. He ran to the beach and there was a naval officer. The naval officer asked who was in charge, and Ralph said he was. He also asked if anyone was killed, and Ralph said two. In the end Ralph started crying, and then so did everyone. I liked this chapter because they got rescued, but I thought that it was ridiculous how they were hunting Ralph. Ralph came and asked Jack to give back Piggy's glasses, and Jack decided to kill him. I thought that was kind of stupid, but it shows how easily you can turn people into savages if the wrong person leads them.

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.

Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses

The chapter starts off with Ralph and Piggy talking about who is still in Ralph's tribe, and then the death of Simon. I agree with Ralph's opinion in this argument, which is that the death of Simon was murder. Even though it was dark and they could not see what or who they were killing, they could still hear. The cry of a beast would be different from that of a human. After Ralph and Piggy finish arguing they agree not to tell Samneric about what happened. While this is happening Wilfred is tied up, because Jack ordered it, and then beaten. "The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffing noisily in the background." (160) When Bill asks how they will make a fire, Jack says that they will take it from the others at night. I think this shows that they really are savages. Meanwhile Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric are starting a fire. They go to get more wood and to get fruit. After that they all lied down to go to sleep. Ralph and Piggy talked for a little bit, and then that is when they got ambushed. Jack, Roger, and Maurice came and fought Ralp, Piggy, and Samneric, while they were in the shelters. The end result of this was that Piggy's glasses broke. I thought it was not really smart of Jack and his tribe to do this, because they could have just all cooperated, and got off the island much quicker working together. I thought this chapter was pretty interesting because there was a lot going on.

Chapter 9: A view to a Death

The chapter begins with Simon waking up and heading for Jack's feast in order to tell everyone that the beast was not real. Meanwhile Ralph and Piggy were bathing, and then they decided to go to Jack's feast. When they came to the feast everyone was eating already. Then the boys who were cooking at the fire hauled off a chunk of meat and purposefully bumped Piggy with it, which burned him. This made everyone laugh, even Ralph, who was being nice to Piggy for a while. I think this shows how Piggy is the person that everyone tries to hurt or make fun of in order to make themselves feel better, or just for no reason at all. "Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal." (149) Piggy and Ralph got their portion of meat and ate it. Jack started to speak about who will join his tribe and him and Ralph started arguing again. After it started to rain Jack said "Do our dance! Come on! Dance!" (151) Everybody started to dance and chant about killing the beast. While everyone was dancing and chanting something came out of the forest, and everyone thought it was the beast. Everybody closed in on the "beast" and killed it. Later in the chapter it explains the beast was Simon. When I figured out that they killed Simon I thought it was horrible. He was one of the few nice characters in the book. I think them killing Simon goes to show how scared of the beast everyone was. I also noticed that the title of the chapter foreshadows what is going to happen in the chapter. I did not like this chapter too much because I think that at some point the boys realized they were not killing the beast, but a person.

Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness

In this chapter Jack and Ralph get into an argument after Ralph insults Jack's hunters saying "Boys armed with sticks." (125) Jack is angered and he blows the conch to call a meeting. I think this is the moment that it became very obvious that Jack was usurping Ralph. In the meeting Jack basically says that Ralph is a bad chief, Jack is leaving the tribe, and is going to be hunting on his own. He says anyone who wants to join him can come with, and he leaves. At the start nobody goes with him, but slowly more and more kids dissapear. Since the mountain is occupied by the "beast", Piggy suggests making a fire where they presently are. I thought this was a good, logical idea, and everybody should have listened to all of Piggy's ideas from the start. The boys ate fruit. While all this is happening Simon is climbing up the mountain, and Jack is planning how he will get more people in his tribe. Jack decides to give a feast. His group of boys went to hunt and killed a large sow. The pig's head was put on a stick and stuck into the ground as a gift for the beast. Jack and his hunters came to where Ralph and Piggy were, took a few branches from the fire, and Jack announced that there will be a feast. The last eevent in the chapter is Simon hallucinating that he was talking to the Lord of the Flies. In this chapter lots of stuff happened. First of all the conflic between Jack and Ralph went to the next level. Jack had argued with Ralph before, but in this chapter he started his own tribe and stole fire from him. Also Jack and his hunters are reffered to as savages for the first time. This is foreshadowing because it gives you a clue about how Jack and his hunters are going to act further into the book. I liked this chapter because, in my opinion, it was the first chapter of the book that was not boring. In chapters before this one there was not really much going on, but this chapter was the one that actually got me interested in the book.

Chapter 7: Shadows and Tall Trees

At the beginning of this chapter the boys are going from the bridge, where the beast supposedly was, back to the beach. They ate fruit, and then Jack discovered fresh droppings on the pig run, so the boys decided to go and hunt. On the pig run there was a boar, so Ralph took aim at it and threw his spear. He hit the boar in its snout, and all the boys started chasing it. The boar escaped. Ralph started to brag about how he hit the boar, and Jack showed his wound. It was like a game of who could get the most attention. Then everyone started acting like Robert was the beast and they were going to kill him, which I thought was idiotic and pointless. "The circle moved in and round. Robert squealed in mock terror, then in real pain." (114) They could have seriously hurt Robert, especially when Ralph was jabbing at him with a spear. I think this shows that as the boys spent more time on the island they became less civilized. The boys then decided to go up to the mountain to see if it was clear. Ralph, Jack, and Roger go up to see if the beast is there. They go up and all of them think they see the beast, because there is a rock like hump, but I think it is only the person with the parachute. This chapter has more conflict between Jack and Ralph than any of the ones before it, and shows how they compete against each other to be the bravest one.

Chapter 6: Beast from Air

In chapter six the boys fully explore the island. Sam and Eric supposedly see the beast, so an assembly is called and they decide to hunt for the beast. Although Sam and Eric say they see the beast, I think it was just the person with the parachute that fell to the mountain, and they thought it was the beast.  When the assembly is called there are problems with Ralph and Jack. When Piggy has the conch, Jack says “We don’t need the conch anymore.” (102), and this angers Ralph. Ralph tells Jack to sit down, but Jack argues that “This is a hunter’s job.” (102). Eventually they stop arguing, and decide to go to the tail end part of the island to look for the beast. Ralph, Jack, Roger, Bill, and Simon left to look for the beast, while Piggy and the littluns stayed. When they reached the tail end part of the island Ralph ordered everyone to stay back, while he went and looked for the beast. When Ralph was edging along the ledge, Jack came out of nowhere and said he couldn’t let Ralph do it alone. In the end Ralph and Jack found no beast. The other boys saw they were safe, and then they came across the bridge and started rolling rocks into the sea. This angered Ralph, and he ordered everyone to go back to the beach. Everyone argued for a little while, but they ended up heading back to the beach, with Jack leading the way.