Lord of the Flies

Chapters 4 – 12Bloom’s Guides Lord of the Flies

Chapter 4 Chapter 4 continues with a description of nature.

“Strange things happened at midday.”

Roger and Maurice run around destroying the littluns sand castles.

Maurice feels a little bad, while Roger seems to not care.

Henry is playing in the water, forcing little creatures to go where he wants, creating an “illusion of mastery.”

Roger throws stones at Henry, purposely missing (still following the rules of his old life).

Roger is called by Jack – new innovation to help with hunting. By painting his face he thinks he will camouflage – hides the true Jack

The unkempt hair – growing is out of their control, becoming less civilized is also out of their control.

Piggy is seen as an outsider because of his weight, eyeglasses, asthma, lacking of assisting with manual labor, and accent – some critics feel as though the accent is the most relevant.

Ralph jumps up and sees smoke far out at sea – goes to the fire and finds that it has been left unattended.

The twins were supposed to be on fire duty but were busy hunting with Jack – they are excited about their success – but Ralph reputes them because they lost their chance.

Jack hits Piggy, his glasses fall, Simon saves them but one lens breaks (weakening Piggy even further).

They relight the fire and cook the pig, Jack doesn’t give Piggy any meat but Simon gives him his share and he is scolded by the other boys.

They sing and dance reenacting the pig’s death.

Chapter 5 Opens with Ralph preparing for a meeting – he is

beginning to realize how tired he is from life on the island.

Ralph is still young but he is becoming distanced from his childhood.

He reflects on the fact that a chief must be wise and a good thinker but Piggy is a better thinking than he is.

The assembly is meant to address issues – collecting water, lavatory use, shelter building.

They will only have fire on the mountain.

Ralph mentions that things started to go wrong when the boys started to become frightened.

Jack is angry and calls the young boys babies – he has been all over the island and no beast exists.

Piggy says they have nothing to fear “Unless we get frightened of people.”

Piggy lets the littluns speak and one young boy begins weeping uncontrollably.

The boy’s name is Percival, he claims the beast comes out of the sea.

Maurice admits they don’t know that there isn’t a beast, Simon agrees but says it may only be “us.”

Ralph admits it was not a good idea to have this meeting so late but continues to discuss the beast – irrational belief that the power of common sense will always triumph.

Piggy – “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grownups going to think? Going off – hunting pigs – letting fires out – and now!”

Jack tells Piggy to shut up and Ralph stands up for Piggy, Jack loses control and the boys disperse.

Piggy and Ralph remain on the platform. Piggy wants to sound the conch but Ralph is afraid no one will assemble. Ralph thinks maybe he should step down from chief.

Simon was sitting with them the whole time and wants Ralph to remain chief.

They hear a wail – it’s Percival – the boy no one wants to believe. The last voice of the chapter, installing fear.

Chapter 6 A direct continuation of chapter 5.

An explosion occurs in the air and it drops a person hanging from a parachute which gets caught on a cliff so the body is hanging and rocking back and forth.

Sam and Eric were supposed to be watching the fire but feel asleep. They hear a noise and see a dark dumped figure so they scurry down the mountain.

They see Ralph and describe the beast as furry with wings, teeth, and claws. Jack wants to hunt it but Ralph reminds him that they only have sharpened sticks.

As they hunt Piggy will stay with the small boys. Jack claims its favoritism and thinks that the rules of the conch are unnecessary. Boys are on Ralph’s side.

All the older boys eat first and then prepare to have Jack lead them out.

“However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.”

We get a glimpse that Simon has an ability that the others do not.

He voices his disbelief in the beast but none take it seriously.

Ralph and Jack climb the mountain but don’t find anything, so the other boys start to play and roll rocks.

Ralph scolds the boys and tells them that they are wasting their time when they need a fire and they argue and plead that he not push them immediately into the next mission.

Chapter 7 Direct continuation of the action occurring in chapter

6, adding to the urgency and tension of searching for the beast.

Ralph is thinking about his civilized life when Simon tells him that he will make it home.

Ralph asks him how he “knows” this.

Roger sees signs of pigs, and Ralph agrees that they can hunt them.

Ralph winds up stabbing a pig in the snout but it gets away. He still feels victorious for inflicting the wound.

They play hunt with Robert playing the pig. Robert suggests that they need a real pig since they have to kill it and Jack, jokingly, suggests using a “littlun.”

They begin to travel back but its getting dark. Jack is taunting Ralph and Ralph directly asks him “Why do you hate me?” but he offers no response.

Ralph decides that he will climb, then says one more must come, in case they find anything so Roger volunteers. Jack wants to go by himself, so he

It doesn’t take long for Jack to make it back. He is shivering and with a meek voice says that he saw a thing bulging on top.

He says it is a rock-like hump that looks something like a great ape that lifts its head in the wind to show a ruined face.

Chapter 8 Opens the beginning of dawn the next day.

Jack wants to hunt it, but Ralph answers that they are only boys with sticks.

Jack is getting aggravated and asks who thinks that Ralph should no longer be chief. But the response is silence.

In anger Jack says he is going to hunt, tears are running down his face, and whoever wants to come with him can do so.

Piggy also is unaware of the damage that is caused by Ralph leaving.

Simon says that they should go to the mountain. “What else is there to do?”

Piggy says that they will have to create a fire at the base of the island and he starts the fire with his remaining lens.

Sam, Eric, and Piggy go and get fruit for their own feast.

Simon goes to his quiet spot in the brush.

Much further down the beach Jack has his own group of followers.

He tells them that he is the chief, they they will hunt and not worry about the beast.

Jack finds a group of unsuspecting pigs lounging in the shade. Showing his wickedness and lack of compassion he intends to chase the sow and her piglets.

They follow her as the afternoon goes on. Roger and Jack move in, do the last stabs, and Jack cuts her throat. They laugh about it.

Since they have no fire, Jack says they will raid them, never thinking about a diplomatic way.

They make an offering to the beast, cut off the pig’s head and mount it on a stick, near the pig’s guts which have flies already. He calls it a gift.

The narrative turns back to Simon, whose hiding spot is not so far from the head.

The monstrosity is called Lord of the Flies, a translation of “Beelzebub,” a name for the devil – the ultimate evil.

The scene shifts to Ralph and Piggy why are lying in the sand by the fire.

Ralph admits that he is scared. Ralph and Piggy discuss Jack, a source of evil separate from them.

The boys with painted faces burst from the forest, everyone but Ralph flees.

Jack announces that they are having fun, hunting, and feasting and that if others want to join they can. As they leave he claims “The Chief has spoken.”

Ralph and the other have a meeting, he never addresses Jack being his own chief.

Bill and the twins say it must be fun to hunt and be “savages.”

Even Piggy is enticed by meat.

Final scene is Simon and the Lord of the Flies.

The head tells him that it is the beast and a part of him as well.

It warns Simon that he is not wanted, that they will have fun on the island, and warns him that if he tries anything he will be destroyed.

He falls unconscious.

Chapter 9 “A View to a Death”

Simon has a terrible nosebleed after he fell asleep after his “fit.”

Simon will climb the mountain by himself.

He staggers from being so tired.

Gets sick from seeing the parachutist’s decomposed body but then untangles the parachute lines and sets them loose.

Simon sprints down the mountain to tell everyone the truth about the beast.

Ralph is wondering where everyone is and both him and Piggy are unaware that the others have joined Jack’s party.

Jack is sitting in the center of a log, painted and garlanded “like an idol.”

He asks who wants to join his tribe.

When some of the boys say they want to join Jack, Piggy leads Ralph away, warning there is going to be trouble.

Between bursts of lightening Roger takes the part of the pig, charging at Jack, they dance with spears, cooking spits, and firewood.

Simon crawls out of the forest and tries to yell about the parachutist. But the boys are out of control and don’t realize it is him. They leave the “beast” on the shore where “its blood was staining the sand.”

The parachutist falls from the mountain and is blown out to sea.

Near midnight, the storm is gone and the group stands near Simon’s body, which eventually goes to the sea.

Golding has said that Simon is the Christ figure – misunderstood, laughed at, contemplative, solitary, has a message but is killed.

Chapter 10 Again opens with Piggy and Ralph.

Ralph laughs at the thought of calling a meeting. He speaks of Simon and how they murdered them.

Jack’s group has its own reaction to the horrible events – no one mentions Simon’s name.

Ralph says that Simon had been trying to tell them something.

A horrid voice close by whispers to Piggy to come out. Ralph tells him not to answer, Piggy has an asthma attack.

A great brawl ensues. Piggy and Ralph fought each other in the confusion.

Piggy’s glasses are missing and he now cannot see. They lost their hope for rescue.

Chapter 11 Ralph blows on ashes to see if there might still be

enough spark to start a new fire, but there is none.

Piggy asks what the grown-ups will think of the events on the island. They are trapped on the island because of the violence of adults.

Piggy wants to confront Jack but his logic wont work on him and his own fear will make it impossible.

They go to talk to Jack.

A fake war cry is heard and someone asks who are you.

Ralph blows the conch shell and says he is calling an assembly but no one moves.

Ralph says they must return Piggy’s glasses and that they would have given them fire if they asked.

Jack rushes at Ralph to stab him but Ralph blocks it.

Ralph loses his temper and screams that Jack is “a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!”

The charge at each other, Piggy yells at them and offers alternatives.

Roger is high above and leans against a bolder. Ralph hears it coming and gets out of the way but Piggy is hit.

The conch explodes into pieces, Piggy drops 40 feet and his brain is exposed.

All are silent, except Jack. He takes credit for the death and warns that Ralph will get the same treatment.

It is not enough that Ralph lost everything, Jack wants him dead. Ralph runs.

Chapter 12 Entitled “Cry of the Hunters”

Ralph realizes that they will come after him.

Along the way, he encounters the pig’s skull that seemed to grin and jeer at him. He strikes it and it breaks apart.

He gets closer to Castle Rock, and he hears the chant.

The twins find Ralph, they tell him that they were forced to be a part of the tribe and warn him that Jack hates him and will be coming after him.

He is hiding by the rock that hit Piggy, it has created a great secure space.

He decides the best strategy is to hide and finds the hidden spot Simon frequented (under Simon’s care).

A hunter is near Ralph, he pushes him and runs.

The shelters, one of the last symbols of civilization are burning.

He stumbles and forces himself to his feet. He sees a peaked cap but it’s white, not black like the choir boys. It also has a uniform and a gun (symbols of society – though a violent one).

It is a naval officer.

He claims that Ralph needs “a bath, haircut, noise-wipe, and a good deal of ointment” – he returns to little boy status.

The officer jokes asking if they were playing war. Ralph nods. The officer says “Nobody killed, I hope?” Ralph tells him that two have died. The officer realizes he is not joking.

The officer asks who the boss is and Ralph says he is.

Since they are British the officer says that he thinks they would have been able to put on a better show.

The officer is ready to take the boys from the island, but his comment brings Ralph to tears.

Golding writes “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.”

Some critics say that the ending is a gimmick, Ralph is saved just in time.

The evil taken place there has been at the hands of little boys.

Ironically, the boys are rescued from this evil by an armed warship, that will bring them back to a war-savaged civilization.