Chapters 6-9

CHAPTER 6 – ‘BEAST FROM AIR’– PLOT SUMMARY

There is a late night military airplane battle above the island. None of the boys sees the explosions and flashes in the clouds because the twins Sam and Eric, who were supposed to watch the signal fire, have fallen asleep. During the battle, a parachutist drifts down from the sky onto the island, dead. His chute becomes tangled in some rocks and flaps in the wind, while his shape casts fearful shadows on the ground. When Sam and Eric wake up, they tend to the fire to make the flames brighter. In the flickering firelight, they see the twisted form of the dead parachutist and mistake the shadowy image for the figure of the dreaded beast. They rush back to the camp, wake Ralph, and tell him what they have seen. Ralph immediately calls for a meeting, the boys organize an expedition to search the island for monsters. They set out, armed with wooden spears, and only Piggy and the littluns remain behind.

Ralph allows Jack to lead the search as the group sets out. The boys soon reach a part of the island that none of them has ever explored before—a thin walkway that leads to a hill dotted with small caves. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section6.rhtml

CH6 QUESTIONS

1. What does Ralph tell Jack to do at the meeting when Jack tries to talk out of turn? Is Ralph’s order followed?

2. What do the boys do when they enter the small island? Why?

3. What does Ralph urge them to concentrate on instead? Why?

CHAPTER 7 – ‘SHADOWS AND TALL TREES’– PLOT SUMMARY

…That afternoon, the hunters find pig droppings, and Jack suggests they hunt the pig while they continue to search for the beast. The boys agree and quickly track a large boar, which leads them on a wild chase. Ralph, who has never been on a hunt before, quickly gets caught up in the exhilaration of the chase. He excitedly flings his spear at the boar, and though it glances off the animal’s snout, Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship nonetheless. Jack holds up his bloodied arm, which he claims the boar grazed with its tusks. Although the boar escapes, the boys remain in a frenzy in the aftermath of the hunt. Excited, they reenact the chase among themselves with a boy named Robert playing the boar. They dance, chant, and jab Robert with their spears, eventually losing sight of the fact that they are only playing a game. Beaten and in danger, Robert tries to drag himself away. The group nearly kills Robert before they remember themselves. When Robert suggests that they use a real boar in the game next time, Jack replies that they should use a littlun instead…Darkness falls, and Ralph proposes that they wait until morning to climb the mountain because it will be difficult to hunt the monster at night. Jack challenges Ralph to join the hunt, and Ralph finally agrees to go simply to regain his position in the eyes of the group. Ralph, Roger, and Jack start to climb the mountain, and then Ralph and Roger wait somewhere near the top while Jack climbs alone to the summit. He returns, breathlessly claiming to have seen the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up to have a look and see a terrifying specter, a large, shadowy form with the shape of a giant ape, making a strange flapping sound in the wind. Horrified, the boys hurry down the mountain to warn the group. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section7.rhtml

CH7 QUESTIONS

1. Of what does Ralph dream when he contemplates the sea?

2. Who correctly interprets Ralph’s reverie as a longing to be rescued? What can be inferred about this character?

3. What literary device is featured heavily in tis chapter (hint: think of Robert). Explain your reasoning.

CHAPTER 8 – ‘GIFT FOR THE WATER’– PLOT SUMMARY

The next morning, the news of the monster has the boys in a state of uproar as they gather on the beach. Piggy, who was not on the mountain the night before, is baffled by the other boys’ claims to have seen the monster. Jack seizes the conch shell and blows into it clumsily, calling for an assembly…Enraged, Jack storms away from the group, saying that he is leaving and that anyone who likes is welcome to join him. Piggy thinks they should build a new signal fire, on the beach rather than on the mountain. Piggy’s idea restores Ralph’s hope that they will be rescued. The boys set to work and build a new fire, but many of them sneak away into the night to join Jack’s group. Piggy tries to convince Ralph that they are better off without the deserters. Along another stretch of sand, Jack gathers his new tribe and declares himself the chief. In a savage frenzy, the hunters kill a sow, and Roger drives his spear forcefully into the sow’s anus. Then the boys leave the sow’s head on a sharpened stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast. As they place the head upright in the forest, the black blood drips down the sow’s teeth, and the boys run away.

As Piggy and Ralph sit in the old camp discussing the deserters, the hunters from Jack’s tribe descend upon them, shrieking and whooping. The hunters steal burning sticks from the fire on the beach. Jack tells Ralph’s followers that they are welcome to come to his feast that night and even to join his tribe. The hungry boys are tempted by the idea of pig’s meat. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section8.rhtml

CH8 QUESTIONS

1. What lie does Jack tell the others at the assembly?

2. What does Jack do before he leaves the assembly?

3. Who converses with the pig’s head about the nature of the beast?

4. What threat does the beast make at the end of the chapter?

5. Who is the Lord of the Flies?

CHAPTER 9 – ‘A VIEW TO A DEATH’– PLOT SUMMARY

Simon awakens and finds the air dark and humid with an approaching storm. His nose is bleeding, and he staggers toward the mountain in a daze. He crawls up the hill and, in the failing light, sees the dead pilot with his flapping parachute. Watching the parachute rise and fall with the wind, Simon realizes that the boys have mistaken this harmless object for the deadly beast that has plunged their entire group into chaos. When Simon sees the corpse of the parachutist, he begins to vomit. When he is finished, he untangles the parachute lines, freeing the parachute from the rocks. Anxious to prove to the group that the beast is not real after all, Simon stumbles toward the distant light of the fire at Jack’s feast to tell the other boys what he has seen. Piggy and Ralph go to the feast with the hopes that they will be able to keep some control over events. At the feast, the boys are laughing and eating the roasted pig. Jack sits like a king on a throne, his face painted like a savage, languidly issuing commands, and waited on by boys acting as his servants. After the large meal, Jack extends an invitation to all of Ralph’s followers to join his tribe. Most of them accept, despite Ralph’s attempts to dissuade them. As it starts to rain, Ralph asks Jack how he plans to weather the storm considering he has not built any shelters. In response, Jack orders his tribe to do its wild hunting dance.

Chanting and dancing in several separate circles along the beach, the boys are caught up in a kind of frenzy. Even Ralph and Piggy, swept away by the excitement, dance on the fringes of the group. The boys again reenact the hunting of the pig and reach a high pitch of frenzied energy as they chant and dance. Suddenly, the boys see a shadowy figure creep out of the forest—it is Simon. In their wild state, however, the boys do not recognize him. Shouting that he is the beast, the boys descend upon Simon and start to tear him apart with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tries desperately to explain what has happened and to remind them of who he is, but he trips and plunges over the rocks onto the beach. The boys fall on him violently and kill him. The storm explodes over the island. In the whipping rain, the boys run for shelter. Howling wind and waves wash Simon’s mangled corpse into the ocean, where it drifts away, surrounded by glowing fish. At the same time, the wind blows the body of the parachutist off the side of the mountain and onto the beach, sending the boys screaming into the darkness. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section9.rhtml

BLOG QUESTION – Post your answer in class blog comment section by Wednesday
What pattern is established and made clear when the hunting party discovers the small island? What theme can William Golding be trying to show by use of this pattern?

BLOG QUESTION – Post your answer in class blog comment section by Friday
In what specific ways does belief in the “Beast” give Jack power? How would you characterize Jack’s use of his power? Does the situation on the island improve or deteriorate when Jack gains power? What does Simon’s death represent?