Chapter Summary Essay, Research Paper
Chapter One: The Sound of a Shell.The first chapter concentrates on describing character personalities. Ralph, Piggy, Jack and the rest of the choir are introduced after Ralph blows the conch. The group elects Ralph, ‘the chief’ and they begin to establish rules and boundaries. Ralph, Jack and Simon explore the island and begin plans for shelters from the weather. The trio find that the island is a fertile place. It has natural fruit, fresh water and wild pigs which could be hunted as a form of meat. Piggy is immediately ostracized from the group and Ralph also decides that a bonfire on the mountain should be lit permanently on the mountain as a constant smoke signal.Chapter Two: Fire on the Mountain.Ralph calls another meeting to discuss the fire on the mountain. Jack decides forming a hunting party to hunt pigs. A small boy claims to have seen a serpent-like beast, but the idea is quickly discarded after Ralph and Jack convince the group otherwise. The group hurriedly rushes to the mountain and collects wood for a fire, which breaks up the meeting. At first the boys have nothing to light the fire, until Jack robs Piggy of his glasses and uses them to magnify the sun’s rays to heat the tinder-dry wood. The fire, although majestic, unfortunately only generates a tiny amount of smoke, so the boys stack green branches on to get more smoke. At the next meeting, Ralph decides that more rules should be introduced, including groups to be set out for specific tasks (e.g. Shelters, Fire, Hunting). Also, Piggy brings up a subject of concern. He reveals that one child is missing, and the group fear for his life. Chapter Three: Huts on the Beach.Ralph and Simon start to build shelters on their own and become angry because of the amount of kids who won’t help. Ralph and Jack chat about each others views of their predicaments, and find that they are very different. Jack starts to become obsessed with hunting and killing pigs and loses sight of their goal- to be rescued. The younger children spend more and more time playing and less and less time helping.Chapter Four: Painted Faces and Long Hair.The hunters start painting themselves to stay camouflaged from their targets. Piggy suggests making a sundial to tell the time, but has no support. A ship sails past the island but doesn’t notice the boys because Jack’s choir had let the fire out completely. The boys had lost interest in the fire and decided to go hunting instead. This makes Ralph angry. Jack and his hunters catch a pig, but Ralph doesn’t care. Jack re-lights the fire and prepares the pig’s meat for a feast. Ralph is still not satisfied and calls a meeting down on the platform, beneath the mountain. Chapter Five: Beast from Water.Ralph calls a meeting, still using the conch system to give kids the right to talk. He tells the group that there idea of water carriers quickly became boring to them and that shelters were being slept in by all but only two people were making them. He was also displeased with the younger children, expelling bodily waste wherever they pleased, instead of in the rock, near the bathing pool, as they agreed. This brought a chorus of laughter. The conversation soon switched to the beast. Some, even most of the group had doubts on whether it was just a figment of the “little’uns” imaginations. Jack talks out of turn and this sparks a verbal brawl between Jack and Ralph. The group now starts to go their separate ways- either with Jack, or Ralph. Jack’s hunters decide to hunt the beast and settle the mind of the young kids.Chapter Six: Beast from Air.Ralph and his friends fetch wood for the fire. Later that night, the twins rush to Ralph and Piggy and tell them that they have seen the beast. They ask to use their spears. Ralph went with the other to hunt for the beast. They venture into the jungle and into a cave but find nothing. Jack decides that the cave is a good place for a fort. The boys start to turn against Ralph and his ideas and begin to join Jack in his hunting.Chapter Seven: Shadows and Tall Trees.Ralph hunts with Jack for a while and stabs a boar which the boys mistake for the beast. Jack planned a bonfire where they planned to play a game where Roger would act as a Pig and they would chase and hunt him. Simon volunteers to go back and inform Piggy and the little’uns that Jack and Ralph are going to hunt the Beast at the mountain. They claim to see something which they are convinced is the beast. They rush away from the creature, down the mountain and back to safety.Chapter Eight: Gift for the Darkness.The boys now talk about how they are now sure the beast exists after seeing it the previous night. Jack turns against Ralph and says untrue things about Ralph to turn the others against him which has the desired effect. Jack proposes that he become chief but this idea is unpopular, so he goes off on his own, and urges anyone else who wants to hunt, to come too. Ralph and the rest built another fire. Meanwhile, Jack and a small group of boys were contented to hunt. They caught a pig and Jack slit its throat. He decided to plant the head on a stake and leave it outside the beast’s “lair” as a gift. Ralph planned a feast that night. He invited Ralph’s group to come and eat with them. Chapter Nine: A View to Death.Ralph and Piggy went to the feast, and Ralph blew the conch to try and call an assembly. The rest weren’t interested. They had their minds on joining Jack’s tribe to hunt the Beast. The group danced wildly around the bonfire as the rest performed a strange dance while chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” and Roger pretended to be the Beast or a pig. The chant became stronger and stronger. Piggy and Ralph looked on in astonishment. Suddenly, a figure appeared further down on the beach. “It’s the beast!” someone cried. And with that, like madmen, they sprinted towards the figure and stabbed it several times until it no longer moved, then stopped in horror, as they saw that the dead body was Simon.Chapter Ten: The Shell and the Glasses.Ralph was almost in tears. Piggy and Eric were the only ones left with Ralph. Ralph was horrified at the way Simon died. Jack had set up a fort near the cliffs. They stole fire from Ralph and Piggy, and broke Piggy’s glasses. Ralph, Eric and Piggy moved towards Castle Rock, along the beach. Ralph held a spear in one hand, and Piggy’s broken spectacles in the other.Chapter Eleven: Castle Rock.They set out to confront Jack with the conch and sort things out. Roger told them to halt when they reached the fort. Ralph told them he was calling an assembly, but the savages didn’t care. Ralph told them that stealing their fire and Piggy’s specs was wrong and that they should give them back, but Jack wouldn’t listen. Ralph called Jack a thief and then the pair broke into a fight with spears, the savages chanted. Eventually the pair stopped, and Piggy spoke. His long speech was interrupted when one of the savages rolled a huge boulder down the cliff which struck Piggy and pushed him forty feet on to a jagged rock. Jack showing no signs of remorse threw a spear which hit Ralph in the ribs. Ralph ran to the forest.Chapter Twelve: Cry of the Hunters.All of the boys were gone, Ralph thought. Only savages remained. While Ralph was in the forest, he saw Sam and Eric. They told him that he should run and hide because Jack and Roger were going to hunt him soon. Suddenly Roger came to see if the twins were keeping guard. Ralph hid in a thicket. When Roger left, Ralph ran away and thought about the best course of action. The island was on fire. The entire group was looking for Ralph. Hunting Ralph. Jack spotted him and the entire group was soon chasing Ralph through the jungle. Ralph stumbled out of the forest, and fell into the sand, in front of two shoes. The shoes of a sailor whose ship was waiting to take them home. Ralph told him about the deaths and then broke into tears.
326