Lord of the Flies Chapter 6 Summary
•As if that were not scary enough chapter six opens with a “sign” from the adults: it’s a parachuting
dead body drifting down to the ground from a battle being fought by airplanes above the island.
•Sam and Eric are tending the signal fire when they see the body, which looks strange in the darkness as
the wind blows its head up and down.
•Screaming and running away follows.
•Ralph is dreaming of home when the twins wake him up. They scream that they saw the beast and that
it was furry, had wings, teeth, and claws, there was something moving behind its head, and it followed
them by “slinking behind the trees.”
•By now, other boys have gathered around to listen, including our favorite troublemaker, Jack.
•Jack, of course, wants to hunt the thing down.
•Jack, Ralph, and an assortment of biguns head off to do so.
•Piggy says “what about the littluns?” (as in, who will watch over them while we’re all off hunting for
the beast?)
•Jack says, “Sucks to the littluns,” since they’ve been taking care of themselves all along anyway. On that
note, they let the hunt begin.
•They decide to head for the tail end of the island, where the rocks make a sort of bridge – they’ve
never explored that part before, and refer to it as “the castle.”
•Simon walks along with them, doubtful that there is such a beast as the one Sam and Eric described.
Instead, he imagines “a picture of a human, at once heroic and sick.”
•When they get to the rocks, Ralph declares he will go in and look for the beast; he’s the chief, he
thinks, so it’s his duty.
•Several heart-pounding moments later, he sees that Jack has followed him.
•Jack says, “couldn’t let you do it on your own.”
•Not surprisingly, there is no beast inside. They have some fun exploring. And then they decide they
have to climb to the top of the mountain to look for this beast thing.
•The other boys start swarming into the rocks (“this would make wizard fort!” one of them shouts).
•They have a grand old time until Ralph realizes the signal fire has gone out again.
•With much grumbling and muttering, the boys quit their playing and follow Jack and Ralph to the top of
the mountain.
Lord of the Flies Chapter 7 Summary
•The boys stop to rest and eat some fruit they’ve found.
•Almost immediately, some of the boys steal off to “do their business.”
•Ralph, by now quite dirty, wishes that he could take a bath. Oh, and cut his hair (still).
•But then he looks around at the other boys and realizes that he’s become used to the conditions of
filthiness – it has become normal. He sighs, knowing that this isn’t really a good thing.
•Ralph stares out at the ocean – he’s now on the other side of the island, no longer shielded by the
lagoon. This, of course, is hugely meaningful to him.
•Right about this time, Ralph realizes Simon is speaking right into his ear.
•Simon actually does say, “You’ll get back all right.”
•Ralph thinks Simon is batty and says so – yet he is still somehow comforted. Simon seems to have some
knowledge of things that the other boys don’t. For a moment, they even smile at each other.
•But before you start feeling all comforted, notice that Simon says “you’ll get back all right.”
•Roger calls out that he’s found some fresh (steaming) pig poo.
•The boys start on up the mountain again as Ralph thinks fondly of home: his bedroom, books, his
mother and father and “good-humored and friendly” feelings.
•Right about now, a huge boar (that’s a male pig with tusks) comes crashing out of the bushes.
•Ralph flings his spear, which sticks in the boar’s snout for about a second before falling out.
•Ralph proudly shouts that he hit the boar, and then decides that maybe hunting is a good thing after
all.
•Jack takes off after the boar, which eventually gets away, but not before wounding Jack’s arm.
•And yet – the excitement doesn’t end there; the boys reenact the scene with some poor boy (Robert)
voluntarily playing the boar.
•Things get a little out of hand as the boys “play” at jabbing Robert with their spears.
•They start the chant again: “Kill the pig! Cut his throat,” etc., etc.
•Ralph can’t help joining in (!) as they finish the game with Robert screaming in true terror as they pin
him down.
•When it’s all over, Robert isn’t really hurt and Ralph says it was “just a game,” but even he knows that
he is shamelessly lying to himself.
•Everyone (except Robert, we assume) wishes they could do it again.
•Jack playfully suggests they could use a littlun.
•By this time, the sun is starting to go down; the boys discuss whether to go on up on the mountain and
risk facing the beast in the dark, or whether to go back to Piggy, who was left behind with the littluns.
•Finally, Simon goes off through the jungle to tell Piggy that they won’t be back until after dark.
•The rest of the boys head fearfully up the darkening mountain.
•As the group chickens out one by one, only Ralph, Jack, and Roger are left.
•Jack goes ahead and sees the “beast” (the parachute man) bowing and lifting in the wind. He can’t tell
what it is and runs back to the other two.
•Then, bravely, the trio goes together to investigate.
•Ralph is so afraid he thinks he might pass out.
•They finally get a look at what they think is a giant ape sitting there, asleep, with his head between his
knees.
•As the wind roars through the trees, the creature lifts his head, “holding toward them the ruin of a
face.”
•For the second time, much running and screaming follows. Lord of the Flies Chapter 8 Summary
•Cut to the next morning; the boys tell Piggy about the beast.
•Ralph pushes back his mop of hair (Ralph’s hair seems to have taken on a life of its own) and says that
now they are beaten; if everyone is too scared to go to the top of the mountain, they can’t keep the
signal fire going.
•Jack, trying to take control of the situation, calls an assembly by blowing the conch.
•He tells the group about the beast and then asks who thinks Ralph shouldn’t be chief anymore.
•His argument is that Ralph shouldn’t be chief because 1) he likes Piggy, 2) he doesn’t hunt, and 3) he
was scared on the mountain.
•When no one is willing to impeach Ralph, Jack feels humiliated and declares something along the lines
of a “Fine, I quit” statement. Having seceded from the union, Jack storms off, adding that Ralph has to
catch his own pigs from now on.
•BUT, before his grand exit, Jack invites anyone who wants to come with him.
•No one knows quite what to do, but Ralph says Jack will come back once it gets dark.
•Piggy is not happy with this beast situation, as it seems he can no longer convince himself it’s all been
imagined.
•Simon says that they should go up the mountain and face the beast, because “What else is there to
do?”
•No one agrees with Simon.
•Piggy finally comes up with the brilliant idea that they could build a new signal fire down by the beach
instead of depending on the one up on the mountain.
•The boys do so. Piggy wants to run experiments to see which of the green leaves make the most smoke
when they burn.
•After they get it going, Piggy and Ralph look around and realize that many of the biguns – Maurice, Bill,
and Roger and Robert – have disappeared. They didn’t help build the fire.
•The only ones left besides Piggy and Ralph are “Samneric” and Simon.
•No, wait, Simon seems to be gone, too. They wonder if he’s climbed up the mountain by himself.
•Piggy declares Simon to be “cracked,” which means “crazy.”
•Cut to Simon. He has once again gone into his little meditation spot in the jungle, to sit behind the
great woven mat of creepers.
•Simon is very thirsty, but he just stays there, hidden in his cave of vines.
•Meanwhile, far off along the beach, Jack and his group of hunters discuss how they will kill a pig and
have a feast.
•They decide that if they leave part of the pig for the beast, the beast won’t bother them (kind of like
the offerings people used to do, back in the day, to appease the gods).
•Conveniently, they find a bunch of sleeping pigs. They set their sights on the biggest, fattest, mother
pig (who is adorably nursing a row of piglets).
•What follows is a bloody and horrific scene in which the boys drive their knives into this screaming pig.
•The boys stare at the dead mother pig and, quite possibly to relieve personal disgust, begin to laugh
and rub her blood over their faces (!).
•“Right up her ass,” says one of the boys (referring to where he put his spear) and they act out the
whole thing all over again.
•The boys realize that, in order to cook the pig, they are going to need fire, which they don’t have
without Piggy’s glasses. So they decide to steal fire from Ralph’s group later on.
•Jack tells Roger to “sharpen a stick at both ends.” Then he bends over the pig with his knife and cuts off
her head.
•They ram a pointed stick into the crack of a rock and jam the pig’s severed head onto the other end.
The head hangs there, “a little blood dribbling down the stick.”
•They leave the head there as a gift for the beast and carry off the remains of the pig, running away
from the sight of that impaled head as fast as they can.
•Now get ready for some heavy, thought-provoking, killer lines in the next ten pages or so. We suggest
you go read those ten pages and then come back here when you’re done. Or get immersed and don’t
come back until you finish the book.
•Simon is still hiding behind his mat of creepers, where, unbeknownst to the other boys, he has been
watching them slaughter the pig. He now stares at the head’s half-closed eyes, which assure him that
“everything [is] a bad business.”
•Simon responds – out loud – that he already knows that.
•We start off the scene with the head “seeming” to say things to Simon.
•Simon stares at the black blob of bloody guts that the boys have piled on the ground. It is covered with
buzzing flies.
•The flies start gathering on Simon’s hot, sweaty face, but he does nothing.
•As the flies crawl over him, Simon stares at the impaled head, the “Lord of the Flies,” he thinks.
•He watches it “grinning” back at him, and there’s an element of hallucination in the way Simon is
viewing the scene.
•“In Simon’s right temple, a pulse [begins] to beat on the brain.” This reminds us of Simon’s fainting,
way back at the beginning of the text. It also makes us very nervous for Simon.
•That’s where we leave Simon, as we return to Piggy and Ralph, who are lying on the sand, gazing at the
fire.
•Samneric have wandered off.
•Simon is gone. They realize it is going to rain and are unsure of how to keep a fire going, especially with
so few people now.
•Ralph asks Piggy what’s wrong – what makes things “break up as they do.”
•Piggy thinks it’s Jack, and he’s also honored that Ralph is talking to him like an equal.
•The two of them lie there contemplating how not to die and hopefully get off the island, too, when
“demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green [rush] out howling.”
•The demons are, of course, only Jack, Maurice, and Robert with painted faces. They run up to the fire
and grab some of the burning sticks.
•Jack announces that they are having a pig roast, and that anyone can come eat with them who wants
to.
•Two of the “savages” say, “The chief has spoken,” (sounds like Jack is declaring himself the new chief)
and then they all run off again.
•Ralph notes that they all look like they’re having fun, and wouldn’t it be nice to join them…
•But then he snaps back, reminding everyone that they must tend the fire, because…because…
•Piggy has to remind him that the fire is for rescue. It seems like Ralph is losing his grounding here.
•Samneric and Bill add to the discussion: as much as they like Ralph and all, they would really prefer
eating some food to starving to death. They all head off to the feast.
•Ralph suggests that they could hunt their own pig, but no one seems interested. He accepts
momentary defeat.
•We’re back to Simon again.
•The Lord of the Flies now tells Simon, with dialogue quotes and everything, that he’s an “ignorant, silly
little boy.”
•The Lord of the Flies asks if Simon is afraid of him, and Simon shakes.
•The poor guy is having a hard time, as evidenced by the shaking. His tongue is swollen, and he’s now
clearly hallucinating that he’s having a conversation with the impaled pig’s head (The Lord of the Flies).
•The pig’s head says there’s no one there to help poor Simon. “Only me,” the pig’s head says. “And I’m
the Beast.”
•The Lord of the Flies continues; he scoffs at the notion that the beast was something that you could
hunt and kill. He says that he’s part of Simon, that he’s close, and that he’s the reason “why things are
what they are” (the answer to Ralph’s question of several paragraphs ago).
•Simon feels that “one of his times is coming on” (it sounds to us like he’s about to have a seizure).
•The pig threatens that “we are going to have fun on this island,” and that everyone – and here he lists
off the names of the boys – are going to “do” Simon. This is rather threatening.
•As the Lord of the Flies continues to talk, Simon feels that he’s falling into a “vast mouth.” He is
consumed by blackness and loses consciousness.