30
Chapter 7
Shadows and Tall Trees
After searching the mountain for awhile, the boys decide to
stop to eat. While they are eating
Ralph looks around at the other
boys and notices that they are dirty,
but he does not find this unusual, so
he accepts them being dirty.
Ralph looks towards the sea
and starts to wish that he could get
his hair cut short like it was before.
31
He wishes that he could go home and do all of the normal things that
he once did.
Simon says, “Do not worry; we will be rescued soon.”
Suddenly, Jack spots a pig hoof print, and all of the boys begin
to hunt for the pig while still searching
for the “beast from the air” that the
twins, Samneric, told them about
earlier. Soon everyone sees the pig and
starts to chase it.
Ralph throws a spear at the pig.
The spear hits the pig’s snout, but the pig gets away.
32
Since Ralph is trying to get respect from the hunters and this is
his first time hunting, he is very excited that he hit the pig with his
spear.
Jack does not want Ralph to be respected by his hunters, so he
draws their attention away from Ralph and focuses them on his own
arm, which is now bloody from being hit by the pig.
Even though the pig got away, the boys are still excited from
hunting and start to act out a hunt with one of the boys named
Robert pretending to be the pig. Because the boys are so excited,
they actually start to hit Robert with their spears and hurt him.
33
Finally, Robert screams, “Remember that it is only a game and
that I am not a real pig for hunting!”
The boys calm down, but after viewing this experience, Ralph
now understands why hunting
is so exciting.
After all of this excitement,
the boys realize that it is
starting to get dark outside.
Ralph says, “It is getting dark,
so we should stop looking for
the beast until it is day time
again.” Jack says, “You are just
afraid of the dark.”
34
Ralph says, “Fine, I will help you look for the beast.” Even though
he starts to look for the beast, Ralph still thinks that looking for it at
night is a bad idea.
Ralph, Jack and Robert start to walk up the mountain to search
for the beast while the other boys stay behind. Ralph and Robert
stop and wait half way up the mountain
while Jack goes the rest of the way to
the top.
Soon Jack runs back down the
mountain. He says, “I saw the beast! It
is a terrible thing, and it makes
flapping sounds!”
35
Ralph and Roger go back up the mountain with Jack to see the
beast. Ralph is so scared that he almost faints but does not faint
because Jack says to Ralph, “You are a coward.”
The three of them see the beast. It looks like it is sleeping with
its head between its knees. The wind blows hard, and the beast’s
head comes up, and the boys can see its face.
Ralph, Jack, and Robert are so scared that they run all the way
down the mountain to warn the other boys who stayed behind.
36
Chapter 8
Gift for the Darkness
The next morning, back on the beach, as Ralph and Jack are
telling Piggy about the beast, Ralph says to Jack, “We cannot have a
signal fire anymore; it could attract the beast, and your hunters are
only boys with sticks; they cannot protect all of us from the beast.”
This makes Jack angry, so he walks away upset. Piggy says, “Now
you have been disrespectful about his
hunters.”
Ralph says rudely to Piggy, “Oh, shut up!”
37
After a few minutes the boys hear
Jack blow in the conch shell to call a
meeting. They all go over to see what it is
about. Jack says to everyone who has not
heard about him seeing the beast, “The
beast is real; I have seen it.”
This makes all of the boys even more
afraid. He goes on to say, “My hunters can
protect us, but Ralph said my hunters are no good.”
Ralph says defensively, “I never said that!”
Jack reminds Ralph that only the person with the conch shell is
allowed to speak, and Jack is the one who has the shell. Then he
38
says to his hunters, “Ralph thinks you are cowards, but I think he is
the coward. He is not a good chief.” Jack decides to take a vote; he
says to the boys, “Raise your hand if you think Ralph should not be
chief.”
No one raises his hand. Jack is so
embarrassed that he decides to leave
the group. Piggy is happy that Jack is
leaving.
Simon says, “Since Jack is gone we
should try to kill the beast ourselves. We
should climb the mountain again to
confront the beast.”
39
Ralph disagrees by saying, “It is safer on the beach.”
Piggy says, “We should build a fire on the beach.” The other
boys agree, so Piggy lights the fire himself with his glasses. They are
all excited until the fire goes out. Ralph notices that the hunters have
followed Jack. This worries him, but Piggy convinces him that they
will be fine without the hunters.
On the other side of the island, Jack and his hunters meet to
cover themselves in war paint and begin to hunt. When they find a
mother pig with her piglets, they excitedly kill the mother pig and put
her head on a stick as a gift for the beast. Later that night on the
beach where all of the other boys stayed, Piggy and Ralph talk by the
40
fire about why no one is really trying to keep
the fire going. While they are talking Simon
walks into the jungle to have some time by
himself.
All of a sudden, Jack and the hunters run
up and steal a log from the fire. Jack tells the
boys, “You can have some meat if you join my side and be a hunter.”
Even though the boys are very hungry, they do not join Jack and
his hunters.
While this is happening, Simon is at his private place in the
jungle that he goes to sometimes. When he gets there he sees the
41
pig’s head on a stick. There are flies all around it because it is hot on
the island.
Simon cannot stop looking at the pig’s head. He dreams that it
talks to him. He thinks that it says, “I am the Lord of the Flies. The
beast is inside all of you. It is not something you can hunt or kill, and
all of the other boys on the island don’t like you telling them that the
beast is inside of them. They are all going to kill you, even Ralph and
Piggy.”
Simon is terrified and cannot speak. He realizes that he is
looking into the Lord of the Flies’, the pig head’s, mouth. Simon’s
face is practically inside the pig’s mouth when he falls down and
becomes unconscious.