Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness

Once back at the camp everybody is trying to figure out what to do. Jack calls an assembly and states that the Beast is a threat and should be hunted. Ralph then calls his hunters cowards and infuriates Jack. Jack then asks if anybody things Ralph shouldn't be chief but nobody says anything. He then asks for anyone to go with him and runs off crying. They now think that the Beast is blocking their signal fire so they choose to move the fire down to the beach. Once there they realize everyone left with Jack except for Ralph, Samneric, Piggy and Simon. Jacks tribe then finds a sow and some baby piglets. They kill the sow and place its head on a stick. Jack then realizes that they will need fire to cook the meat, so they go to the beach and steal some of Ralph’s fire. Jack and his tribe then invite them to join. Simon then comes across the pigs head and start to talk to it. For the most part it is all in his mind but flies on top of the pigs head gives it the name “The Lord of the Flies”. Simon talks more with “The Lord of the Flies” and learns that if he tries to talk to anyone about the Beast then he will end up being killed. After learning this he feels very faint and passes out.

Supplementary Task V

An important part in these chapters were when the fighter pilot was hanging from the tree by his parachute, which scared the boys. We found the situation very sad and weird. Especially when the kids are the only ones on the island. This probably means that there was war going on and the whole reason why the boys are stranded on the island is because their plane got shot down. There is a lot of tribal dancing and the boys are starting to lose their civilized manner and are being more and more like animals or beasts. The dances are not only to raise the morale of the group more starting to become more like a dress rehearsal for the real thing, such as hitting the boy that is acting as the pig. The groups conflict escalated to a point where Jack started his own tribe and most of the older boys left with him leaving Ralph alone with Simon and Piggy. When Simon goes sit next to the pig mother's head he starts to have imaginations about the pig talking. The Lord Of The Flies states that if he were to tell the boys that the beast doesn't exist, then he will only be killed by Jack, but Ralph and Piggy too. After hearing all this he goes unconscious.

Supplementary Task IV

Some events that happened in the book are easy to relate to real life.
In chapter four where they kill the pig for food, and how the pig was not enough for all of the guys, reminded us of how people live in Africa. The everyday problems that they go through. The food shortage that they have, and how some die do to that food shortage. Seeing the boys struggle on the island shows how harsh life could be without parents, food, or anything that we have in our lives. Sometimes it makes us wonder how we would've felt or acted if we were stuck on an island like them.

Supplementary task VI

In the1960's version of Lord of the Flies the director is very loyal to the book. Every little detail was squeezed in the portion of movie we were able to view. The first six chapters of the book was shown to us on the movie but seemed to quick and cheesy. All the children also seemed younger than expected and changed the mood of the story. The children in the book seemed slightly older ( dealing with height and size). The movie makes the children also take adult responsibilities when the actors themselves don't seem to have the capacity and the willingness to actually complete the tasks at hand. So the book compared to the movie have little to do with. This gives that effect of children who at first have no clue but matured in seconds this is due mostly to the speed of the movie, screenwriter, and director.

Chapter 6: ~Beast from Air~

In the darkness late during that night, Ralph and Simon carry a Lil Luns back to the shelter before going to sleep. As the boys sleep, military airplanes battle fiercely above the island. None of the boys see 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. His head seems to rise and fall as the wind blows.
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, at which the twins reiterate their claim that a monster assaulted them. The boys, electrified and horrified by the twins’ claims, organize an expedition to search the island for monsters. They set out, armed with wooden spears, and only Piggy and the Lil Luns 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. The boys are afraid to go across the walkway and around the ledge of the hill, so Ralph goes to investigate alone. He finds that, although he was frightened when with the other boys, he quickly regains his confidence when he explores on his own. Soon, Jack joins Ralph in the cave.
The group climbs the hill, and Ralph and Jack feel the old bond between them. The other boys begin to play games, pushing rocks into the sea, and many of them lose sight of the purpose of their situation. Ralph angrily reminds them that they are looking for the beast and says that they must return to the other mountain so that they can rebuild the signal fire. The other boys, lost in whimsical plans to build a fort and do other things on the new hill, are displeased by Ralph’s commands but unwillingly obey.

The Conch

The conch from the start was used a toy and accidentally turned into a calling device to get all the boys to come. If it wasn't for the conch shell then not all the boys might not would be found. After this the conch shell was used to call the boys and get them together for an assembly. When at the assembly the conch shell would be used for talking. Whoever had the conch shell would be the one that talks and no one shall interrupt that person unless it's Ralph.

When Piggy and Ralph first discovered the conch shell they treated it as a toy. After Piggy told Ralph that the shell can make a sound, tried to blow into it and it created a low emitting sound like a fart sound. "Ralph pursed her lips and squirted air into the shell, which emitted a low, farting noise. This amused the boys so much that Ralph went on squirting for some minutes, between bouts of laughter."(Golding , 12). After so many blows, Ralph got the technique of conch blowing down and when he blew again he got a sound that was an octave higher and was a lot louder."The note boomed again: and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before."( Golding, 13). After this blow by Ralph, the conch has become the calling of the group members then just a toy. "Ralph found his breath and blew a series of short blasts. Piggy exclaimed: "There's one!"(Golding, 13). Later on in the story after all the group members have been found, Ralph makes a rule that if anybody is gonna talk then they will need the conch shell to do so. The person with the conch shell shall be interrupted unless it is by Ralph and only Ralph. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking. And he won't be interrupted. Except for me." (Golding, 31). In chapter 3 when the boys are starting to build their shelter Ralph complains that no one but him and Simon are working while the others just go hunting or wander away.He's saying that if he uses the conch for a meeting they all come but they don't pay any attention after the meeting is over. "I bet if i blew the conch this minute, they'd come running. When the meeting was over they'd work for five minutes then wander off or go hunting."(Golding, 51). In chapter four Ralph is upset when they noticed a ship and told everybody to go up to the mountain and then noticed that the fire hasn't been maintained by Jack and the hunters. At the same time the hunters return and made Ralph even more angry than before. The conch shell is used for a meeting as usual, but this time Ralph isn't planning for fun and games. "'I'm calling an assembly.'One by one, they halted, and stood watching him. 'With the conch. I'm calling a meeting even if we have to go on into the dark. Down on the platform. When I blow it. Now.'"(Golding, 80). In chapter five, the assembly starts by Ralph talking about how each assembly before has just been a joke and that needs to change. The meetings needs to be more serious and the decisions that are made in the meeting needs to be done. Ralph finally realizes as the meeting goes on that Piggy is actually intelligent and contributes more than the rest of the group."Assembly after assembly had broken up in laughter when someone had leaned too far back and the log had whipped and thrown half a dozen boys backwards into the grass." (Golding, 82). In chapter six the conch shell is used to discuss about the beastie that samneric saw one night when they woke up. After telling Ralph, he and Jack go off to hunt the beastie. "'Ralph! Wake up!' The leaves were roaring like the sea. 'Ralph, wake up!' 'What's the matter?' 'We saw-' '-the beast' '-plain!' 'Who are you? The twins?' 'We saw the beast-' (Golding, 107).

Chapter 7 Summary "Shadows and Tall trees"

In the beginning of chapter 7 the group of boys are convinced that there is a pig on the mountain and a hunting raid begins. Before this Ralph was thinking about how good his life was before all this happened and is missing all the luxuries he had. Some of the boys give him comfort by telling him that he'll be back to where he came from. The group of boys soon spot the pig and the pursuit continues. Ralph gets a jab on the pig with the spear, but the pig still manages to get away. The group of boys on the mountain do a pig slaying ritual to reenact the killing of a pig. When night falls only Ralph, Jack, and Roger are on the mountain as the others are fall back because of fear. They finally reach the point where they see the beast that some of the Lil Luns are talking about, which turns out to be the pilot of the plane that crashed. When the boys saw this they ran back to camp where everybody else in fear.