Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Chapter six is a metaphorical debate all around between savagery and civilization. Even though the boys are isolated from the rest of the island, there is still some meaning in its background, which takes place sometime near the beginning of World War Two. We are able to acknowledge this fact due to Golding’s description of the night sky in this chapter, which unfortunately, none of the boys were able to witness because they had all fallen asleep; even Sam and Eric who were supposed to be watching the signal fire.
The night sky was described with lights in it other than stars, lights that winked, moved abruptly, and went out, though the explosions could hardly have been heard on the island, these lights were those of military planes, battling fiercely in the night. During the battle, a parachutist emerged from one of the planes, and was pushed by the sudden movements of wind towards the island unwillingly, knowing that his limbs fall limply and this figure dangled from parachute, this parachutist was falling dead from the sky.
When the figure finally landed on the island, it did so on the mountain near where the signal fire was situated, the parachute got tangled and was being blown by the slight breeze; when the breeze picked up, the strings pulled and brought the body in its sitting position upwards, and then as the breeze softened again, the body’s chest and head would fall to rest in between its knees. When the twins woke up, they tried to rekindle the burnt out fire and when they got it going again, Eric took notice of the flapping noises of the parachute and saw the body attached to it. As it was very dark, and the only source of luminescence came from the distanced fire, the twins had mistaken the body for the beast.
They quickly returned to camp after their wrong realization, and woke up Ralph, who in turn organised a gathering for the boys in regards to the beast. The twins explained how they had seen the beast; they thought that the parachute flowing and flapping behind the soldier’s figure were wings, they believed that the monster had sharp talons, and told the boys of its teeth and eyes. The biguns as result to this meeting, decided to scout the only part of the island of which they have not been before; the smaller mountain on the other side of the island.
The biguns leave all the littluns with Piggy while they go adventuring to find the beast, despite Jack’s argument of “What can Piggy do with only one eye?” (pg. 111, Lord of the Flies). When they get to the rocky trail that none of them have explored before, the boys are too afraid to go any further, and because Ralph is the chief, he feels like he has to be the one to go investigate, and so he does. In the middle of his hike, Jack joins him to explore this part of the island because he doesn’t want the rest of the boys to think that he’s too much of a coward to be the leader, if he wishes to overthrow Ralph eventually.
Their friendship is starting to rekindle on their hike and they are pleased that they had found no monsters at the top, and begin their hike downwards again. When they return, the other boys are playing games and tumbling boulders into the ocean, which angers Ralph because they have lost sight of the purpose of their expedition and they no longer want to go to other side of the mountain to rebuild the signal fire. The boys want to build a fort there, but Ralph reminds them of their mission, and they obey reluctantly. The chapter ends before they start their hike to the signal fire.
It is evident that the boys are enveloped with the hypothesis of the beast that they are gripped tightly by fear of it; the littluns cry and scream at night, and Samneric immediately respond to a moving figure in the dark as the monster, without utilizing their sense and intellect to identify the subject with reason and evidence first. This is one of the many examples demonstrating how the conventions of civilization are beginning to erode, and how savagery is starting to take over due to this shift. As well, Ralph’s authority within the group is now diminishing as well as its control, while Jack’s grows as he becomes more menacing and powerful. At the beginning of the book, the boys understood the need for order and purposive action, even though they did not always want to have or obey rules, but now they only do so reluctantly and do not wish to be bothered with rules. Jack is now able to manipulate Ralph by asking him if he is frightened in front of the other boys. This causes Ralph to act irresponsibly and irrationally simply to protect his status among the other boys.
Character Development and Analysis: Simon further tries to explain that the monster does not live in the forest or anywhere else on the island, but inside us, and inside our heads, but he still has difficulty trying to explain this to the rest of the boys, let alone the whole group at once, since he is too nervous to speak in front of a lot of people. This shows that Simon is one of the only boys hanging tightly to reason and civilization while the rest of the group is starting to shift into a state of savagery.
Ralph’s authority is beginning to diminish, and with that, is his sense, he is becoming more and more irrational and less prudent with every provocation from Jack, who is slowly starting to gain power from the group through manipulating Ralph and humiliating him in front of the group.
Jack is more savage than Ralph, for he constantly craves to kill pigs, and since the group is leaning towards Jack more as a leader, this is another indicator proving the ever-growing savagery of the boys.
The "beasts" growing presence on the island make the boys want a strong leader that will hunt the beast. This begins to make Jack look like good leader instead of Ralph.
Examples of foreshadowing in the book Lord of the Flies include when, in Chapter 6, boulders roll off Castle Rock, which foreshadows the death of Piggy. More generally, the early set-up of Ralph being at odds with Jack foreshadows the struggle of good and evil and the violence to come.
"frightened?" this quote is used by jack and he is able to manipulate Ralph by asking him this in front of the other boys. Ralph is forced to answer this question because he wants to preserve his status among the other boys.
"there were eyes-"
"teeth-"
"claws-"
Samneric said this describing what they had seen but actually what they saw was a dead parachutist. Their fears makes them see something different from what actually exists.
~How does the dead parachutist fuel the boys fear of a "beast"
~Why does Jack say that the boys don't need the conch any more
~Why does both Ralph and Jack insist on catching the beast
~Use examples from the chapter to explain how Ralph is losing leadership over the boys
Chapter 6
comprehension and analysis
Overview and Analysis