“The fire was dead…” to the end. What is the Importance of this section in the plot of the novel? How does this passage help our understanding of the main characters? How does it help us to understand what Golding is trying to say in the novel as a whole? The major event of these few pages is the first sentence. “The fire was dead. ” This is clear and simple, like Ralphs anger at the confirmation of his fears at the fact it has gone out; this is exaggerated further by the use of the word “dead”, suggesting a tone of death around the boys and with Ralph at the moment as he is so dumbstruck.
This is because the ship has passed without being signalled symbolising civilisation moving further and further away from them as the days go by, like it cannot go near the island. The use of the word ‘death’ is linked to later when Jack leads a procession of boys out of the jungle up to the mountain with “the gutted carcass of a pig hanging from a stake”. This is ironic because the boys only miss the ship passing because they are out hunting – emphasizing the move further from civilisation towards savagery. This part of the novel also helps us to understand the ever more growing distant relationship between Ralph and Jack.
This is made obvious from where it says “by the pile was built, they were on different sides of a high barrier”. The argument was partly due to the fire but also because Piggy’s glasses were broken from Jack assaulting him. Ralph stood up against Jack as they gave very different and clear points of view; it is this that leads to the eventual complete meltdown of relations between the two. Ralph has learnt to value what Piggy has and grows closer to him through sharing a more similar viewpoint than he did with Jack.
The Essay on Top Of The Mountain Ralph Jack Fire
Lord of the Flies Chapter two Fire on the Mountain Setting Characters Storyline Setting On the island, at the beach and on the top of the mountain later that afternoon Characters Ralph -The chief, leader, whom blows the conch for a second meeting -Confirms to everyone that they are in fact on a deserted island -Announces their needs (ex. Hunters, without letting anyone else speak, dictatorship) - ...
This statement is supported by Golding writing “not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere. ” ‘Elsewhere’ is Piggy. The acting out of the kill foreshadows the death of Simon which is to come. Maurice, as the Pig will later be Simon as the ‘beast’ because the boys are scared. Ralphs character is more established in section of the book. He clearly shows what he represents is order, sense and civilisation all towards being rescued. This is shown when he confronts Jack saying “that was a dirty trick”, this upsets Jack greatly because he was “powerless”. This also shows ow his skills in leadership are good and have improved; “Ralph could not have chosen a better way to assert his leadership if he had thought for days”. He also moves from Jack’s views and representations towards Piggy shown by the “snapped link, fastened elsewhere”. Jack shows his brutality when he “smacked Piggy’s head” and broke his glasses. Although Jack may not have meant to impair his sight, he was certainly not going to apologise but rather jeers at him by “mimicking him in a parody” – this is what leads to the big argument between Jack and Ralph; it was Jack’s fault that they were not friends any longer.
Jack shows his bloodthirstiness when he is described as thinking about how he “took away it’s (the pigs) life like a long satisfying drink”. This shows that this has been his ultimate goal from almost when he first arrived on the island – and was a lot more concerned about killing the Pig than rescue. He is not concerned about the ship and sees it as an annoyance and a sidetrack from his victory of killing the pig, this is shown when he “ducks away” from it all as if he knows he has done wrong but does not really care about it.
