Lord Of The Flies Chapter 4: Painted faces And Long hair
At the beginning of this chapter the link with moral order and
civilisation is still present This is noticeable when Roger is
throwing stones but makes sure they do no hit Henry. This is because
“the taboo of the old life” is still strong, “Round the squatting
child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the
law” However there is a suggestion that civilisation is becoming
remote for the boys “Rogers arm was conditioned by a civilisation that
new nothing of him and was in ruins” Civilisation is a distant memory.
Roger and Maurice are beginning to behave differently towards the
littluns. They kicked their sand castles over, buried the flowers and
scattered the chosen stones. They enjoy doing this, something they
would have not done in their past life as they would have been
punished by their parents. Maurice realises this while walking away as
he “still felt the unease of a wrong-doing.” This shows that although
they have broken away from their past life, by rule breaking, they
still have a sense of right and wrong. Moral standards are under
threat in this new environment.
Jacks standards and morals have been eroded. He claims that his war
paint is for camouflage and will help him when he is hunting, “They
don’t smell me. They see me.” He claims. Jack is excited by his new
appearance. However the war paint removes him from his previous
identity. The others are “appalled” as Jack “began to dance and his
laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling.” He takes on primitiveness
and leaves behind the rules and laws from his previous life.
The war paint mask appeared to be taking control “the mask was a thing
on it’s own” and it “ compelled them” Jack had left behind his “shame
and self consciousness.”
Piggy is trying to maintain a link with civilisation by suggesting
they could make a sundial. However this is treated with sarcasm and
ridicule from Ralph “and an airplane, and a TV set… and a steam
engine.” Piggy, keen to be accepted misinterprets Ralph’s smile as a
friendly gesture but Ralph becomes dismissive and moves away.
The boys suddenly realise that their fire has gone out and a ship
passes by without seeing them. Ralph hears the hunting processions
chanting led by Jack.
During the early days Jack could not bring himself to kill a pig.
However killing has now become acceptable. The boys involved in the
hunt have broken what was earlier, a taboo. Not only are they now
prepared to kill, they actually take real pleasure in doing so “Kill
Ralph joins Jack and the hunters in the hunt for the pig and gets caught up in the excitement of the kill. Prior to this, Ralph has been the voice of reason and common sense on the island. Now, he has let his urge to kill take over, and he is obviously excited and enjoying it.
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a significant symbol is the war paint worn by the boys. The war paint is a symbol of them hiding their shame and guilt of human sin as well as bringing forth the true nature of human savagery behind the facade of civilization. The war paint allows the boys to become these evil creatures and do reckless activities without guilt. When these boys apply the war paint, they are no longer themselves.
The early pig hunt “has been relatively innocent,” (Johnston 12-13) yet to reveal the deeper meanings. Johnston suggests that the existence of pigs leads the boys into hunting in order to satisfy hunger. On the other hand, it highlights and reveals the true danger that lies inside each individual, and to Jack, this loss of innocence only pulls him into evilness more profoundly. Soon after his second attempt in hunting, which turns out to be a success, chantings of "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." (Golding 96) become popular among the boys. Since the idea of hunting pigs and eating meat appear attractive to the boys, they begin to admire Jack's new skill as suppose to judging for his aggressive behaviors. Merridew, however, fails to recognize that his actions come at the cost of an emerging savagery-like affiliation. At the same time, his original identity as a choirboy with “voices [like]... the song of angels” (Golding 191) slowly subsides from his character. Compared to hunting, the angelic voice does not increase the chances of survival, thus its significance becomes subordinate to that of hunting. From the first encounter with the pig to the complete loss of innocence, adult figures are also responsible for his unsubtle
...We begin to notice this when Ralph himself, begins realizing that Jack is using more power than he should by arranging a hunting party and abandoning the fire which could have gained the attention of a passing ship to rescue them. Consequently, Ralph decides to hold a ‘meeting’ that ‘must not be fun, but business.’ Another important message is that sometimes one loses the ability to control the evil within them. This is evident during the time when the group of boys ‘were all jabbing at Robert’ who was imitating the sow. At first, this is taken light-heartedly, but as the ‘game’ proceeds, Ralph feels that ‘the desire to squeeze and hurt is over-mastering’ and Robert starts to squeal in ‘real pain,’ ‘’Ow! Stop it! You’re hurting.’’ In a way, this illustrates great corruption in society as Ralph, who is the chief, has the craving of hurting people.
...entlessly pursues his fantasy of killing a pig. He even shows this when he says “Rescue?...I’d like to catch a pig first.” Ralph also decides that they should build shelters, in case of bad weather. However, Jack still doesn’t listen to any of these rational arguments, and remains fixated on the pigs. While Ralph tries to give the boys the best possible chance of survival, Jack couldn’t care less about work, he just wants to hunt.
Ralph answers and says that there is no “Beastie” they little boy must had a nightmare. Jack grabs the conch and states that, he and his hunters will make sure there is no “snake-thing” he said they will look for it when hunting for the pigs. Ralph grabs the conch and says again there is no beast and gets annoyed. He tells the boys they want to have fun but at the same time get rescued, he’s says they might get rescued by his father's ship possibly since he’s in the navy.Ralph says they should start a signal fire on top of the mountain in order to get rescued. The boys started following Jack, Ralph and Piggy were left alone , Ralph still holds the conch and tries to call the boys back but they don't listen to him.Ralph follows the other boys and Piggy was left alone with the conch. Piggy is disappointed with Ralph and the boys for acting like a bunch of kids. The rest boys are on top of the mountain gating logs and sticks into a pile to start the fire. Jack and Ralph found themselves in a situation they don't know how to light a fire. Jack grabs Piggy’s glasses off his face and they started the fire. The fire grows and more wood was added and they dance around then get tired and it goes mostly
The Lord of the Flies begins with Ralph finding Piggy and a conch shell after a plane wreck on an abandoned Island. When Ralph finds the Conch he blows the conch and everybody on the island hears the conch and heads for the source of the sound. when they all get there, including the choir boys led by Jack, they vote on a Chieftain to lead them. Although Jack has the support of the choir boys, Ralph still becomes the chief, or leader, of the group. After Ralph become the chief, Ralph decides to take a team of three people to to find out if it is an island or not. Ralph decides to take Jack and Simon with him as his team. the chapter ends with Jack failing to cut a pig's throat which is a foreshadowing of how Jack will eventually cut a pig’s throat and eat it.
In chapter 10 Lord of the Flies by William Golding, readers are shocked to see Simon’s death come about in such a grotesque fashion. When Ralph talks to Piggy about the murder to make himself feel better, Piggy refuses to acknowledge his partake in the “accident”. Ralph confronts Piggy, “At last Ralph stopped. He was shivering. “Piggy.” “Uh?” “That was murder.” “ You stop it!” Said Piggy, shrilly. “ What good’er you doing talking like that?” He jumped to his feet and stood over Ralph. “ It was dark. There was that- bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain. We was scared!” “ I wasn't scared,” said Ralph slowly, “ I was- I don't know what I was.” “We was scared!” said Piggy excitedly. “ Anything might have happened. It wasn't- what you said.” He was gesticulating, searching for a formula.
His altered state of consciousness was a necessity to regain control of is his life, where he got the necessary break from not only work, but also family expectations. Just like the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the emotional tendencies are evident throughout the whole story; however, at the end when he dies in this new state, he is finally content with his life and the conflicts are resolved between his priorities and his families.
As the story progresses it shows how the boys change from disciplined school boys to savages. Jack is the first to show the transition. When Jack, Simon and Ralph go exploring for the first time, they come across a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers. Jack couldn't kill it "because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood (31)." From that moment on, Jack felt he needed to prove to himself to the others that he's strong, brave and isn't afraid to kill. When Jack says, "Next Time (31)" it's foreshadowing his future of savage hunting.
In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, we find a group of British boys stranded on a tropical island while the rest of the world is at war. Their plane has been shot down and they find themselves without adults to tell them how to act. As they struggle to survive, they encounter conflicts that mirror the decayed society from which they have come. We see Golding's theme come about as we watch the boys begin to lose their innocence and let their natural evil overwhelm their otherwise civilized manner. While formulating the theme of the story, Golding utilizes much symbolism, one of these symbols being the masks, or painted faces, that the boys wear. The masks, and painted faces, became a producer of evil circumstances, give a sense of anonymity, and represented the defiance of social structure.
The reference to the "savagery" of Jim's father at the beginning of the novel foreshadows the terror of the war and demonstrates Jim's revulsion at it. Jim's father describes his own father's treatment of him as like a "bloody animal" when he was "put to the plough" at his youth. The word "animal" alludes to his father's violent anger at the treatment he received at "ten years old". He treats Jim him poorly and often resorts to physical injury as a means of passing on his attitude that his lifestyle is what Jim should aspire to. His father, with his bitter outlook and defeatist attitude, shows Jim what he does not want to become...
More and more time passes, the tension growing between the boys heightens and their hibernating savageness starts to peer out. Now, the boys start to completely ignore the rules and neglect the thought of getting rescued and start to fulfill their own wishes of hunting and playing. “ ‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’ ‘Who cares?’ [Jack retorted]… ‘Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!’ [Ralph replied]. ‘Bullocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt!.
In the novel, Piggy represents intelligence and rationality because of how he thoroughly thinks through all situations that he faces and due to his exceptional ability to create simple solutions to any problem. At very beginning of the novel, shortly after emerging from the wreckage of the crashed plane, Piggy and Ralph first meet each other. As the pair walk along the beach, Ralph finds a conch, which gives Piggy the idea of using the conch to “‘call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us’” (Golding 16). Even after the initial shock of crash-landing on a presumably deserted island, Piggy is able to gather his wits and realize that their best chance of survival to gather all the boys and get some kind of organization established. Although Ralph found the conch initially, he was only attracted to it because it looked like “a worthy plaything” (16). Piggy however, unlike Ralph, immediately thought up a novel idea of how to use the conch to better their situation, by using it to gather everyone else, and to assess the overall predicament they found themselves in. Piggy was focused on long-term survival and sustainability rather than the short-term entertainment that the conch presented. People who have high levels of intelligence often possess extremely rational thinking methods. The Beast had begun to terrorize the mountain, particularly in the vicinity ...
Jack begins the novel partially innocent, cruel enough to yell at the boys yet pure enough to hesitate when faced with the task of killing the pig. Jack obtains the tools necessary to kill the pig, yet claims to need help cornering the animal. Jack, not truly needing help to kill the pig but rather needing the support provided by the mob mentality, acquires the support of his choir and together the boys hunt and kill the pig, all the while chanting, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood”...