In
this chapter, there is the final showdown between Ralph and Jack. Piggy is killed, and the Conch is ‘smashed
to powder’.
At
the beginning of the chapter, Ralph comes upon Piggy, who is trying to light
the fire. They try to deal with Simon’s
murder, and Ralph discovers that there are only Samneric left out of all the
big ‘uns. Ralph calls a pitiful
assembly and Piggy makes a speech about how he can claim his specs back with
righteousness, forgetting that Jack and his savages have already moved far
further away from giving his specs back by killing Simon. Ralph gets behind Piggy and helps him by
suggesting that maybe if they combed their hair and tried to look decent then
they could ask for the specs. However,
when they arrive it’s a different story.
When
they arrive, Ralph and Jack have a confrontation, their largest yet. It begins when Ralph tells the tribe that he
is calling an assembly. Jack sees this
as an attack on his power as the new chief.
He puts Ralph further down by laughing at him, showing his tribe that he
doesn’t care. Ralph and Jack then
fight, and Samneric are captured and tied up.
Piggy
comes to the rescue for a while by ‘talking sense’ about democracy, and by
asking them ‘Which is better–to have rules and agree, or to hunt and
kill?’. This quiets them down for a
while until Roger, delirious with power, leans on the lever. Ralph manages to dodge the boulder, but
piggy, having lost his sight, is bowled over and flattened, and the Conch is
smashed with him.
Ralph, alone, having no weapons left, and most significantly having lost
the conch, runs away, and there the chapter ends.
The symbolism of this chapter includes:- The Conch being smashed — The
end of any last traces of democracy and order.- The death of Piggy — the end of
reason. It is appropriate that these two things go together, as democracy and
order can only survive when reason rules.