Chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies depicts the descent into savagery as escalating fear and primal instincts lead to a tragic act of violence, signifying a point of no return for the boys.
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In chapter 9, the Lord of the Flies continues to speak to Simon, threatening
him using frightening voices from his past and warning him that the other boys
will do him. Simon faints, and when he wakes up, he climbs the mountain and
realizes that the beast is actually that dead parachutist. He knows he needs to let
the others know what's going on. Meanwhile, clouds are gathering on the
island; a storm is coming. Piggy and Ralph debate about going to
the feast. Piggy wants meat, but he also wants to make nothing bad happens. Piggy and Ralph decide to go to the feast. When they do, they make a
bit of an awkward entrance but are welcomed. The other boys are eating and
laughing. Jack's face is painted like a chief, and sitting on a log.
Jack orders that Piggy and Ralph be given meat, and after everyone finishes, he asks who's going
to join his tribe, reminding them that he can get them food and protection. Ralph again
protests that he's the chief, and again reminds them about fire.
They argue about the relevance of the conch, and we see that the rules are once
again being stretched and challenged. When Jack asks again who will join, a storm
begins. A dance starts, wild, out of control—a chant of "Kill the Beast."
Everyone is whipped into a frenzy. Suddenly, Simon crawls out of the forest
exhausted, delirious, trying to tell the other boys about the parachutist, but
they don't hear him. Maybe they don't recognize him,
but they beat on him and kill him with their bare hands and teeth, biting and
striking. The storm blows the dead parachutist's body onto the beach, and the
boys run from it. Simon's body is washed out to sea.
Now in this chapter, the storm coming in and the weather intensifying is used to
heighten the mood of the horror and tragedy that's about to befall the boys.
We see Simon, innocent, carrying information, enlightenment, just trying to
let the others know what's going on, but at this point, the scales have tipped
more towards savagery than civilization— more towards fear than order, and they
beat him to death, fulfilling a prophecy that the Lord of
the Flies initially laid out—that the boys were gonna have fun and Simon was
getting in their way. The rain washing away the parachutist
and Simon reminds readers of the destructive force of human savagery. It's
also important to note here that the fire and the feast that Jack presents is
being used to meet the base needs of all the children. We're not thinking about
the future anymore, only of the immediate present. And this
wild behavior stems directly from that. There's been a dramatic change now. We've
gone over an edge. We've crossed the line. And the conch, the rules, and
Ralph's leadership are no longer relevant.
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