In The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding hunting takes on a life of its own. The hunt ultimately turns from a means of survival and then quickly to a means of control. The struggle between Ralph and Jack advance into a matter of life and death, for everyone.
Throughout the novel “hunting” began to turn these lost boys into something else. “Doubtfully, Ralph laid the small end of the shell against his mouth and blew” the conch. As the rejoining of the group completed the choir group emerged from below the beach. Immediately there was tension between the choir and the remaining group. As Ralph was deemed leader, sensing something as well gave Jack leadership over the hunting party. Gradually Jack and his hunters begin to wonder off and forget their main objective, the fire. This becomes increasingly exasperating as far as Ralph is concerned. By missing their first chance to be hauled back to civilization, the “fire” becomes progressively more symbolic, as their only means of rescue becomes neglected over and over again by Jack and his hunters. As the protest continues throughout the novel the significance of the conch becomes ever more a symbol of society and sense. Throughout the novel Jack and his devoted clique loose more and more of their cense that makes humans civilized. During their first assembly a small boy speaks of his fear, that there is a ‘beastie’. First Ralph rules out the idea of a beast because it wouldn’t be able to hide itself from them so easily. Jack later on grasps the disappearance of the small boy to be the work of the beast, and uses this fear like a dictator to gain confidence in the group that he is clever and strong. The boys begin to band together more and more confident that they need to rid themselves of this beastie’. This is our first real example of how difficult it is to maintain loyalty and an equal balance of power between people, government, and even countries. Ralph’s authority is slipping, Jack takes control and...