Lord of the Flies Chapter 9 Litblog

Mary Ann MacDonald
Period 5
1-17-13

Chapter 9

 

Summary: Simon goes to the top of the mountain and finds the dead parachutist everyone thought was the beast. The boys all come together and have a feast. Tension between Jack and Ralph develops and it starts to rain, and the boys play a game where Roger pretends to be a pig and they chant. Simon comes by to tell them about the dead parachutist and the boys are excited in their game of hunting the beast that they attack and kill Simon. His body then begins to drift out to the open sea.

Quotation: "At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws... Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand" (153).

Quotation Significance: The boys become caught up in their hunting game and they basically pretend Simon is the beast in the heat of the moment and their lust for blood and flesh is so strong they don't even pause to realize that Simon isn't the beast.

Reflection: In chapter 9, Simon is killed. He comes down to the feast to tell them about the dead parachutist but they get caught up in their weird chanting game and they basically kill Simon. They were so eager for blood they killed the first thing they laid eyes on, unfortunately this was Simon. The boys are now totally lost from the rules and inklings of society they had held on to. Even Ralph and Piggy. It is easy to see that high tensions are forming between Ralph and Jack. Jack has almost all the biguns now. Including Samneric and Bill. Now Ralph has only Piggy and the littluns. Jack is treated like a king and doesn't care about being rescued because all he wants is power. Now that Simon is dead they have no idea about the dead parachutist and it floats down the mountain that night and scares the boys away. I think that next there will be lots of fighting between Ralph and Jack's tribe until eventually kill everyone on the island.

Discussion Question: Do you think that Simon's death bothered any of the boys? Do you think that Ralph and Jack's tribe will all fight to the death?