What Ralph said sums up the situation quite well, for it is fear that forces them apart, be it fear of the beastie, or fear of each other. Piggy makes the latter point on page 105: “Unless we get frightened of people.” The boys laugh, but nervously, because they all know there is truth in what he says.
Ralph lays down the conch on page 102-103 to signify that he has finished speaking. Jack takes the conch and starts ranting about the beastie to the littl’uns, saying it does not exist. The conch goes to Piggy, Phil, and Simon. When Ralph lets other people talk, the meeting soon degrades into little more than an argument. Ralph and the conch are both symbols of leadership, unity, and stability. It was Ralph who blew the conch to bring them all together in the first place, and one has to be holding the conch in order to talk in a meeting. However it seems like both of these symbols need to be combined, and used together, to have the desired effect. Ralph on his own is not always obeyed, and no one respects the rule stating that one can only speak when you have the conch, unless Ralph has it.
The idea of the beastie takes a new turn on page 109-110, where Maurice suggests that the beast might come from the sea:
“Daddy said they haven’t found all the animals in the sea yet.”
This proposal causes a great disturbance among the group:
‘In a moment the platform was full of arguing, gesticulating shadows. To Ralph, seated, this seemed like the breaking-up of sanity.’(page 110)
Ralph’s perception here seems right to me. The way the boys behave proves that they cannot keep order without Ralph and the conch together.
Simon, who has rarely spoken in assemblies, tries to describe his view of the beast on page 111:
“What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.”
This is a lot like how Piggy said there is nothing for them to be afraid of, unless they become afraid of each other.
‘Simon became inarticulate in his effort to describe man kind’s essential illness.’
“Man kind’s essential illness” is what I was basically referring to on page 4, how humans are a flawed species and we are naturally going to cause harm to each other. It seems that Simon has the best idea of what is going on in the group, and what the beast really is. He understands the beast, but no one understands him, or the point he is trying to get across:
‘Simon’s effort fell about him in ruins; the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank away defenceless to his seat.’ (page 111)
The other boys are trying to find a physical cause for their fear. They cannot stop the fear or even control it, so they blame it on something external, something beyond their immediate control – the beast. They think that the beast, and therefore their fear, is something that can be hunted down and conquered:
“We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat –” (Jack, page 114)
Despite the beast being the cause of nightmares and terror, the boys still believe that it can be killed. If the fear is caused by something outside of them (the beast), then they can deal with it, or at least try to. If the cause of the fear is within themselves, there is nothing that can be done about it.
Another accurate description of what is happening is made on page 113:
‘The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.’
The connections and restraints of society back home are definitely breaking down now. Piggy tries to save what is left of them by saying,
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grown-ups going to think? Going off—hunting pigs—letting fires out—and now!”(page 113)
This is a repetition of Jack’s quote on page 55:
“After all, we’re not savages. We’re English; and the English are best at everything…”
Notice that Jack states that they are not savages, where as Piggy, questions that they are humans or savages. It seems that now it is harder to distinguish whether the boys are civilised humans, or savage and primitive animals.
Jack, Ralph’s rival for leadership, finally directly speaks up against Ralph on page 113:
“And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there-telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing — ”
… “The rules!” shouted Ralph, “you’re breaking the rules!”
“Who cares?” (Jack)
… “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!”
Here we see that Ralph is still desperately trying to cling onto the rules, onto law and order. Jack has opted to defy the rules, to bring about anarchy and mutiny.
The boys run off in a craze following Jack, leaving Ralph, Piggy, and Simon at the meeting place. They talk about how wonderful it would be to be an adult:
“They wouldn’t quarrel—” (page 117)
The truth of that statement is quite to the contrary. After all, as the boys argue childishly on the island, the adults are engaged in war, basically just an argument on a grand scale. So perhaps it is not Jack’s fault that two sides are emerging, maybe it’s not because no one is willing to help Ralph, and work. The conflict on the island cannot be put down to any one boy, or event. The reason is not that they are children, instead of adults. It is because of the human nature that is unavoidably rooted inside of them. This takes us back to Ralph’s experience during the forest fire (described on page 4), and Simon’s idea of the beast and fear, (discussed on page 7). Having discussed the many and varied reasons for conflict between the boys, I think that one phrase can be used to describe all of the reasons; the phrase used to describe what Simon is trying to get across to the other boys: Mankind’s essential illness.
I interpret ‘Mankind’s essential illness’ as certain characteristics in human nature. It is the ‘bad’ side of our nature, the side that makes us cause harm to others. It is as though society and all the rules and laws that go with it, is a thin veneer covering over this side of man. When society is removed, Mankind’s essential illness is exposed.