Lord Of The Flies: Chapter 8 Notes Essay, Research Paper
1. The conch being inexpertly blown and
the fact that Piggy has only one lens shows that society has begun to function
poorly. The reason for this decline in society is Jack. Jack broke Piggy’s
lens, and now Jack who has power, represented by the conch, does not know
how to blow it properly. This tells us that Jack is an inept leader who
misuses power and destroys knowledge. To become an expert at something,
such as blowing a conch or leading a society takes time, so this is also
significant because it shows that Jack has just recently come to power.
Because the conch and Piggy’s glasses are crippled, knowledge and power
are crippled, but not yet fully eliminated.
2. When Simon says, ” I think we ought
to climb the mountain.”, he means that society should conquer its fears
and reclaim the island. When the boys first founded society, one of the
first things that they did was to climb the mountain and attain knowledge
of the island. It is important to note that knowledge was a priority for
this early society. Climbing the mountain was also a task undertaken with
great enthusiasm and the offering of hope for what their society could
be. This was the peak of their civilization. Ever since then their society
has been “declining” or going “downhill”, so the mountain represents the
“peak” or “height” of their civilization. As the boys’ civilization fell
apart, it became primitive and controlled increasingly by evil elements
(Jack). Because of this the boys began to fear a beast. The beast was a
symbol of this demise and an obstacle to the return of glory. I say that
the beast is an obstacle because they now fear climbing the mountain, a
mountain that symbolizes the peak of society. When Simon says that they
should climb the mountain, he is also saying that the boys should abandon
their primitive fears and return to previous glory.
3. The new fire is symbolic because it
is Piggy’s attempt to rebuild society. Piggy believes that without Jack
(evil), he himself (knowledge and civility) can prosper. The first step
that Piggy decides to take is the construction of a new fire. The fire
represents the domination and manipulation of nature and therefore the
return to civility. It is important to note that the fire is in a new location.
The new fire represents a new society engineered by Piggy and founded upon
knowledge. The fire also represents a new hope; the hope that the new society
will prosper, the hope that Jack’s followers will rejoin society, and the
hope that they will be rescued.
4. Many people believe that the climax
of the story is when the sow is killed. When the boys kill the sow they
take the final step towards savagery. Old society’s ways and civility held
Jack (evil), back from killing another living creature earlier in the book,
but now everything changes as an entire faction of society not only kills
the sow, but celebrates the accomplishment. Society’s morals have shifted,
and the burden of guilt no longer exists, allowing them to do exactly as
they please without considering the needs of each other or anything else.
At this point Jack and his boys have become completely savage. The manner
in which the boys kill the pig is cruel and savage also; they no longer
have any respect for another living creature. The sow is most likely pregnant
and this tells us that the boys would waste the lives of its piglets and
perhaps waste the lives of its piglets and the future meat that they would
likely provide in their blind lust for blood. A civilized society would
carefully select which animals to slaughter because of moral and economic
concerns. The faction of society that killed the pig no longer discusses
and debates issues, but instead relies on its instinctive desires.
5. When the Lord of the Flies says that
the beast is part of Simon, he is saying that the beast is a part of human
nature. The beast, however, is only symbolic and therefore does not exist
as a part of Simon or in humanity. By saying that the beast is part of
Simon, the Lord of the Flies subtly states that humanity is comprised in
part by all of its evils. It is also true that the “beast” is part of Simon,
because Simon, being human, has the ability to imagine and invent his own
fears. The beast is fictitious and cannot harm the boys, yet they still
fear it. As intelligence is mankind’s gift, and perhaps it can be rational
and disregard such ludicrous ideas of beasts and other such unfounded fears
(as Piggy attempted to do earlier), it is also mankind’s burden. Other
creatures do not have the capacity to fear things that do no affect that
at a present moment in time. Only mankind invents beasts, causes evil and
harm without cause, and fears death. It is also relevant that Simon is
the spiritual aspect of this novel. Simon has known that the beast is fictitious
and perhaps even the truth about what it symbolizes. Because society has
gone so far with the concept of a “beast” and the fears and evils that
it represents, all parts of society, even Simon’s, have become infected.
6. The Lord of the Flies is the sacrifice
that the boys made to the beast. The beast, of course, represents their
own evils, fears and other undesirables, therefore the Lord of the Flies
represents the old society that has died because of these things. The last
line of chapter eight is telling us that Simon, who portrays the spirituality
in society, has now been swallowed by the fears and evils of his society
that has deteriorated to such an extent as to not only create a “beast”,
but to become it. Simon is the weakest member in this society, as is spirituality,
shown by his continual fainting. After he is swallowed by the beast and
faints, spirituality on the island is coming very close to dying. Golding
is trying to tell us that spirituality is the weakest aspect of a society.
Even as religion is predominant in many societies, it becomes dominated
not by individuals seeking enlightenment, but by corruption and tyranny,
as happened in medieval times. Religion often is manipulated by those in
power and abused as a tool to control the poor through methods such as
fear tactics. Basically, the spirituality people are born with is inevitably
controlled and manipulated because it is weak and unclear. I believe that
Simon does not so much represent a single set of religious beliefs, but
more the divine spirituality, caring, and forgiveness that we are born
with. Perhaps the book is as much about the affects of society on an individual
person as it is about society as a whole. When the plague that society
often creates infects a person, such as Simon, the person’s spirituality
is easily conquered and replaced by evils and fear. I therefore believe
that this book can be examined on two scales; the boys representing society,
and the boys each representing the individual characters which as a whole
comprise and compete for superiority of the human psyche.