At the evening meeting that Ralph calls after Jack has allowed the signal fire to go out, Ralph opens up the meeting to a discussion of the fears that have been plaguing the littluns. Immediately Jack jumps in to heap ridicule on the littluns for being "cry-babies and sissies." To persuade the children they have nothing to be afraid of, he first uses a rational argument that large animals don't live on small islands; therefore, there cannot be a "dark thing, a beast, some sort of animal." He asserts his position as a hunter as further evidence, saying he has been all over the island and would have seen a beast if one existed. When little Percival comes forward to speak, however, he suggests a troublesome possibility, namely that "the beast comes out of the sea." From there the meeting quickly deteriorates with the boys talking about ghosts as the daylight fades away. Jack sees Ralph's authority beginning to crumble and seizes the advantage, mocking Ralph and defying the rules of the conch. Holding himself up as a protector, he declares that even if there is a beast, he and his hunters will hunt it down and destroy it, just like the pig they killed that day. He then leads most of the boys down onto the beach in a "random scatter," having significantly damaged Ralph's authority.
No comments:
Post a Comment