Chapter 4 Lord of the Flies(Abridged text) PDF

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Summary

Lord of the Flies is a 1954 debut novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves....

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Chapter 4 – Painted Faces and Long Hair

Chapter 4 opens with a discussion of the mirage that appears midday on the island. Then we see Roger, one of Jack’s hunters, watching Henry, one of the smaller kids playing in a pool of water. Roger picks up some stones and begins throwing them at Henry. All of the stones miss and Henry wanders away. Roger then sees Jack, who calls him over. Jack tells Roger that he realizes that the pigs he is hunting can see him and run away before he can throw his spear. Jack then begins applying different colors of clay to his face and body as camouflage. He looks at his reflection in some water contained in a coconut shell and is astonished by the change: He knelt, holding a shell of water. A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and brightness appeared in the mirror-like water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He spilled the water and jumped to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool, his lean body held up a mask that drew their eyes and scared them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He went towards Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. The face of red and white and black swung through the air and jigged toward Bill. Bill started up laughing; then suddenly he fell silent and blundered away through the jungle….

1. Why is the clay Jack applied to his face as camouflage called a mask? What effect does the face paint have on Bill? ________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

What does the following excerpt reveal about Piggy? Piggy wore the remainders of a pair of shorts and his fat body was golden brown. He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. "I've been thinking," he said to Ralph, "about a clock. We could make a sundial. We could put a stick in the sand, and then--" Ralph turned and smiled involuntarily. Piggy was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar and his ideas were boring, but there was always a little pleasure to be got out of teasing him, even if one did it by accident. Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. Piggy was an outsider, not only by his way of speaking, but by his fat, and his ass-mar, and his specs. Piggy also seemed to avoid doing any physical labor. Now, finding that something he had said made Ralph smile, he rejoiced and continued talking.

"We got a lot of sticks. We could have a sundial each. Then we should know what time it was." "A fat lot of good that would be," Ralph replied sarcastically. "You said you wanted things done. So as we could be rescued." "Oh, shut up." 2.

Again, what is wrong with the idea Piggy has come up with?

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Ralph, Piggy, Simon and some other boys are swimming, taking a break from building some shelters when Ralph suddenly spots something on the horizon: "Smoke! Smoke!" Simon tried to sit up in the water and got a mouthful. Maurice, who had been standing ready to dive, stopped. Ralph stood, his hands clenched. Simon was climbing out of the water. Piggy was rubbing his glasses on his shorts and squinting at the sea. Ralph was still staring out to sea. "I can't see no smoke," said Piggy incredulously. "I can't see no smoke, Ralph--where is it?" Ralph said nothing. He continued staring. "Ralph—is there a ship?" Simon stood by, looking from Ralph to the horizon. The smoke was a tight little knot on the horizon and was uncoiling slowly. Beneath the smoke was a dot that might be the funnel of a ship’s smokestack. Ralph's face was pale as he spoke to himself. "They'll see our smoke!" Piggy was looking in the right direction now. "It don't look like much smoke to me." He turned around and peered up at the mountain. Ralph continued to watch the ship. Simon stood by him, silent. "I know I can't see very much," said Piggy, "but have we got any smoke from the mountain?" Ralph moved impatiently, still watching the ship. Maurice stared out to sea, while Simon and Piggy were both looking up at the mountain. Piggy still couldn’t see anything, but Simon cried out as though he had hurt himself. There was no smoke from the mountain. "Ralph! Ralph!" said Piggy anxiously. "Is there a signal from the ship- do they see us?" Ralph looked back at the vague smoke on the horizon, then back up at the mountain. "Ralph--please! Is there a signal?"

Ralph cried out: "Oh God, oh God!" Simon caught his breath. His face was twisted. Ralph ran up the hill to where the fire had been. The fire was dead. They saw that straight away. The fire was out, smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready. Ralph turned to the sea. The horizon stretched, empty now of any trace of smoke. Ralph ran stumbling along the rocks, and screamed at the departed ship. "Come back! Come back!" He ran backwards and forwards along the cliff, his face always to the sea, and his voice rose insanely. "Come back! Come back!" Simon and Maurice arrived. Ralph looked at them. Simon turned away, smearing the water from his cheeks. Ralph reached inside himself for the worst word he knew. "They let the bloody fire go out." Ralph sees Jack and his hunters returning, carrying the bloody body of a dead pig. Jack is extremely proud and keeps talking about the blood that came out of the pig as it was being stabbed. Finally, Ralph confronts Jack and says: "There was a ship!" Jack, faced at once with the awful implications of this statement, did not reply. He laid a hand on the pig and drew his knife. Ralph brought his arm down, fist clenched, and his voice shook. "There was a ship. Out there. You said you'd keep the fire going and you let it go out!" He took a step toward Jack, who turned and faced him. "They might have seen us. We might have gone home--" This was too bitter for Piggy. He began to cry out: "You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home…!" Ralph pushed Piggy to one side. "I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk a lot, but you can't even build huts-then you go off hunting and let the fire go out!" He turned away, silent for a moment. Then his voice came again, thick with feeling. "There was a ship--" One of the smaller hunters began to wail. The dismal truth was filtering through to everybody. Jack went very red as he hacked and pulled at the pig. He said." We needed everyone to hunt." "You could have had everyone when the shelters were finished. But you had to hunt, Ralph said accusingly." "We needed meat." Jack stood up as he said this, the bloodied knife in his hand. The two boys faced each other. Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and smudged blood over his forehead as he pushed down his wet hair. Piggy began again. "You didn't ought to have let that fire out. You said you'd keep the smoke going--" This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to

violence. The mad, insane look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, smashed his fist into Piggy's stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation. "You would say that, wouldn’t you? Fatty!" Ralph took a step forward just as Jack smacked Piggy's head. Piggy's glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror: "My specs!" He went crouching and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got there first, found them for him. Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings. Simon peered at the glasses and said, "One side's broken." Piggy grabbed them and put on the glasses. He looked angrily at Jack. "I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye. Jus' you wait!" Jack made a move toward Piggy who scrambled away till a great rock lay between them. He thrust his head over the top and glared at Jack through his one flashing glass. "Now I only got one eye. Just you wait--" Jack imitated Piggy’s actions and his whining -"Jus' you wait, just you wait”, Jack said repeatedly. The imitation of Piggy was so funny that the hunters began to laugh. Jack felt encouraged. He went on imitating Piggy’s speech and manner of walking. The laughter rose to a gale of hysteria. Unwillingly, Ralph felt his lips twitch; he was angry with himself for almost smiling. He muttered to Jack, “That was a dirty trick!” Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph. His words came in a shout. "All right, all right!" He looked at Piggy, at the hunters, at Ralph. "I'm sorry. About the fire, I mean. There. I--" He drew himself up. "--I apologize." The noise from the hunters was one of admiration at this good behavior. Clearly they were of the opinion that Jack had done the decent thing, had put himself in the right by his generous apology and Ralph, in the wrong. 3.

Who was responsible for keeping the fire going and watching for ships?

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4.

Why is Jack proud as Ralph, Simon and Piggy wait to ask him about the fire?

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5. Jack humiliates Piggy both physically and emotionally. Explain ______________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4 ends with Jack and his hunters throwing a feast for the boys. Jacks offers all of the boys some of the meat. All of the boys except…_______________________.

END OF CHAPTER 4...