Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Beast


Today I will blog about what happened in the book so far. I’m in the middle of the story. All of a sudden, exciting events started popping up.

So far, the boys who survived the plane crash formed a colony. The boys elected Ralph leader. Jack tried to elect himself as leader but he failed. They built a fire to signal ships but the fire went out. Instead of taking the blame for the fire, Jack bragged about killing a pig, which they ate. The boys painted their faces and pretended they were army men. These events happened in the first four chapters.

In chapter five, the little kids, called “littluns”, had nightmares about beasts. Then twins “Sam n’ Eric” saw a beast on page 98 when they were in charge of keeping the fire lit. They were horrified and reported quickly back to camp. “Sam looked at Eric irritably. The intensity of Eric’s gaze made the direction in which he looked terrible, for Sam had his back to it. He scrambled around the fire, squatted by Eric, and looked to see. They became motionless, gripped each other’s arms, four unwinking eyes aimed and two mouths open. Far beneath them, the trees of the forest sighed, then roared. The hair on their foreheads fluttered and flames blew out sideways from the fire. Fifteen yards away from them came the plopping noise of fabric blown open. Neither of the boys screamed but the grip of their arms tightened and their mouths grew peaked” (page 98). I think it is weird that Golding did not describe the beast. I think he’s not describing it to make the story more suspenseful.

Ralph and Jack led an expedition and found the beast. “In front of them, only three or four yards away, was a rock-like hump where no rock should be. Ralph could hear a tiny chattering noise coming from somewhere-perhaps from his own mouth. He bound himself together with his will, fused his fear and loathing into a hatred, and stood up. He took two leaden steps forward.

“Behind them the sliver of moon had drawn clear of the horizon. Before them, something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees. Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness, and the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face.

“Ralph found himself taking giant strides among the ashes, heard other creatures crying out and leaping, and dared the impossible on the dark slope; presently the mountain was deserted, save for the three abandoned sticks and the thing that bowed” (page 123).

I wonder why the author didn’t go into more detail about the beast.

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