Saturday, December 24, 2011

Who wounds a boar, sticking his spear into its snout in Lord of the Flies?

The boys go in search of the beast. They find signs of a
pig along the way. A wild boar comes rushing at them. Ralph wounds the boar. He throws
his spear. His spear injures the boar's snout. For the moment, Ralph is thrilled with
the hunt. He keeps repeating that he hit the snout of the
boar.


No one seems to be paying attention to Ralph. Jack
tries to take the attention away from Ralph by repeatedly mentioning that he himself has
been injured by the boar. The boar's tusks injure Jack. He becomes the center of
attention, indicating there is something heroic about being injured by the
boar.


Ralph finally gives up trying to get someone to
praise him for hitting the boar's snout with his spear. It is all fun and games to the
boys. Ralph and Jack are rivals. In chapter seven, they both compete for attention. Jack
seems to be winning, even though it was Ralph who hit the boar's snout with his
spear:



Jack
and Ralph compete briefly for attention from the hunters, and Jack wins it when he shows
them a gash on his arm he claims the boar left with its tusks. Ralph tries again to get
their attention by showing how he threw his
spear.


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