At the beginning of Lord of the
Flies there is a definite attempt by the boys to create their own community
which will function in a way that "grown ups" would expect. Even Jack acknowledges the
need in chapter 2 for "rules" reminding the boys that they are "not savages. We're
English..." Although reluctant at first, Jack has accepted Ralph's position as chief and
discusses how he will ensure that the choir boys who are now his "hunters" will take
care of the signal fire.
By the end of the novel, the
order and good organization of the boys no longer exists. The conch which represented
the closest thing to democracy for the boys and which had been so significant when Ralph
was voted as chief is no more than "a thousand white fragments" (ch 11). Simon and Piggy
are dead and Ralph is alone.
When he comes across the pig's
head there is little hope for rescue or even for Ralph's survival as Jack hunts him like
he would a pig. It is ironic that as Ralph considers the possibility that Jack's hunters
might leave him alone, he compares the "lifeless" skull which is all that is left of the
pig's head, to the conch as it "gleamed as white as ever the conch had done" (ch 12).
The power has shifted and now lies with Jack.
Ralph
wonders about the skull and is filled with "a sick fear and rage" upon which he punches
the skull but to no real purpose except that now that it has broken into two pieces its
grin is "six feet across." Ralph takes the stick which Jack had so proudly instructed
Roger to "sharpen... at both ends" (ch 8) and now it is Ralph who holds it as he would a
spear. Ralph does not turn his back on the skull as he backs away from it and continues
in his quest to protect himself.
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