Your original question was not very clear, so I have
edited it to the one above. I hope this is what you meant to ask. Please respond to this
question if not.
Chapter Seven is very important because of
the way in which it presents Ralph as possessing the same savage instincts that Jack
does through the hunting of the wild pig. Even when Ralph is faced with the pig bearing
down on him, he is forced to recognise that he possesses something of the killer
instincts of a hunter:
Ralph found he was able to measure the distance
coldly and take aim. With the boar only five yards away, he flung the foolish wooden
stick that he carried, saw it hit the great snout and hang there for a
moment.
Although the boar
escapes, Ralph shows his bravery and also his skill and ability. Far more disturbing
though is his role in the "mock" pig hunt the boys host, with Robert playing the role of
the pig. As the game suddenly turns violent, Ralph is described as joining in just as
much as the other boys:
Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a
handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was
overmastering.
Ralph,
therefore, is shown in this chapter to be just like Jack in the way that savagery
overwhelms him in this instance. In spite of the way that he stands for civilised order
in the novel, this example shows that savagery and violence are part of the human
condition, no matter how civilised we appear on the surface.
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