Thursday, November 14, 2013

In chapters 3 and 4 of "Lord of the Flies", what are the relationships between Simon and Piggy, Jack, and Ralph?

The relationship between Jack and Ralph is getting strained in chapter 3 and the lack of, as well as the need for, organization is evident.  Jack wants to spend his time hunting and being the savage.  Ralph wants to spend his time building shelter and trying to make their lives as civilized as possible.  They are at odds with one another. At one point in the chapter, the two argue over which is more important - food or shelter.   After some shouting between each other, the narration tells us, "They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate." There is still enough civility between them to recognize each other as boys from the same background, but there is enough difference that soon that recognition will be gone. Piggy, the intellect of the group, sees the need for shelter and organization as well as the need for food, he also understands the necessity of maintaining the signal fire, which Jack allowed to go out and he berates Jack for that.  That causes Jack to lash out at him.  Jack hates Piggy because Piggy represents reason and intellect, neither of which Jack wants in his savage state of mind.  Simon grows as the mystic of the group in these two chapters.  He is a curiosity to all of the others because he doesn't seem to lean in either Jack's or Ralph's direction.  At the end of ch. 3, he goes off by himself for the first time to think.

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