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The characters

Ralph's despair

Jack's emotions

Jack's bloodlust

Jack's violence

Jack's ideas

Piggy's accusation

Simon's actions

Ralph's opinion

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From Lord of the Flies (1954), Chapter 4

Jack, obsessed with the idea of killing a pig, paints his face with clay and enters the jungle to hunt, followed by several other boys. On the beach, Ralph and Piggy see a ship on the horizon, but they also see that the signal fire has gone out. They hurry to the top of the hill, but it is too late to light the fire again, and the ship does not come for them. Ralph is furious with Jack, because it was the hunters’ responsibility to see that the fire was maintained.

	“You let the fire go out.”
	Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance but too happy to
	let it worry him.
	“We can light the fire again. You should have been with us, Ralph.
5	We had a smashing1 time. The twins got knocked over2.”
	“We hit the pig - ”
	“ - I fell on top - ”
	“I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched3 as he
	said it. “Can I borrow yours, Ralph, to make a nick in the hilt4?”
10	The boys chattered5 and danced. The twins continued to grin6.
	“There was lashings of blood7,” said Jack, laughing and shuddering,
	“you should have seen it!”
	“We'll go hunting every day - ”
	Ralph spoke again, hoarsely8. He had not moved.
15	“You let the fire go out.”
	This repetition made Jack uneasy. He looked at the twins and then
	back at Ralph.
	“We had to have them in the hunt,” he said, “or there wouldn’t have
	been enough for a ring9.”
20	He flushed10, conscious of a fault.
	“The fire’s only been out an hour or two. We can light it up again - ”
	He noticed Ralph’s scarred nakedness11, and the sombre silence of
	all four of them. He sought, charitable in his happiness, to include them
	in the thing that had happened. His mind was crowded with memories;
25	memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in
	on the struggling pig12, knowledge that they had outwitted13 a living thing,
	imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.
	He spread his arms wide.
	“You should have seen the blood!”
30	The hunters were more silent now, but at this they buzzed14 again.
	Ralph flung back his hair15. One arm pointed at the empty horizon. His
	voice was loud and savage, and struck them into silence.
	“There was a ship.”
	Jack, faced at once with too many awful16 implications, ducked away
35	from them17. He laid a hand on the pig and drew his knife. Ralph brought
	his arm down, fist clenched18, and his voice shook.
	“There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and
	you let it out!” He took a step toward Jack, who turned and faced him.
	“They might have seen us. We might have gone home - ”
40	This was too bitter for Piggy, who forgot his timidity in the agony of
	his loss. He began to cry out, shrilly19:
	“You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We
	might have gone home - ”
	Ralph pushed Piggy to one side.
45	“I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you
	can’t even build huts - then you go off hunting and let out the fire - ”
	He turned away, silent for a moment. Then his voice came again on
	a peak of feeling20.
	“There was a ship - ”
50	One of the smaller hunters began to wail21. The dismal22 truth was
	filtering through to everybody23. Jack went very red as he hacked24 and
	pulled at the pig.
	“The job was too much. We needed everyone.”
	Ralph turned.
55	“You could have had everyone when the shelters were finished. But
	you had to hunt - ”
	“We needed meat.”
	Jack stood up as he said this, the bloodied knife in his hand. The
	two boys faced each other. There was the brilliant world of hunting,
60	tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and
	baffled25 commonsense. Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and
	smudged26 blood over his forehead as he pushed down the plastered27
	hair.
	Piggy began again.
65	“You didn’t ought to have let that fire out. You said you’d keep the
	smoke going - ”
	This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the
	hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting28 look came into his blue
	eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist29 into
70	Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His
	voice was vicious30 with humiliation.
	“You would, would you? Fatty!”
	Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked31 Piggy’s head. Piggy’s
	glasses flew off and tinkled32 on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror:
75	“My specs!”
	He went crouching33 and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got
	there first, found them for him. Passions beat about Simon on the
	mountain-top with awful wings34.
	“One side’s broken.”
80	Piggy grabbed35 and put on the glasses. He looked malevolently at
	Jack.
	“I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye. Jus’ you wait - ”
	Jack made a move toward Piggy who scrambled away36 till a great
	rock lay between them. He thrust37 his head over the top and glared at
85	Jack through his one flashing glass.
	“Now I only got one eye. Just you wait - ”
	Jack mimicked the whine38 and scramble.
	“Jus’ you wait - yah!”
	Piggy and the parody were so funny that the hunters began to laugh.
90	Jack felt encouraged. He went on scrambling and the laughter rose to a
	gale39 of hysteria. Unwillingly Ralph felt his lips twitch; he was angry with
	himself for giving way40.

1. smashing: Parecchio

2. got... over: Furono colpiti e caddero a terra

3. twitched: Si contorse

4. to make... hilt: Per fare un segno sull’impugnatura della spada

5. chattered: Chiacchierarono

6. to grin: Sogghignare

7. lashings of blood: Molto sangue

8. hoarsely: Raucamente

9. for a ring: Per un cerchio

10. flushed: Arrossì

11. scarred nakedness: Corpo nudo ricoperto da ferrite

12. they... pig: Circondarono il maiale che stava battendosi per la sua vita

13. had outwitted: Avevano superato in astuzia

14. buzzed: Iniziarono a parlare in modo eccitato

15. flung back his hair: Mosse i capelli all’indietro

16. awful: Terribili

17. ducked... them: Rifiutò di confrontarsi con loro

18. fist clenched: Pugno chiuso

19. shrilly: Acutamente

20. peak of feeling: Massimo del sentimento

21. wail: Gemere

22. dismal: Terribile

23. was... everybody: Fu gradualmente evidente a tutti

24. hacked: Tagliò

25. baffled: Perplesso

26. smudged: Macchiò

27. plastered: Bagnati e piatti

28. bolting: Veloce e violento

29. stuck his fist: Colpì con un pugno

30. vicious: Malvagia

31. smacked: Schiaffeggiò

32. tinkled: Tintinnarono

33. went crouching: Procedette accovacciato

34. passions... wings: Lett.: Le passioni colpirono Simon con ali terribili; qui: Simon si arrabbiò moltissimo

35. grabbed: Afferrò

36. scrambled away: Corse via

37. thrust: Spinse in avanti

38. whine: Piagnucolio

39. gale: Scoppio

40. giving way: Essersi arreso

...		The characters Highlight the names of the characters involved in the passage.
...		Ralph’s despair Find the words linked to Ralph’s bitter despair because he and the other boys on the island have missed the opportunity of being saved.
...		Jack’s emotions Highlight words and phrases conveying Jack’s emotions in the first part of the text. How does he feel?
...		Jack’s bloodlust Identify words and phrases linked to Jack’s bloodlust in the second part of the extract.
...		Jack’s violence Highlight all the phrases referring to Jack’s violence in the last part of the excerpt.
...		Jack’s ideas Underline the lines where Jack’s ideas of power and order emerge.
...		Piggy’s accusation Highlight the words referring to Piggy’s accusation of Jack.
...		Simon’s actions Highlight Simon’s actions. What do they connote?
...		Ralph’s opinion Identify words and phrases linked to Ralph’s opinion in the last part of the text.