Lord of the FLies

Chapter Summaries and Analysis

Chapter 2 Summary
- Ralph calls another meeting. He informs the boys that
they are on an uninhabited island.
- Jack informs them that there are pigs on the island and
that the next time he sees a pig he will kill it.
- Ralph tells the boys that they have to look out for
themselves since there arent any grownups ,and that
means that the have to establish rules: I.e.: One person
speaks at a time; the boy holding the conch shell is
allowed to speak and shall not be interrupted (unless
Ralph needs to interrupt).
- Piggy tells everyone that no one knows the boys are on
the island and they may be there a long time

Chaptery 2 Summary
- The boys become silent; Ralph agrees but reassures the
boys that they are on a good island with food and
drink and that while theyre waiting for rescue they
can have a good time on this island (Golding 34).
- They boys share all of the good the island has to offer:
Flowers, pigs, food, bathing water (Golding 35).
- A Shrimp of a boy, about six years old with a
mulberry-colored birthmark on his face stands up to
speak. He is too shy to speak aloud so Piggy does so for
him. The boy wants to know what they plan to do about the
snake-thing (Golding 35).

Chapter 2 Summary
- The snake-thing is what the little boy refers to as the
beastie
- The boys laugh at the boy and dismiss his idea. They
suggest that he has had a nightmare.
- Jack grabs the conch and says there is no snake-thing.
But if there was a snake [theyd] hunt it and kill it
(Golding 36).
- Ralph very adamantly repeats himself throughout the
chapter reasserting that there is no beastie are on a
good island. He becomes annoyed and defeated by the
claims of the beastie.

Chapter 2 Summary
- Ralph changes the subject and mentions that although they
want to have fun, they also want to be rescued and in
order to be rescued, they need to start a signal fire in
case a ship passes by.
- The boys are overly excited by this idea and led by Jack
go running off to start a fire leaving behind Piggy and
Ralph.
- Piggy scolds the boys for acting like kids (Golding
38).
- The boys pile up wood and try to figure out how to start
the fire - Jack mentions rubbing sticks together.

Chapter 2 Summary
- Piggy makes it up the mountain and Jack grabs his glasses
off of his face to use then as burning glasses to start
the fire (Golding 40).
- Jack starts the fire - Piggy yells in the background for
his glasses.
- Ralph establishes more rules: the boys need a lookout and
someone to maintain the signal fire. Ironically, Jack
agrees that the boys have got to have rules and obey
them. After all, [theyre] not savages (Golding 42).
Jack agrees that the choir will be in charge of the fire
and keeping a lookout.
-

Chapter 2 Summary
- While the boys are distracted and arguing over the fire,
the fire gets out of control. Jack and Piggy bicker and
Piggy yells again that the boys are acting like a pack
of kids and that they have to act proper (Golding 45).
- He tries to put things into perspective for the boys as
they seem to be very impulsive and not thinking clearly
and need to be civilized. Piggy also suggests that they
build shelters by the beach. Piggy has a hard time
breathing.
- Piggy brings to the boys attention that the boy with the
mulberry-birthmark is missing.

Chapter 2 Analysis: The Importance of Rules

-

Piggy brings attention to the importance of leadership and order

and the importance of rules and regulations. Piggy also reminds
the boys throughout the chapter that they need to act civilized.
Although the boys are excited to not have adults/rules the boys
still have an inherent desire to have rules and regulations and
government and control. They are quick to return to the idea of
having rules within their group.
- Well have rules (Golding 33).
Although the boys seem to want to establish a democracy
(everyone can speak), they are still undermined by their leader
Ralph (authoritarian) who states that he will be the only one
allowed to interrupt the boys when speaking (Golding mocking
politics).

Chapter 2 Analysis: Gradual Dehumanization

- Language is part of civilized life - language among the
boys is becoming primitive and they are beginning to
lose their civilized behavior. I.e.: Names changing Piggy fatty, Sam and Eric Sam n Eric
- Animalistic descriptions: Golding uses this to
illustrate the boys descent into savagery:
-

The boys lay, panting like dogs (Golding 41).

Chapter 2 Analysis: Allusion

Ralph tells the boys that while they are waiting to be
rescued, they will have fun on the island. He excitedly
suggests that it will be like in a book and the boys
mention three stories: Treasure Island, Swallows and
Amazons and Coral Island.
- Goldings mention of these stories first, enables them to
imagine what living on a deserted island could be like.
- In all three of these stories, children are stranded on
an island and remain innocent and civilized on the good
side of evil. Unlike the boys in Goldings story, these
children are able to thrive without adults.

Chapter 2 Analysis: Fire as an Extended Metaphor

- Fire is a symbol of the boys connection to human
civilization. The signal fire connects them to the
outside world - currently maintain civilization.
- Mirrors the process of early human development - caveman
- leads to control/government
- A tool that separates humankind from the animals.
-

"On one side the air was cool, but on the other the fire thrust out
a savage arm of heat" (Golding).

one entity can contain hot and cold, good and evil, civility and
savagery.

Chapter 2 Analysis: Theme

- Innate evil with mankind/savagery/aggression - Jack grabs
the glasses from Piggy.
- Golding believes without authority people will do bad
things to one another. Below it lurks mans desire to be
mean and aggressive.
-

The boys lose control and chapter 2 ends with the assertion that boy
with the birthmark on his face is killed in the fire.

Chapter 2 Analysis: The Beastie

- To represent the evil that is part of human nature,
Golding uses the beastie described by the youngest boys.
- At night, they report, the beast lurks in the jungle
hunting and looking to devour them; by day it disguises
itself as the creeper vines that hang innocently in the
trees.
- Here the vines are like human nature in the daylight of
civilization; in the darkness of a primeval environment
their true predatory nature emerges.

Chapter 2 Analysis: Symbolism and Allegory

-

Ralph, the responsible leader who attempts to organize the boys

for their survival and rescue. He appears practical, capable of
using Piggy's advice, able to avoid superstition and fear, and
capable of developing processes for advancing their limited
society.

Jack, the evil that lurks within humankind, the one most in tune
with his primitive urges and instincts

Piggy, the intellectual who is physically inept, the least

capable of surviving on this island under these circumstances.

Simon, the artistic, sensitive mystic.

Chapter 2 Analysis: Symbolism and Allegory

- The conch, representing authority and civil debate.
- The snake-like images (the scar left by the passenger
tube, the "creepers" [vines] that are encountered
throughout), representing aggression, fear, and evil.
During the forest fire, the little boys shriek at the
burning creeper vines "Snakes! Snakes! Look at the
snakes!" This allusion is to the serpent in the Garden of
Eden who stole innocence and introduced humanity to its
own physicality.