|
READ THIS
The chapter begins with a long description of life amongst the littluns, a carefree life of pleasure but
nevertheless where the mental anguish of being separated from the adult world is beginning to show.
Jack reveals a new plan: to use war paint to camouflage his hunters when they hunt the pigs.
In the meantime, Ralph discovers to his horror that a ship is in sight on the horizon but that their fire has
gone out.
Into that scene of anguish comes Jack, excited by his first killing of a pig. In the ensuing argument, a
scuffle breaks out in which Jack breaks Piggy's glasses.
ON MASKS AND WAR-PAINT
Most savages were masks and war paint. Both serve similar functions.
Jack feels the need for war-paint because, he says, it camouflages him so that the pigs won't see him.
He believes that it isn't so much his smell but the sight of his pink skin and red hair that causes the pigs
to spot him and run.
Perhaps. But in the greater tapestry of the story, war-paint would serve another purpose. It enables
someone to hide behind a mask of many colours so that his emotions and his very person would be
hidden.
Basically, it would enable him to do things which he could otherwise not do.
We know, for instance, that initially Jack found it difficult to kill a pig. There was a sensitivity in him that
was admirable. It kept him almost human.
Immediately he dons his mask of war-paint, however, this sensitivity disappears. He kills his first pig, cuts
her throat and has her blood spill all over his hands. Afterwards he shows some sensitivity but it is now
just a slender veneer.
The mask will later allow him to stand up against Ralph, to stand up as a dictatorial leader. It will allow
him to cast aside all inhibitions and torture his victims, even murder them if need be.
It is also very difficult for the others to stand up against a masked figure, one whose face has all but
disappeared.
It is the muscles of the face that we all recognise. By watching these muscles, we can judge the emotions
of the person. But as soon as the muscles are hidden behind a mask of paint . . .
The donning of the mask, therefore, is a serious departure in the story. Things will never be the same
again.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
|
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Only Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life
Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand. Now, though there was no parent
to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of wrong-doing. At the back of his mind formed the
uncertain outlines of an excuse.
- Why does Maurice hurry away? Explain fully. (2)
[Need help?]
Even though there are no adults present, Maurice still reacts as if there are. He feels "guilty".
Years of being punished for wrong-doing still lead him to seek excuses for what he has done, even though
there is no longer anyone to punish him.
|
- Provide one word for "the unease of wrong-doing". (1)
[Need help?]
- Why does Maurice form "the uncertain outlines of an excuse" in the back of his
mind? (2)
[Need help?]
Even though there are no adults present, Maurice still reacts as if there are. His mind is still in tune with
the world where parents drew up the rules and inflicted harsh discipline for infraction.
|
Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry -- threw it to miss. The stone, that
token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a
handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in
diameter, into which he dare not throw.
- Why does Roger throw to miss? (2)
[Need help?]
Roger still finds himself caught up in the old rules and taboos of adult society. One of these is that
children may not throw stones at one another.
Even though there are no adults present, Roger still finds himself automatically conforming to rules of a
society that is far away.
|
- Why is the stone said to be a token of "preposterous time"? (4)
[Need help?]
The stone is a token of "preposterous time" because it represents happenings in the world that is
now almost beyond memory. For these kids who are abandoned on the island, time too has ceased to
have any meaning.
|
- These words make a dramatic statement about the situation in which the children now find themselves.
Explain. (4)
[Need help?]
The children's situation is now one of hopelessness. Rules from the adult world are slowly slipping and
yet many remain in tact, such as not throwing stones at each other.
Yet time is passing -- it is possible now that many months have elapsed since their arrival on the island.
With the passing of time, even time itself is becoming irrelevant.
|
Jack turned a half-concealed face up to Roger and answered the incomprehension of his gaze. "For
hunting. Like in the war. You know -- dazzle paint. Like things trying to look like something else -- "
- Jack's use of paint is clearly a means to camouflage himself so that the pigs will not see him. In the
wider tapestry of the story, however, what implication would the use of war-paint have? (6)
[Need help?]
Paint has the effect of hiding one's features so as to allow one to act differently.
Clowns wear paint to make themselves look sad and to enable them to act in such a way that no-one will
be aware of the true emotions happening behind the mask.
War-paint is also used in tribal rituals.
The use of paint therefore may have two possible scenarios. First, it will enable Jack to assume a role
which he would not normally be able to assume.
He is therefore able to ignore the taboos of civilized society because he has taken on a new persona.
Second, it could introduce an element of tribalism into the story.
In both scenarios, Jack would be able to do things which he would normally not be able to do.
|
Jack's first killing of a pig could not have come at a worse time for Ralph. Why? (10)
[Need help?]
The killing of the pig coincided with the awful discovery that a ship had appeared on the horizon but that
their fire had been allowed to go out. They might have been rescued.
It had been Jack's duty to keep the fire going, and he had failed in his responsibility. He needed therefore
to be severely reprimanded.
At the same time, Jack was intensely excited about killing the pig. This had been a passion for many
months. He wanted praise.
Indeed, he needed praise. He needed to be assured that he had done well. It was his moment of glory,
his moment to get close to Ralph, to bond with him.
Instead, however, he found an angry Ralph, a Ralph who was not prepared to congratulate him.
A moment therefore which could have had a major hand in bringing the two boys together served
unfortunately to push them further apart because of the circumstances in which it occurred.
|
The anger over the fire, together with the breaking of Piggy's glasses, served to draw a deeper divide
between Jack and Ralph, which at the same time drew together Ralph and Piggy. Explain. (6)
[Need help?]
As has already been explained, the killing of the pig could not have come at a worse time. Ralph was
angry and was not going to congratulate Jack. On the other hand, Jack desperately needed to have his
ego boosted by having Ralph praise him.
When Piggy entered into the fray with accusations, Jack could not control himself but hit Piggy, causing
his glasses to break.
When the boys made a new fire to roast the pig, therefore, it was Ralph who very gently asked Piggy if
he could borrow his spectacles.
This action fostered a new but unlikely friendship between the two, while what little remained of a
friendship between Jack and Ralph was shattered forever.
|
|
