[from Chapter commentaries]
Chapter 5: Beast From Water# plateau: assessment of progress
Ralph is aware of self, island (life is not idyllic), Piggy, leadership. Sense of responsibility. Plans speech.
clarifies Ralph as hero and as learner; he is the 'eye' through which we see and measure events
blows conch (3rd time) for an assembly – the evening of the same day as in Ch 4 – meeting is overshadowed by fears of night and darkness: discussion becomes more irrational as darkness falls
tries to explain the need for order; talks about huts, hygiene, the fire; limits the fire to the mountain
wants to eliminate fear of the beastie through discussion; Jack reinforces fear of beast; Piggy says fear is of people; Percival forgets his phone number and weeps; suggests the beast comes out of the sea
Hint of limitation of the adult world: Percival has forgotten his name: 'inarticulate gibbering' becomes an 'unearthly wail'. He is lost beyond redemption, and his incantation (name and address) is as meaningless as the wordless rhythm from the boys on the beach.
Ralph blows conch (4th time) to silence the arguing boys
Simon tries to articulate his idea that the beast is the darkness within humans - causes hilarity
the boys vote that there is a beast
Jack breaks up the meeting in disorder; only Ralph, Simon and Piggy are left, sadly aware of their limitations. Ralph refuses to blow the conch to call them back, aware it would be futile
Ralph’s growth of awareness contrasts with Piggy’s limited wisdom
Ralph calls for a sign from the world of grown-ups.
A sign from adults is now no use - and it is as awful in its incomprehensibility as the yells of savages.
# Jack's "Bollocks to the rules!" = a key turning point in the novel
'Beast' is in the forest; in the sea; is the boys
Ralph’s cure for fear = rational discussion.
Jack: fear can’t hurt - he uses it to gain power.
Piggy: all can be cured; only thing to fear is people
Piggy perceives the truth without understanding its limitations. Piggy’s truth is ironically given to the reader via double negatives – there is a difference between what Piggy means and what he says.
Simon: the beast is in us: defecation as a metaphor for spiritual ugliness: Beelzebub = 'lord of dung'.
Jack: open rebellion so he can hunt (remember Ch 2: "We'll have lots of rules.")
violence stronger than rules.
increasing adherence to incantation and superstition
totally removed from responsibility to rules and retreat to primal savagery.
Piggy: intuitive fear of Jack. He 'knows' people because of his asthma, an expression of his fear.
Discarding of superstition is impossible because domestic tradition - associated with family and adults – is present only in Piggy, a weak figure.
Useful Quotations
"I know there isn't no beast."
"What I mean is – maybe it's only us."
"Because the rules are the only thing we've got!"
"Grown-ups know things. They ain't afraid of the dark. They'd meet and have tea and discuss. Then things 'ud be all right…"
# Before even the half way point – the end of the fifth chapter of 12 - all the hope and optimism of the start has disintegrated into disharmony and open rebellion.