Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield?

February 2023
Chapter 5: Beast from Water
Growing Fears
But Jack was shouting against him.

"Bollocks to the rules! We're strong--we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat
and beat and beat--!"

He gave a wild whoop and leapt down to the pale sand. At once the platform was full of noise and
excitement, scramblings, screams and laughter. The assembly shredded away and became a discursive and
random scatter from the palms to the water and away along the beach, beyond night-sight. Ralph found his
cheek touching the conch and took it from Piggy. I

"What's grownups going to say?" cried Piggy again. "Look at 'em!"

The sound of mock hunting, hysterical laughter and real terror came from the beach.

"Blow the conch, Ralph."

Piggy was so close that Ralph could see the glint of his one glass.

"There's the fire. Can't they see?"

"You got to be tough now. Make 'em do what you want."

Ralph answered in the cautious voice of one who rehearses a theorem.

"If I blow the conch and they don't come back; then we've had it. We
shan't keep the fire going. We'll be like animals. We'll never be rescued."

"If you don't blow, we'll soon be animals anyway. I can't see what they're doing but I can hear."

The dispersed figures had come together on the sand and were a dense black mass that revolved. They
were chanting something and littluns that had had enough were staggering away, howling. Ralph raised
the conch to his lips and then lowered it. R

"The trouble is: Are there ghosts, Piggy? Or beasts?"

"Course there aren't."

"Why not?"

"'Cos things wouldn't make sense. Houses an' streets, an'--TV--they wouldn't work."

The dancing, chanting boys had worked themselves away till their sound was nothing but a wordless
rhythm.

"But s'pose they don't make sense? Not here, on this island? Supposing things are watching us and
waiting?"

Exercise 1: True or False

1. Golding is linking the ‘noise and excitement’ of the meeting with a lack of civility. True/False
2. Jack believes the beast can be hunted down and killed, which is a concrete solution. True/False
3. In this section, Ralph is confident in his authority to lead the others. True/False
4. This part of the chapter takes places on top of the mountain. True/False
5. The chanting of the boys is associated with primitive behavior. True/False

STEVEN DAVIES 1
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
6. Piggy does not want Ralph to blow the conch and call the boys back. True/False
7. Ralph clearly thinks about using the conch but decides not to. True/False

Piggy’s Belief

"I got the conch!" said Piggy indignantly. "Ralph-- they ought to shut up, oughtn't they? You
shut up, you littluns! What I mean is that I don't agree about this here fear. Of course there
isn't nothing to be afraid of in the forest. Why--I been there myself! You'll be talking about
ghosts and such things next. We know what goes on and if there's something wrong, there's
someone to put it right."

He took off his glasses and blinked at them. The sun had gone as if the light had been turned
off.

He proceeded to explain.

"If you get a pain in your stomach, whether it's a little one or a big one--"

"Yours is a big one."

"When you done laughing perhaps we can get on with the meeting. And if them littluns
climb back on the twister again they'll only fall off in a sec. So they might as well sit on the
ground and listen. No. You have doctors for
everything, even the inside of your mind. You
don't really mean that we got to be frightened all
the time of nothing? Life," said Piggy
expansively, "is scientific, that's what it is. In a
year or two when the war's over they'll be
traveling to Mars and back. I know there isn't no
beast--not with claws and all that, I mean-- but I
know there isn't no fear, either."

Piggy paused.

"Unless--"

Ralph moved restlessly. "Unless what?"

"Unless we get frightened of people."

A sound, half-laugh, half-jeer, rose among the seated boys. Piggy ducked his head and went
on hastily. "So let's hear from that littlun who talked about a beast and perhaps we can show
him how silly he is."

Exercise B

Answer the multiple choice questions.

1. Piggy’s view on the supernatural is that…

a) There is some truth in the speculation.
b) That there may be things that exist beyond what we can see.
c) It is irrational to believe in it.

STEVEN DAVIES 2
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
d) Science needs to dedicate more time to investigating the truth of it.
2. The suspicion is that there is a beast living…
a) On the beach
b) In the forest
c) On top of the mountain
d) Beside the river
3. The way that the sun’s light changes the way things appear is used to suggest…
a) That reality itself is unstable.
b) That the boys are being initiated into worshipping the sun.
c) That Jack is going insane and reverting to savagery.
d) That much of civilization has already been destroyed.
4. Piggy believes that…
a) Science cannot explain the workings of the human mind.
b) Religion would be a better way of understanding the world.
c) Ralph is wrong about the beast.
d) Science can be used to understand the way we think.
5. Piggy view of the beast is that…
a) It has huge claws and is extremely dangerous.
b) It exists in the fearful minds of the boys.
c) If it does exist, then it lives in one of the island’s caves.
d) It could just be a part of the airplane’s wreckage.

Exercise 3: Ralph and the Conch

Fill in the spaces with the missing words

The sun ______________ (1) his eyes reminded

him how time was passing, so he took the conch
down from the tree and examined the surface.
Exposure to the air had bleached the yellow and
pink to near-white, and transparency. Ralph felt a
kind _______________ (2) affectionate reverence
_________________ (3) the conch, even though he
had fished the thing out of the lagoon
_______________ (4). He faced the place of
assembly and put the conch ________________ (5)
his lips. The others ________________ (6) waiting
for this and came straight away. Those who were aware that a ship _______________ (7)
passed the island while the fire was out were subdued ________________ (8) the thought of
Ralph's anger; while those, including the littluns who did not know, ___________________ (9)
impressed by the general air of solemnity. The place of assembly filled quickly; Jack, Simon,
Maurice, most of the hunters, _______________ (10) Ralph's right; the rest on the left, under
the sun. Piggy came and stood outside the triangle. This indicated that he wished to listen,
but would not speak; and Piggy intended it as a gesture of disapproval.

Exercise 4: Summary

Highlight the five statements about this chapter which are true.

a) During this chapter, Ralph’s authority over the others weakens.

b) The boys, led by Jack, deliberately start a fire in order to drive the beast out of hiding.
c) Jack struggles to express himself clearly to the group, who lose confidence in him.
STEVEN DAVIES 3
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
d) The littluns discover a dead pilot who died while trying to parachute from the plane.
e) Ralph mentions how the light of the late sunset makes everything look different, calling into question the
nature of reality itself.
f) Frustrated by Jack’s growing influence, Ralph agrees to go hunting with him.
g) Jack smashes Piggy’s glasses in an act of rage.
h) Simon tries to express what he sees as mankind’s essential illness.
i) Simon talks to a mysterious spirit in the forest.
j) The boys do a lot of chanting and shouting, showing that they are becoming more uncivilized.

Exercise 5: Key Word Transformations

Using the word in capital letters, create a phrase to complete the second sentence
without changing the original meaning of the first sentence.

1. The meeting was too late in the day. SHOULD

They ______________________ the meeting earlier in the day.
2. The boys think there could be a beast on the island.
WHETHER
They don’t know ___________________ a beast on the island.
3. Jack took the conch from Piggy’s hands. ` SNATCHED
The conch _________________________ by Jack.
4. Piggy can’t hunt. ABLE
Piggy ________________________ hunt.
5. Ralph wants grownups to fix the problems on the island. WISHES
Ralph _____________________ fix the problems on the island.

STEVEN DAVIES 4