Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield?

February 2023
Chapter 5: Beast from Water
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.
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

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 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023

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.
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.

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