Blog #4 (LOTF)

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair

"You let the fire go out."

Perspective: Jack

What things are you having trouble adjusting to that are different from your home in England.

Back in England, I was always the leader. The boys in the choir would always do as I say, and they would never even try to protest. Here in the island, Ralph is always trying to make them work and keep his fire going when they should be going hunting with me so everyone can eat.

How do you feel about the littl'uns?

I really don't care much for the smaller boys, although Ralph says all they do is play and eat. They're really easy to manipulate, so I could probably make one or two watch the fire so me and my choir can go hunt.

What do they do with their time?

By what Ralph told me, the little boys are very lazy. They only work for a few minutes and then go make sand castles or eat as much fruit as they can find. I don't think it matters that they don't work, since I honestly don't think they're good for anything.

Why do you all paint your faces?

The hunters and I painted our faces to hide from the pigs. I figured they'd be able to see us before we got close enough, so the camouflage helped a lot. That paint got us our first successful hunt, and therefore is very important to us.

What does this foreshadow?

I think the paint means we're going to be able to have more successful hunting trips from now on, because the pigs won't see us even if we're in a bush next to them. I also think the hunters will start to respect me again if I give them meat.

How do you feel when your face is painted?

When my face is painted, I feel great. I feel like I can do anything to those pigs, and they can't hurt me because I'm a hunter and they're just animals on an island. It makes me look as if I had some added swarthiness when I paint my face.

Why doesn't the passing ship see you on the island?

The ship didn't see us because the hunters and I were busy catching a pig so Ralph and all the other boys could eat. The fire burned out while we were hunting, so the ship didn't notice anything on the island. I really think Ralph overreacted about the ship, since he was staring at me malevolently. It was probably too far away to see us anyway.

Why was the fire allowed to go out?

A few of my hunters were supposed to watch the fire, but since I took them with me to kill a pig there was no one to keep the fire from going out. After we brought the pig to the platform, everyone was very ungrateful to us, and Simon even gave Piggy his piece of meat.

Why do you lead the hunters in chanting, "Kill the pig. Cut her throat."

After I killed the pig, I wanted to celebrate with the hunters our first real dinner since we arrived at the island. They all joined into the blatant singing, and we kept chanting until we got to the beach. We were all so happy about getting food for the first time.

Where does this desire to kill come from?

I really like going on hunting trips because when I get food for my hunters, they treat me as their only leader instead of Ralph. The hunters are gradually coming to respect me again, and if I give them enough food, they will obey only me in the end. The food acts sort of like a balm on their morale. Killing the pigs also makes me feel powerful, like I can just kill anything I want if it annoys me. I like seeing the carcass drop gouts everywhere.