A View to a Death

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The Feast of King Jack

Simon has no idea that Jack has seized control as the new chief and heads back to the beach. Ralph and Piggy go to Jack's feast where Jack acts like a king.

The parachutist

When Simon wakes up, the pig’s head is still looking down on him.
Simon gets up and turns away from the head as he begins to walk up the mountain to see if there is a beast at the top.
At the top, he sees the remains of the parachutist’s body.
At the sight of the rotting flesh, Simon vomits.
He frees the parachutist’s body from the rocks.

The new chief

At this point, Simon has no idea that Jack has seized control as the new chief.
Simon heads back to the beach to tell the boys that there is no beast, and that the thing they saw was just a dead body.

Pathetic fallacy

Back at the beach, Piggy and Ralph are bathing in the water.
Ralph notes the coming storm clouds and is worried.
- Pathetic fallacy (when the weather reflects the mood) – the author uses the incoming clouds to indicate that something horrible is about to happen.
- This increases tension for the reader.

The feast

Piggy suggests that they should all go to Jack’s feast, just “to make sure nothing happens”.
Ralph is surprised but agrees.
Ralph and Piggy go to the feast.

King Jack

They see Jack sitting on a log, as if he is a king on a throne (“Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol”.)
Jack tells the boys to give some meat to Ralph and Piggy.
Then he orders a boy to bring him some water and orders everyone else to sit down.

The Approaching Storm

Jack has now become a very dangerous boy. He asks the boys again if they will join his tribe and this time they all agree.

Tribes

Jack asks Ralph’s boys if they will join his tribe.
Ralph says that he is the chief and that it is more important to keep the signal fire burning than to hunt pigs.
Jack points out that Ralph is busy enjoying the spoils of the hunt (pig meat) too.
Ralph says that he has the conch but Jack tells him that the conch has no meaning on his part of the island.

Pathetic fallacy

Thunder booms.
Pathetic fallacy (when the weather reflects the mood) – the thunder here acts as a sign that the level of danger has increased.
Jack’s rejection of the conch symbolises his rejection of law, order and civility.
He has become a very dangerous boy.

Jack taking over

Ralph and Jack argue over the importance of the conch.
Jack asks the boys again if they will join his tribe. They all agree.
Ralph says that he will blow the conch and call a meeting but Jack tells him that no one will come to the meeting.

The approaching storm

Piggy tells Ralph that they need to leave because something bad is going to happen.
Ralph does not leave.
Ralph tells the boys that they will need to get back to the shelters because there is a storm approaching the island.
Jack tells the boys to dance, re-enacting their killing of a pig.

Dancing

All of the boys, including Ralph and Piggy, join in with the dancing.
Roger pretends to be the pig.
They all chant: “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”

Simon's Murder

The boys do not recognise Simon coming out of the forest and attack him. They do not realise who it is until he is dead.

Mistaking the beast

Roger leaves the centre of the circle and stops being the pig, leaving the centre of the circle empty.
One of the littleuns starts screaming about a beast that is coming out of the forest.
It is actually Simon coming out of the forest, but he is weak and the boys do not recognise him in the darkness (and because they are overtaken by the fear and excitement of killing the beast).

“Kill the beast!

Because he is so weak, Simon can only crawl.
He tries to tell the boys about the dead parachutist at the top of the mountain, but they do not hear him.
The chanting continues: “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”

Simon's murder

Simon ends up in the “mouth” of the dance circle which “crunched and screamed”.
The boys bite at, claw and attack Simon.
Simon falls off the rock and lands by the water.
As the boys all leave, they look back and realise that there was no beast attacking them and that they have killed Simon.

The loss of logic

Here, all of the boys (even Ralph and Piggy) have murdered Simon.
- Every time the boys dance, they are shown to be becoming more and more savage.
- All sense of logic, reasoning and civility are dead.

The parachutist

At the top of the mountain, the wind blows hard and fills the parachute with air.
It carries the parachutist across the mountain and out to sea.
The boys see it coming down the mountain and run away, screaming.

A glowing funeral

The storm stops around midnight and the tide brings small, glowing sea creatures around Simon’s body.
The creatures seem to decorate Simon’s body, as if they are funeral attendants.
Then the sea creatures and the tide carry Simon’s body out to sea.