Lord of the Flies Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ralph and the others return from their exploration. Ralph blows the conch to call everyone together and tell them about the exploration. Ralph explains that they are on an isolated island and there is no one else there. Jack interrupts him and says that they need to organize an army to kill pigs. In order to keep order during meetings, Ralph makes a rule that only the person holding the conch will speak. Piggy holds the conch and shares his concern that nobody knows about their survival on this island. He fears they will have to stay there for a long time. One of the younger boys whispers to Piggy that he saw a beast in the jungle the night before. All of the older boys call out this beast and say it is just a nightmare. Jack holds the conch and assures the boys that there is nothing like a snake in the jungle, and if there is anything like that, his team will find it and hunt it. Ralph expresses hope that they will be rescued. He asks some boys to build a huge fire to signal potential rescuers. The boys get excited, jump up, and run into the jungle to gather wood for the fire. Piggy is left alone at the meeting point, and he thinks that all the boys are behaving like kids. Once the pile of dried wood is made, he boys realize that they don't know how to start the fire. Jack has an idea. He takes off Piggy's glasses and uses them to focus the sun's rays on the wood pile. The dry wood starts burning. Piggy criticizes the boys, but Jack shouts at him to be quiet. Simon backs Piggy, saying that his glasses made the fire possible. Jack tells them that they need to keep that fire burning every day. Jack says that he and his hunting army can do this job. Piggy notices that the fire is spreading and trees around are also starting to burn. He says that they should have made some shelter before burning this fire. Some older boys become disturbed and shout at him to be quiet, but Piggy is concerned that the smaller boys will get hurt while playing in the forest. Ralph blames him for not doing his duty to control the movement of the small boys.