Lord of the Flies Chapter 6

Chapter 6

One night, an air battle takes place far away from the island, but none of the children wake from their sleep. One of the pilots manages to escape his plane and, clinging to his parachute, falls to the mountain island near the signal fire. He dies immediately after landing from either the impact of the fall or a gunshot injury. Samneric are on duty for the signal fire, but they are asleep. They find the dead pilot the next morning and run down to the beach shouting, thinking that there is a beast living on the island. They think the dead pilot is a beast and run down to the huts to warn everyone. Ralph calls for a meeting to tell everyone about the situation. Jack starts questioning Ralph's decision and leadership. He argues that the conch does not matter anymore. Jack calls on his hunting army to follow him and start looking for the beast. Jack almost takes over the leadership, but Ralph gets everyone on his side by asking if they want to be rescued or not. Ralph agrees to go out to search for the beast, and he, along with the rest of the biguns, leave the beach. Piggy remains there to take care of littluns. They find a rock at the far tip of the mountain that could be the beast's hideout. Ralph volunteers to search for it, and Jack follows him. They do not find any beast there. Jack is excited because he thinks that the cave will make a good fort. Everyone wants to play in the cave, but Ralph asks them to search the mountain and light the signal fire. Everyone follows his orders. They light the fire and then go on to search for the beast with Jack at the forefront.