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Lord Of The Flies Chapter 8 Summary {Step by Step Guide}
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Lord of the Flies Chapter 8 Summary | Gift for the Darkness Summary
The next morning, Ralph tells Piggy that there really is a beast. Piggy keeps asking if Ralph is sure. Jack tells Piggy he should go up and see.
Jack says that if Piggy left, it would be a good thing. Jack would like to never see Piggy again. Ralph says that the boys are beaten. They cannot have a signal fire on top of the mountain because the beast could kill them.
They have no hope of rescue. Jack asks if his hunters give them hope, but Ralph insults Jack and his hunters by saying they are just “boys armed with sticks.” Jack walks away.
Ralph and Piggy talk to each other. When Piggy tells Ralph that he should not have insulted Jack, he and Ralph hear the sound made by someone blowing into the conch shell.
Ralph, Piggy, and the other boys go to the assembly area. Jack says he has called a meeting. Ralph says since Jack is not the chief, Jack had just blown into the shell. Jack says blowing into the shell is the same thing as calling a meeting
Jack tells the boys that he has called a meeting because they need to know that the beast is a hunter and that Ralph is not a good chief. Jack tells the boys that Ralph said the hunters are no good;
they are afraid of the boar and the beast. Jack says Ralph is a coward that Jack had had to shame into going up the mountain to see the beast.
Jack tells the boys that Ralph is like Piggy. Ralph says he is not a coward, that he had gone up the mountain, and that all three boys – Ralph, Jack, and Roger had run away.
Jack says Ralph just likes to give orders and talk. Ralph says it is Jack who has called the meeting and it is Jack who keeps talking and talking.
Jack says it is time for the boys to vote again. He asks them to raise their hands if they think Ralph should not be chief.
No boy raises a hand to vote Ralph out as chief. Jack is embarrassed and upset. He cries and puts the conch shell down on the ground.
Jack says he won’t play with the others anymore. He says he will not be part of Ralph’s group. Jack says if anyone wants meat, they can hunt with him.
He walks away down the beach. Ralph calls out to Jack, but Jack angrily says, “No!” Piggy picks up the conch and talks to Ralph, but Ralph
does not hear him.
Ralph says that Jack will come back when it gets dark. Finally, Piggy gets Ralph’s attention. Piggy says they must now stay in the shelter area, away from the mountain.
They do not need Jack, but they must stay away from the beast. Piggy says that without Jack, they will be able to make good decisions, but Ralph sadly says that they can do nothing to get rescued because of the beast on the mountain.
Everyone is surprised when Simon takes the conch and says they should go up to the mountain top. Piggy says that if Ralph, Jack, and Roger could not defeat the beast, then there is no reason for the rest of the boys to go to the mountain top.
Piggy says that he knows that Ralph thinks that the most important thing to do is to keep a signal fire going. They can build the signal fire on the beach! It won’t be seen from as far away, but it will be seen. The boys cheer.
The boys work hard to build a fire, and for the first time, Piggy himself uses his glasses to start the fire. Piggy decides to experiment with different kinds of leaves to see which ones make the most smoke.
The littluns are happy to have a fire close to their shelters. The fire will chase the darkness and their fear away.
Ralph sits down to plan with Piggy. Ralph wants to schedule big boys to watch the new signal fire. Ralph is very upset when Piggy tells him that Bill and Roger have gone to join Jack.
Ralph is so upset that he does not see Piggy whispering to Sam and Eric. They walk away, and Ralph is left alone with his thoughts.
Piggy, Sam, and Eric come back with ripe fruit. Piggy tells Ralph he thought they should have a feast, so he and the twins have brought food for Ralph. Ralph is pleased. Ralph says he is worried about Simon.
No one has seen him. Ralph asks Piggy if he thinks Simon might have gone up to the mountain top alone. Piggy says that maybe Simon is crazy enough to go there alone.
Simon had passed through the area of fruit trees on his way to his special place where he can sit hidden by branches, leaves, and vines to watch butterflies dancing in an open, sunny area.
Jack and his boys go hunting. Jack says they are not going to worry about the beast. Jack thinks that he can get more older boys to join him and accept him as chief of his own group if he provides them with pig meat.
Jack and his hunters come upon a group of pigs. Jack is most interested in the largest pig, a mother sow nursing her baby piglets.
The boy’s attack. Roger hits a piglet. Two spears hit the mother pig. Jack and his hunters, which now include Maurice, Robert, and the biggest littlun – Henry, follow the blood drops to the mother pig.
They follow her to a formerly peaceful open space with butterflies. Jack sits on her and cuts her throat while Roger, wearing his choir
boy’s hat to show he is part of Jack’s group leans on a spear and pushes it into the pig.
Jack and Roger are excited by their killing of the mother pig. Jack shakes some blood off of his hands and rubs some on Maurice’s face. Roger brags about pushing his spear up the pig’s ass.
Note: The boys’ violence is not controlled by good thinking. They have not thought to kill a male pig so that the female piglets could survive and provide future food for the boys if they never get to leave the island.
They think only of killing the biggest pig, and they enjoy the blood and anything they can do to carry out extreme violence and disrespect for a living animal.
After the boys act out the killing of the pig – Maurice pretending to be the pig, and Robert pretending to be the killer, Jack guts the pig. Jack tells the others that they will take the pig meat back to the beach and have a feast.
When Roger reminds him that they have no fire, Jack says Roger can steal a branch from Ralph’s fire. While Jack invites Ralph’s boys to the feast, Jack thinks it will be easy for Roger to get a stick from the fire.
After Jack guts the pig, he has Roger sharpen a stick on both ends. Roger pushes the stick into a rock crack, and Jack puts the pig’s head on the stick.
Jack says it is a gift for the beast. Jack and his hunters leave. Maurice and Robert carry the pig’s body away. They quietly leave the pig’s head behind.
Jack and his hunters have no idea that they have been watched. The beautiful, open area in the forest where they killed the pig is the same beautiful spot where Simon has been sitting, hidden by leaves and vines.
Even when Simon shuts his eyes, he can see the pig in his mind. The pig seems to be telling him that everything is bad. Simon agrees. The butterflies and beauty are gone. Now Simon sees only the smiling pig’s head and the pig’s guts, both covered in flies.
Simon thinks about the pig being a gift for the beast. Was there a beast? Would it come for the pig’s head? Should Simon run back to the shelters? The pig’s head seems to be telling him to run away. The flies find Simon and begin to cover his sweaty face and thighs.
Simon looks at the pig and recognizes the Lord of the Flies. Simon’s head begins to hurt. Dark clouds begin to cover the island.
Note: Now we readers must recognize the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies is called Beelzebub in the Bible (2 Kings 1:2). In ancient times, people prayed to this god. Later, people called Satan, the devil, by the name Beelzebub and called him the prince of demons.
Back at the fire, Ralph and Piggy see the clouds and hear thunder. Ralph says that there will be a lot of rain. They should get more wood for the fire.
Ralph says he is scared because no one cares about the fire, except him. What will happen if he becomes like everyone else uncaring?
Ralph says a dying man would take a pill from a doctor if the doctor said it would let the dying man live, so why won’t the boys keep the fire going so they won’t have to die on the island?
Piggy says that they just have to keep going on. That is what grown-ups would do. Ralph does not know-how. There are not enough boys to keep the fire going.
Ralph asks Piggy why bad things keep happening. Piggy thinks it is because of Jack.
Note: Now readers have a couple of questions to think about. Is there a god and a devil who fight over our souls? Are there controlling forces outside of ourselves, or do we control the wildness, the evil inside ourselves?
Just as Piggy mentions Jack’s name, three boys with painted green, white, and red faces run toward Ralph, Piggy, and the fire! They look like devils.
Piggy runs away, and so do the littluns who had been playing nearby. Jack seems totally uncivilized. He is naked except for his belt and face paint. Two of Jack’s hunters get burning sticks from the fire.
Jack yells at Ralph’s scared boys that he and his hunters have killed a pig. Jack says the boys are invited to a feast. As thunder booms loudly, Jack looks at two of his followers who say, “The Chief has spoken!” Jack and his hunters leave.
After Sam and Eric tell Ralph how scared they had been by Jack’s surprise visit because they had thought the beast had come, Piggy tells Ralph he thought Jack had come for the conch. Piggy gives the conch to Ralph.
Ralph takes the conch, and Ralph’s boys follow him to the meeting area. Piggy says he thought he had been going to have an asthma attack, but Ralph just says, “Sucks to your ass- Mar.”
Ralph says that Jack, Maurice, and Robert are having fun playing at being savages and raiding for fire, but their raid just shows how important the fire is for rescue.
Ralph does not speak clearly. He laughs a lot and Piggy has to help him finish his sentences so they make sense. The other boys become nervous.
The boys pass the conch around and take turns speaking. The older boys think the boys should go to Jack’s feast The littluns are hungry for meat, too.
Ralph thinks that he and his boys can get their own meat, but the boys say that Ralph’s boys are not hunters. Ralph’s boys are afraid to go into the jungle, and they need to ask Jack for meat and for help with the fire. Piggy, to0, wants meat.
Simon is still staring at the Lord of the Flies. Simon’s tongue is swollen and his head is hurting. He imagines that the pig’s head is telling him that he is a “silly little boy… [who should] run off and play with the others.”
Simon imagines the pig telling him that he is a boy who wants respect from Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and the others, but they think Simon is weird and crazy.
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Note: At the beginning of Lord of the lies, the island is seen as a good one with fruit, water, and wood for making shelters. It was like the Garden of Eden a place described in the Bible as a beautiful and good place God had made for Adam and Eve – the first humans
(Genesis 2:8).Now Simon’s place of peace has turned from a good Garden of Eden into another garden described in the Bible – the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-42).
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, like Simon, was tested. Jesus was tested to see if he would be brave enough to allow himself to be killed on a cross as a sacrifice for humanity’s sins.
(Three men – including one named Simon Peter went with Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane.) Simon is being tested to see if he is brave enough to face the pig’s head and continue up the mountain to see if there is a real beast.
Simon imagines the pig’s head asking if Simon is afraid of it. The pig says it is the Beast and no one can help Simon, but Simon says it is only a pig’s head on a stick.
Simon thinks the pig asks him if Simon knew that the Beast was inside each boy – each human. Simon thinks the pig tells him that the Beast is the reason things cannot go well on the island. The beast in each boy is growing stronger.
The Lord of the Flies grows bigger and bigger, seeming to tell Simon to not tell the boys the truth about the Beast- that it exists only within them.
The pig seems to say that it is getting angry, that it wants to have savage fun with the boys. It warns Simon that if Simon tries to tell the truth about the Beast, the boys – Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph – will destroy Simon.
As Simon faints, he feels that he has been swallowed by the Lord of the Flies.
Jack has left a gift for the beast-a gift for darkness, and the last thing we see is Simon fainting and everything going dark for him.
Simon first faints in Chapter 1 as the choir boys join Ralph and Piggy. Jack tells them, choir boys, to leave Simon alone because Jack says, “He’s always throwing a taint.
The fact that Simon has a weak body and faints a lot as a result of the illness of epilepsy is important because it makes him different from the other boys.
It also makes him like Simon Peter and like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden, Simon Peter falls asleep when he is supposed to be praying to support Jesus.
Jesus wakes Simon Peter and tells him that Simon Peter’s spirit was willing, but his body was weak. Simon is like Jesus because he is fighting against evil and is trying to figure out what is true and what he should do.
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Also Read:
- Lord Of The Flies Chapter 1 Summary
- Lord Of The Flies Chapter 2 Summary
- Lord of the Flies Chapter 4 Summary
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