Lord of the Flies, William Golding. Cycle 24 Reading Response, 31-45.

Summary:
In pages 31-45 the search party returns and Ralph blows the conch and holds another meeting and tells the other boys of the news that there on in fact on and island with no other humans because they have not seen any houses or smoke from fires. They talk about things they need to do on the island then some boys interrupt and a young boy has something to say. The young boy is very hesitant and is scared but he gets the conch shell so he can talk and he speaks of a beastie snake he saw in the forest at night. When all the boys hear of this they get scared and ask Ralph if there could really be a beastie snake on the island. Ralph tells them that on an island of this size a beastie snake couldn’t survive and no one saw any kind of snake except for the little kids at night. Ralph says that the kid could’ve been dreaming or they didn’t see right but everyone is still cautious. Jack tells everyone that when they go hunting they will look for the beastie snake and if they find it they shall kill it so there should be no worries. After the talk of the snake dies they start talking about how will they get saved and someone says something about how if someone passes in a boat or ship they wouldn’t even be able to tell that people lived her so they would have to make a fire at the top of the mountain to be seen. Everyone gets really into the idea of this and heads of to the mountaintop to make a pile of wood and start a fire. Everyone goes up except Ralph and Piggy but Ralph finally goes up and Piggy follows. They get to the top of the mountain and they find a huge pile of wood but no one has any matches so Jack yanks Piggy’s glasses off his face and uses them to magnify the light of the sun. They get some smoke and finally a flame. Piggy gets continuously harassed and isn’t treated fair throughout the whole story. He has way better ideas then Jack but Ralph is a sucker for Jack and Ralph is now being a dick to Piggy how Jack was. After the make the huge unnecessary fire they come back down and Piggy tells Ralph they should’ve made shelters before the fire because they have never seen a ship pass yet and they probably couldn’t have seen it at this time of the day. Ralph feels embarrassed now and Piggy asks Ralph where are the young children and Ralph has no idea and Piggy asks him where is the young child that told everyone of the snakes because he hasn’t seen him. He says they could be messing around in the fire or hurt and he they fight back and forth about how he should’ve got the names of everyone but Piggy says he couldn’t have done it by himself then the chapter ends.

Vocabulary:
1. Martyred- a person who I skilled because of their religious or other beliefs
2. Ebullience- cheerful and full of energy
3. Officious- assertive of authority in an annoying domineering way esp. with regard to pretty or trivial matters
4. Contemptuously- showing contempt; scornful
5. Taut- stretched or pulled tight; not slack