Chapter 3
Ago: to explore the causes of the distancing relationship of Jack and Ralph
Primitive society: Lack of communication, no rules, unhygienic, simple, lack of infrastructure and technology
Civilised society: technology, running water, respect, manners, safety and security, rules, laws, government, democracy
1. Look at the opening of Chapter Three. List all the words and phrases which describe Jack’s body movements changing from those of a civilised boy into those of a hunter. PG48
‘Assessing the current of warm air for information’ lack of technology- trying to read nature
‘Then dog-like, uncomfortable on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort’ pg48
Described as an animal, animalistic characteristics in order to hunt, ‘all fours’ not like a normal person
‘Discomfort’ ignoring the fact it’s uncomfortable. Stubborn, desire to proceed
Shows the change- not yet comfortable in the primitive position
‘Except for a pair of tattered shorts held up by his knife-belt he was naked’ pg48
Tattered- shorts have become tattered. Symbolise his decent into savagery. Clothing represents civilisation.
‘For a minute became less of a hunter than a furtive thing…ape-like amongst the tangle of trees’
Ape-like- primitive- going backwards in evolution
Furtive- sly, cautious and secretive
‘Sharpened stick’ primitive technology and brutal
‘Down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth’
Body has become like an animal- lower down the evolutionary scale
‘The promise of meat’
Savage- desire for meat drives him to killing animals
‘Bare mass of dark freckles and peeling sunburn’ unkempt
‘Jack himself shout at this with a hiss of indrawn breath’ uncommunicative, not talking about it
‘Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth’
1. What has held up the building of the huts?
Jack and the hunters were hunting. The littleuns were playing or eating.
Pg51. ‘They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing’ hopeless
‘When the meeting was over they’d work for 5 minutes then wander off or go hunting’
‘Been working for days now and look!’
‘Besides, the rest of your hunters came back hours ago. They’ve been swimming’
2. What reasons does Ralph give for building the huts?
‘If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters all right’
‘We need shelters because of the-‘beast? The littleuns are ‘frightened’ and they need protection (pg52)
3. What does the instability of the huts represent about society on the island? What do we learn about Ralph’s character during this argument?
There not working together or listening to the leader who is Ralph. They are not communicating with Ralph as they are off ‘bathing, or eating, or playing’
4. Both boys have trouble communicating ideas and feelings in this section. Find three examples where feelings are not communicated openly, and analyse how Golding portrays this. What consequences could this have on the relationship between the boys?
Jack finds it hard to communicate his feelings across as he says ‘I let them go, I had to go on, I-’ the use of the dash shows he doesn’t really know what he wants to say. He has no strong reason to explain himself over them.
He’s also shown having difficulty when he says ‘you catch yourself feeling as if-‘ and he ‘flushed suddenly’ This alongside the dash shows how hard it is for him to explain his feelings to Ralph.
Summary
Carrying a stick sharpened into a makeshift spear, Jack trails a pig through the thick jungle, but it evades him. Irritated, he walks back to the beach, where he finds Ralph and Simon at work building huts for the younger boys to live in. Ralph is irritated because the huts keep falling down before they are completed and because, though the huts are vital to the boys’ ability to live on the island, none of the other boys besides Simon will help him. As Ralph and Simon work, most of the other boys splash about and play in the lagoon. Ralph gripes that few of the
