Chapters 7 and 8
Chapter 7: Shadows and tall trees
The boys set off for the mountain along the unfamiliar shoreline on the other side of the island. When they stop to eat some fruit, Ralph muses on his state of hygiene and that of the others. He longs for a soapy bath, a haircut, a toothbrush. He realises that the boys' dirtiness has become normal for them.
At one point Ralph looks out to sea and has a sense that they are even more lost and remote than he had thought previously. Simon seems to know what he's thinking and tells Ralph that he believes he will be saved. However, he does not suggest that all the boys or even he himself will be saved.
The boys discover droppings of a wild boar and a hunt ensues. The boar gets away but not without being speared by Ralph. His success at hitting the boar infects Ralph with pride and excitement about the hunt.
All the boys are excited by the hunt, even though it was not ultimately successful. Robert pretends to be the boar. The game gets out of hand and turns violent. Robert is terrified but it ends before he gets seriously hurt. They talk about doing it 'properly' with a fire and a drum.
They continue along the rough shoreline to find a way up onto the mountain. They get to a point where they cannot go any further but realise that it's late in the day and they will not get back to the camp until after nightfall. Simon volunteers to go straight through the jungle on his own to the other side of the island where Piggy and the littluns are.
The rest of the boys continue and find their way up the mountain. When it gets really dark Ralph suggests they go back to their camp and look for the beast in the morning. But Jack says that he is going to go on. Ralph and Roger go with him and the others go back to the camp.
At one point Jack goes on ahead while Ralph and Roger wait. Jack evidently sees the dead pilot in the darkness but does not know what it is. Terrified, he comes back to the others and tells them he's seen something. Ralph goes forward to inspect, still not believing that there is a beast.
In the darkness Ralph too sees the pilot and, like Jack, is unable to recognise the figure for what it is. The boys flee the mountain and race back to the camp.
Chapter 8: Gift for the darkness
Ralph gets back to the camp and tells Piggy that he has seen the beast. Piggy still does not really believe in it but Ralph is adamant that there is a beast on the mountain. Ralph believes that because the beast is near the fire on the mountain they will have to build the fire on the beach instead.
Jack calls an assembly and tries to get the others to depose Ralph of his position as chief. When his attempts at this are met with silence, Jack is humiliated. He storms off, telling the gathering that he is not going to be under Ralph's command any longer.
The other boys start to build a new fire. Silently, some of the other older boys - collectively called 'biguns' - steal away to join Jack. Simon, who earlier suggested they climb the mountain again to confront the beast or to confirm that it exists, goes to his hiding-place amongst the creepers in the forest.
Jack and the biguns who followed him - mainly choir boys -gather elsewhere. Jack elects himself, unopposed, as chief of their tribe. They go into the forest and hunt down a pig. The site where they kill it is in the clearing near Simon's hiding-spot, where he is still sitting without their knowledge. They put the pig's head on a spear and leave it standing upright in the forest as a gift for the beast.
Jack announces there will be a feast that night and that they should steal fire from the others boys' camp.
Ralph and Piggy are on the beach discussing their predicament when Jack's tribe come upon them and steal branches from the fire. The hunters are painted up. Jack, painted and naked, invites others from Ralph's group to join his tribe. He tells them that his group hunts, feasts and has fun, implying that in his tribe they will be free from the rules and responsibilities imposed upon them by Ralph and Piggy. He also invites them all to the feast that night.
His invitations are tempting to some of the older boys still with Ralph. They want to eat meat and have fun. Ralph tries to remind them of the need to keep the fire going. He is still bent on rescue.
The chapter ends with Simon, still in his hiding spot in the forest, staring out at the pig's head which is covered in flies. In his imagination the head seems to be talking to him, telling him that it is the Lord of the Flies and that the real beast is within them all. Like Jack, it tells Simon that he should give up ideas of rescue and just enjoy himself with hunting and so forth. Simon faints.
