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lord of the flies 11

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LORD OF THE FLIES CHAPTER 11 SUMMARY BACK NEXT

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Castle RockPiggy wants to go to Jack and the others and insist that they give his glasses back, because it's the right and reasonable thing to do.Ralph thinks this is going to work just about as well as we do, but he agrees to try.The pair decides to bring the conch shell with them to give an impression of authority, and maybe clean themselves up a little, too.Ralph and Piggy argue a little about the smoking fire, and then they set off along the beach with Sam and Eric-leading Piggy, who's practically blind now.When they get there, the boys in Jack's group are "painted out of recognition."Ralph announces that he's calling an assembly and wishes he'd had the bright idea to tie his hair back like the "savages."Roger throws a small stone at Sam and Eric, and then Jack and Ralph argue about Piggy's glasses.Piggy screams, afraid to be left by himself when he can't see.This is going well. Not."'You pinched Piggy's specs,' said Ralph, breathlessly. 'You've got to give them back.'"Jack is not convinced.Once Ralph calls Jack a dirty thief, the boys begin to fight, swinging at each other with their spears.But Golding is careful to tell us that they use their spears "as sabers," not jabbing at each other with the "lethal points," possibly because everyone is still a little bit traumatized over Simon's death.Piggy tries to defuse the sitch by telling Ralph to remember what they came for-the fire, the specs.And then Ralph says something interesting: he tells Jack, "You aren't playing the game-" and then he cuts himself off.He sure isn't. Jack's next move is to tell the savages to tie up Sam and Eric.There is some hesitation as everyone in the crowd thinks (roughly speaking): "Seriously?"Seriously. The twins get tied up and Jack revels in his ability to boss the others around.As the fighting between Jack and Ralph worsens, Piggy yells at them to let him speak and holds up the conch.Surprisingly, everyone quiets down.Piggy tries to reason with them, telling them to cut out all this painted savage nonsense. He suggests that law and rescue are better than hunting and breaking things up.Jack's tribe isn't convinced.Remember that lever catapult from Chapter 6? High above them on the cliff, Roger leans on the lever "with a sense of delirious abandonment."Piggy is still holding the conch when the boulder strikes him. The conch shatters into thousands of pieces, and Piggy falls forty feet toward the sea.He lands on the rocks below, the contents of his skull oozing out.We are told that his body twitches a bit, "like a pig's after it has been killed."The boys watch in horror as the waves suck Piggy's body into the sea.Apparently, this is the sign Jack needed: he screams that he really is chief now because the conch is gone, and then throws his spear at Ralph.Jabbed in the ribs, Ralph turns and runs, with the savages (ineffectively) hurling spears after them.Jack returns to home base, standing with Roger in front of Sam and Eric and demanding they join his tribe.There's an interesting Jack-Roger moment here; Roger edges past Jack, "only just avoiding pushing him with his shoulder." Jack shouts and pokes at the twins, but we end the chapter with Roger advancing towards them menacingly-"wielding a nameless authority."