Skip to main content

What sort of weapon is Jack using to hunt pigs in Lord of the Flies?

Jack uses a spear to stick the pig and a knife to cut its throat. 


The pig-hunting is very important to Jack and to the other boys on the island.  It is about much more than getting meat.  Jack also just wants to kill something, because he has an innately savage nature.  He was also appointed head of the hunters, so he considers it a failure if he doesn’t get a pig. 


Killing a...

Jack uses a spear to stick the pig and a knife to cut its throat. 


The pig-hunting is very important to Jack and to the other boys on the island.  It is about much more than getting meat.  Jack also just wants to kill something, because he has an innately savage nature.  He was also appointed head of the hunters, so he considers it a failure if he doesn’t get a pig. 


Killing a pig turns out to be more difficult, physically and psychologically, than the boys ever imagined.  The first time there is a pig, Jack finds himself unable to stick it.  It would be the first time he killed something.  The enormity of it overwhelms him.



He raised his arm in the air. There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream and the creepers to jerk, and the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm. (Ch. 1) 



The boys continue their desperate efforts to kill the pig.  They even develop a song and dance centered around pig killing.  It is symbolic of their new life and existence on the island.  They want to be self-sufficient and grown-up.  Jack uses a “sharpened stick about five feet long” to hunt the pig. 



From the pigrun came the quick, hard patter of hoofs, a castanet sound, seductive, maddening—the promise of meat. He rushed out of the undergrowth and snatched up his spear. The pattering of pig’s trotters died away in the distance. (Ch. 3) 



The pig dance became more disturbing when they had a boy actually playing the pig.  Robert screamed and struggled while “Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife” (Ch. 7).  One boy had already died in the fire, and soon Simon and Piggy would also lose their lives to the boys’ frenzied and desperate worship of hunting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more