Lord Of The Flies Chapter 5 Summary {Step by Step Guide}
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Lord of the Flies Summary of Chapter 5 | Beast from Water Summary
Ralph sits, thinking. He sits on the chief’s log. He realizes that a chief has to be wise, but he also realizes that Piggy is the true thinker. He decides to blow the conch to let the other boys know he is ready for the meeting.
The conch, the symbol of Ralph’s authority, has turned almost white from being in the sun and air. Ralph’s authority is slipping away as quickly as the conch’s color is fading.
Still, the boys gather as they hear the conch’s call. The older boys are nervous. They know that Ralph is angry because they let the signal fire go out, causing them to miss a chance to be rescued. The littluns don’t know what has happened, but they feel that the mood is serious.
Ralph tells the boys that assemblies must be real. Important decisions must be made and followed. The boys had agreed to build shelters, gather water in coconut shells, use a toilet area where the tide could wash away the waste, and keep a signal fire going.
They had not done any of the things they had agreed to do! When Ralph mentions the signal fire, the mood gets very serious. Jack whispers something to Robert, one of the choir boys, but the author does not tell readers what Jack says.
Ralph says they must keep the signal fire going in order to be rescued. He says they ought to be willing to die, if necessary, to keep the fire going!
The hunters start to laugh, and Ralph insists loudly that “smoke is more important than the pig.” He says from now on there will be no more small cooking fires.
They will cook only at the signal fire. They will not set the island on fire again and there will always be smoke. The hunters are not happy, but Ralph insists on safety measures. Ralph tells the boys that they elected him chief and they must do as he says.
Jack wants the conch and a turn to speak, but Ralph is not finished. He says that things are going badly; they are no longer happy. It is time to talk about their fears, so they can see that there is nothing to fear.
Jack takes the conch and tells the littluns that they started making people afraid by talking about a beast. He says the littluns need to stop being cry- babies and deal with the fear.
There is no beast. Jack tells the littluns that fear cannot hurt them any more than a dream can. Jack says he has even heard his hunters talk about a big animal, a beast.
Jack says there are no beasts on small islands. Beasts live in big countries like Africa and India. Jack says he is a hunter who has been everywhere on the island by himself.
They can be frightened if that is their personality, but the boys cannot be frightened of a beast. There is no beast!
Piggy takes the conch and says that he agrees with Jack that there is no beast. What would a beast eat? The kids say that a beast would eat pigs. They laugh and call out, “Piggy!”
Piggy looks at Ralph for support. When the laughing stops, Piggy says that he knows life is scientific and there is no beast.
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Piggy says there is no need for fear unless they get frightened of people, The boys laugh at Piggy’s idea. Then Piggy says they should talk to the littlun who keeps talking about a beast, so they can show him there is nothing to fear.
A littlun named Phil comes forward and takes the conch. He says that last night he had had a dream where he was outside of the shelter by himself fighting with the twisty things in the trees. Then he had woken up, found that he was outside the shelter, alone and in the dark.
Phil says that after he woke up, he saw something “big and horrid” in the forest. Ralph says that Phil had had a nightmare and had walked in his sleep, but Phil says that he had awoken before he saw something moving.
Ralph says that Phil must have been asleep. No one would have left the shelters to go into the forest at night. Ralph asks all of the boys if any of them had gone out.
Ralph is surprised when Simon steps forward, takes the conch, and explains that he had gone into the forest to a place he likes. The boys cannot believe that Simon would go out of the shelter area at night.
Jack says that Simon must have been “taken short,” which is a polite British way of saying that Simon must have needed to defecate (poop.)
Everyone laughs at Simon, and Simon wants to speak, but Ralph has taken back the conch, so Simon just lets the boys laugh at him. Ralph tells Simon not to go out at night again.
Piggy now asks another littlun, Percival, to come forward. As Ralph looks at the boy, he remembers the littlun with the birthmark who died in the fire.
Piggy asks the boy for his name, but the shy littlun does not answer. He does not answer Ralph either. The other boys, all together, ask his name. Ralph tells everyone to be quiet and asks the boy again.
Percival says his full name, address in England, and begins to give his phone number before he starts crying loudly. He is probably remembering his parents teaching him how to recite important information.
When all of the other littluns start to cry and no one can get them to stop, Maurice gets them to laugh at him. He falls off a log and acts silly, rubbing his bottom.
Percival is tired from crying and almost falls down. Jack grabs him and shakes him, asking him where the beast lives. When Percival says the beast comes from the sea, everyone becomes quiet.
Maurice takes the conch and tells Piggy that science hasn’t discovered everything. Maurice’s father had told him stories about strange sea creatures. There could be a beast.
The boys all start to argue loudly. Ralph grabs the conch and blows it. The author says, “To Ralph… this seemed the breaking up of sanity.” The boys become quiet again.
Simon surprises Ralph by quietly saying that maybe there is a beast. Maybe the beast is them – the boys, themselves. The boys don’t understand. Even Piggy disagrees.
Someone suggests that the beast is a ghost. Piggy takes the conch to disagree, but many boys say they do believe in ghosts.
Ralph takes the conch and says he should not have called a meeting so close to nightfall. They will take a vote and see who believes in ghosts. Then they will go to the shelters
The boys vote, and most of the boys raise their hands to show that they do believe in ghosts. Piggy grabs the conch and says he wants them all to remember that he did NOT raise his hand.
Piggy wants to know if the boys are humans, animals, or savages. Jack tells Piggy to shut up. The boys see Jack and Piggy, two shadows, fighting over the almost white conch that catches the remaining light.
Ralph tells Jack that Piggy has the conch and the right to speak. Jack says Ralph always supports Piggy. Jack says Ralph can’t hunt or sing; there’s no reason Ralph should be chief.
Note: Readers now see that three different parts of human society are fighting for control of the island. Which part ill survive? Will it be Piggy’s science, Jack’s violence, or Ralph’s authority?
Is Ralph right? Is all control being lost to insanity? Is Simon right that it is the boys, themselves, who are together becoming a beast?
Ralph tells Jack that he is breaking the rules, but Jack just says, “Who cares?” Ralph is shocked and says, “the rules are the only things we’ve got!”
Jack tells the boys that they don’t need any rules. He leads the other boys down the beach, saying they can kill any beast. Piggy and Ralph think they are alone.
Ralph has taken the conch back, and Piggy tells him to blow into it to call the boys back. Ralph won’t use the conch. If he blows it and no one comes, then there will be no order left on the island.
Ralph wonders aloud if there are beasts or ghosts on the island. Ralph says that maybe he should stop being the chief, but Piggy tells him that would be a bad idea. Jack would become the leader and there would be only hunting and no fire.
They would never be rescued. Piggy sees a shadow and asks who else is with them. Simon says it is he. Ralph says the three of them are no good.
They are like “three blind mice.” Ralph says he will quit being the leader. Piggy is very upset. He worries about his own safety because he knows Jack hates him, but he doesn’t know why.
Piggy says he understands different kinds of people because he had had time to think when he had been in bed with asthma. He says Jack is like an asthma attack; when Jack is around, Piggy can’t breathe.
Piggy also says that he knows Jack hates Ralph because Ralph was elected chief and Ralph criticized Jack for hunting instead of taking care of the signal fire.
Simon agrees with piggy that Ralph must be chief. Ralph is the only one who can be stronger than Jack. Ralphs wishes there were adults on the island.
Piggy and Simon agree, saying that if there had been adults, the fire would have been kept going, Piggy’s glasses would have been kept going, and a ship would have been built.
As Ralph cries out, hoping for a sign or message from adults, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are frightened by a loud cry from the darkness.
Percival, the little boy who earlier had cried when giving his name, address, and phone number, has begun crying again. He had never left the meeting place.
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