"We should light a signal fire on the mountain!" The words sweep through the assembly like a wave. It washes over everyone and catches hold of everyone. The tumult is incredible. Boys who, moments before, were quiet and respectful or jeering are jumping up and racing after Jack. Those fools. Jack is only after power and doesn't care how he gets it. His personality is more pleasing than Ralph's but I don't trust him. There is an irresistible charm about him that all but I fall prey to. I've learned too much. He doesn't like me or think I'm capable of anything. I'll prove him wrong. Underestimating your opponent can be a fatal error. And I am his opponent. He would crush our society for his own gain and I will prevent him. I cannot tell Ralph about this, he trusts Jack. I would be out of favor and then I wouldn't have enough influence to stop him. He will warp the truth and lie to get what he wants. Not the sort of person who would play by society's rules. The boys he has with him are not much better. Roger seems to be cold and cruel. Simon, is an enigma. I cannot fathom what goes on in his mind. Scornfully, Roger turns. He is mainly silent, this one.
"Coming?" he yells. "Jack's going to light a fire!" his eyes are aglow with a strange hunger. The lust for power. I shudder and Ralph turns in confusion toward me. I shake my head.
"It's nothing. But aren't you annoyed that they broke your authority?" he shrugs.
"It was a good idea." he says simply. "I don't mind." I smirk a little to myself. I had seen him trying to get everyone to stay.
"Everyone needs to save face." I murmur. He turns again.
"What?" I shake my head.
"Nothing." Nimbly, he hops over a rock on the way. I shake my head again but there is admiration this time. I glance down at my own body. Not an athletic one unfortunately. Besides there's my asthma. My glasses slip down my nose and I carefully push them back. There's no way for me to get a new pair and I'm almost blind with out them. We reach the summit behind the others. Jack is already officiously throwing his weight around. My lip curls back into a snarl almost of it's own accord. I trust him even less now. He has no respect for democracy. Ralph and I join in the log gathering. He helps Jack with a big log. I carry tinder. Ralph says something.
"How do you intend to light the fire?" a simple and effective damper.
"You could make a bow." Roger demonstrates with his hands.
"Or use a magnifying glass like I use at school to light leaves on fire." suggests a small boy near me. I shudder. I know what's coming.
"Piggy's glasses!" the mob moves toward me. Ralph stops them with a single glance. His power is great but I still worry about Jack. I see Jack beside a little boy. He says something quiet and cruel and shoves the boy aside. The little boys are a strange mob. They follow headlong any new idea but some of them get bored quickly and move on to playing. I see three of them now back down in the lagoon. We are so different, them and I. I aim for a society and will fight for it and they want to play. Jack could manipulate them easily if he got the right leverage. I see Roger looking coolly over at me as he twists the arm of a little boy to make him move. I am scared by his cruelty.
Jack takes my glasses, ignoring my protests and starts to light the fire. One wisp of smoke curls up then another. Flames grow from the spot like vines. Twisting and tangling upward. Smoke rises and swirls toward the blue sky. In seconds a roaring fire has grown from the spot. The boys race from the spot to gather still more wood while I do some quick calculations. If the fire continues at this rate it will use 10 logs per minute and the boys together can only gather nine. And every moment more and more small boys run off to play with their comrades. Finally everyone collapsed exhausted like I knew they would eventually. We glance around us. My attention is caught by smoke rising from the forest. Is it what I think it could be? Forest fire? I point it out to Ralph.
"You got your little fire" I say. We see the forest begin to go up in flames. Then we try to find out about the little boys. Then comes the dreaded realization that we have lost one of them. The little boy who was scared of the snake. My heart turns over in my chest. Is there any way such a small boy could survive?
"Maybe he went back down." Ralph suggests hollowly. But we all know it is false. The little boy with the mark on the side of his face is dead. Solemnly, they all wound their way back to the lagoon where we had started. Ralph was the last to leave except for me. I looked up at the sky. Doubt clouds my vision. Can a haphazard group of boys like us, divided between two leaders survive on our own?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I like how you described and imagined what you thought of Jack in the eyes of Piggy, throughout your story. I also like how you questioned the whole book, in the end, It shows a little of what is going to happen in the future of the book.
"Can a haphazard group of boys like us, divided between two leaders survive on our own?"
Great entry, Emma. Although I barely understood half of the words you used, I still loved your idea of Piggy's side of the story.
It was interesting seeing how you write a blog entry, such as this. You right short sentences that don't have much detail, but still put the whole story together.
Using the context from the book shows that you referred to the chapter and used your resources. Such as when you wrote, ""You got your little fire" I say. We see the forest begin to go up in flames. Then we try to find out about the little boys."
Great job Emma!
Post a Comment