Contents
CHAPTER TEN
Overview
Reeling from Simon’s death, Ralph and Piggy privately name it murder yet publicly deny involvement with Samneric. At Castle Rock, Jack consolidates power with fear, ritual, and arbitrary violence. Failing to maintain their own fire, Ralph’s group is attacked at night; Jack’s raiders steal Piggy’s glasses, leaving them unable to make fire.
Summary
At the abandoned platform, Ralph and Piggy confront Simon’s death. Ralph calls it murder, while Piggy insists it was an accident and urges secrecy. They agree not to admit being in the dance. When Sam and Eric arrive, all four awkwardly deny involvement, sharing tacit guilt.
Meanwhile at Castle Rock, Roger inspects new defenses and learns Jack had Wilfred tied and beaten without reason. Before a painted tribe, Jack claims the beast still lives, forbids the mountain, and promises another hunt and feast. Lacking fire, he plans to raid Ralph’s group to steal it.
Back at the shelters, Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric struggle to light and maintain a hearth-fire, realizing its comfort as well as its rescue purpose. Exhausted, they decide to let it die overnight and sleep in a battered shelter, haunted by fear and frayed nerves.
In the dark, whispers and cracking twigs announce raiders. A chaotic fight erupts in the collapsed shelter; blows and confusion leave everyone bruised. After the attackers flee, Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric reassure the littluns and compare injuries, believing they drove the raiders off.
Ralph checks the conch, still untouched, and Piggy realizes the truth: the raiders came for his glasses, not the conch. Along the shore, Jack trots triumphantly toward Castle Rock with Piggy’s broken spectacles, having stripped Ralph’s group of their only sure means to make fire.
Who Appears
- RalphStricken by guilt over Simon’s death; tries to keep order and fire; fights raiders but loses hope.
- PiggyDenies responsibility for Simon’s death; depends on glasses; panics during raid; loses his glasses.
- JackNow chief at Castle Rock; uses fear and violence; orders raid; triumphantly steals Piggy’s glasses.
- SamPart of Samneric; denies attending the dance; helps with fire; bruised in the nighttime fight.
- EricPart of Samneric; shares denial and fear; helps with fire; fights raiders, injured.
- RogerExplores rock defenses; senses power in cruelty; volunteers for the raid on Ralph’s shelter.
- MauriceJack’s follower; volunteers for the raid; helps steal fire by taking Piggy’s glasses.
- RobertCastle Rock guard; demonstrates levered boulder; reports Wilfred’s binding and looming beating.
- WilfredTribe member arbitrarily tied and beaten by Jack, showing Jack’s unchecked authority.
- StanleyTribe member who questions killing the beast; reflects shared denial and fear.
- BillAsks how to light a fire; prompts Jack’s plan to raid Ralph’s group.
- The littlunsFrightened younger boys; scream during the raid and are reassured afterward.