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Lord of the Flies Chapter 3 "Huts on the Beach"
Jack is in the forest tracking a pig; a spear is clutched in his hands and he is clothed only in a tattered pair of underwear held on by his knife belt. Suddenly the trampling of pigs' hooves is heard and he realizes once again that he has lost his chance at catching one. Returning to the beach, he and Ralph begin to talk after drinking from a coconut half-filled with water. While Jack has been out hunting, Ralph and Simon were the only two still working to construct the shelters after working for a few days. Ralph complains to Jack about the importance of finishing the shelters before anything else is undertaken, including hunting. "'We need meat,'" Jack insists simply as he "tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up." Chapter 3, pg. 47
An important difference begins to show between these Ralph and Jack, a distinct contrast of their personalities. Ralph speaks more of the need to create shelters as a "sort of home" for the boys, especially the littluns, in order to maintain and recreate some link to the civilized existence they once knew. Jack, however, shows a certain disinterest for recreating civilization--he says he would like to catch a pig and kill it before they are rescued, despite Ralph's continued insistence on having a fire on the mountain always burning as a beacon to draw any ships to them.
Topic Tracking: Government 3
Topic Tracking: Pig 2
Simon, usually a silent objective observer to these discussions, interjects that the littluns are all afraid as if "the beastie or snake-thing was real." He then disappears suddenly before Jack and Ralph themselves go off to the water hole to bathe, assuming that Simon has gone there as well. But he has not. Simon walks off mysteriously, alone. Around him is a certain glow and radiance where he walks--he gives of himself without greed or desire for power, unlike both Ralph and Jack: "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach...[and] passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands." Chapter 3, pg. 51. This aura of comfort and security continues to spread wherever Simon walks and nature seems to flourish everywhere around him. This is in sharp contrast to the depictions of Jack, Ralph and Piggy, who vie for control of the group's lifestyle on the island.
Simon is described as almost supernatural in force; even as dusk and night approach, where he walks the plants he named candle-buds "opened their wide white flowers....Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island." Chapter 3, pg. 52. Simon is never afraid, and, though quiet and private, he is shown for the first time to have a certain power and wisdom of his own.
