Quote from Lord of the Flies Page 111

''Ralph-we need meat even if we are hunting the other thing.'"
-Lord of the Flies Page 111
Even as the group is trying to hunt the beast, many of the boys can only thing of hunting, killing, and eating pigs. The thought of meat seems to put the boys in a trance where the sole objects in their minds is killing pigs. This obsession with meat is beginning to tear the island apart. Even Ralph's mind is beginning to embrace the ideas of hunting pigs. This obsession may eventually lead to the demise of the order on the island.

Quote from Lord of the Flies Page 89

"Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness."
-Lord of the Flies Page 89
Simon attempts to explain to the other boys what is really the beast on the island. He attempts to tell them that the real beast might be themselves. The soverignty on the island has been breaking down because of the disagreements in leadership. Simon believes that the once noble endeavors of the islanders have become skewed and evil. Jack and his posse once worked for the good of the island, but became engulfed in pride.
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Quote from Lord of the Flies Page 81

"'You hunters! You can laugh! But I tell you the smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one. Do all of you see?'..'We've got to make smoke up there-or die.'"
-Lord of the Flies page 81
This passage comes from Ralph's inspired speech to the boys after the ship has passed. This act infuriates Jack because his love of hunting is belittled. Jack believes that the only important thing to do on the island is to hunt. He gets a sort of adrenaline high from hunting. Ralph uses this speech to try and get the point across that the fire is more important than anything else anyone could do on the island.

Quote from Lord of the Flies Page 75

"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in."
-Lord of the Flies Page 75
This chant is the first clue that the boys are becoming more and more savage. Island life is de-conditioning them from what they were taught back home in London. The boys repeat this chant in a ritual they perform to symbolize the hunt. They appear to worship the act of hunting and killing pigs. They are more interested in the pursuit of meat that they will eventually forget of being rescued and their lives in the civilized world.

Quote from Lord of the Flies Page 68

"The fire was dead...smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready."
-Lord of the Flies Page 68
This quote is from a very important scene in the novel. Ralph becomes infuriated when the boys he assigned to keep the fire going choose to go out and hunt. A possible rescuer floats by offshore and the signal fire is out. This event is what starts the schism between Ralph and Jack. Jack defies Ralph, saying that hunting is more important than the fire, while Ralph believes the fire to be much more important than eating meat. This division in the parties eventually leads to death and fear.
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Final Words on Brave New World

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is an interesting insight into the primal characteristics of man. The characters in the novel progress from being civilized, English boys to savages on the verge of losing all of their civility. The book serves as an insight onto what might happen when humans are taken out of a world of law and government, and pushed into a world of total freedom and anarchy. The struggle for power between Ralph and Jack lead to the deaths of two of the more sensible boys. The book also possesses many symbols. The conch is one of the most common of the book. The conch represents order to many of the boys. It is what calls the boys to assembly and what dictates who is to speak at the assemblies. The stuck pig head that "talks" to Simon is also a symbol in the book. It represents the island’s overwhelming power. The pig’s head represents human nature. It tells Simon that it is the Beast, and it is inside him. Human nature was the Beast that the boys on the island should have feared, instead of some physical monster. Pigs were also a symbol of Jack’s regression into becoming a savage. The thoughts of hunting and eating meat possessed Jack, causing him and the rest of the boys to forget of being rescued. The signal fire was Ralph’s last connection to any civilized thought. The rest of the boys had reverted back to savages and forgot about the fire, but Ralph’s single-minded obsession was to keep the fire going to signal possible rescuers. Lord of the Flies serves as a testament to what may occur when law and order are removed and people are left to govern themselves.

Lord of the Flies Pages 180-200

The scene with Ralph running into the naval officer illustrates a very powerful oversight in the book. As the novel progresses, Golding's descriptions of the characters and the events of the novel make the reader forget that the characters described are only ten, eleven, and twelve years old. The last scene with Ralph and the naval officer gives a different perspective on the characters. The descriptions change. Golding uses words such as "little boys" to describe the boys the naval officer meets on the beach. No where else in the novel does he describe the boys in such a manner. Golding is narrating the scene through the eyes of the naval officer. The officer is met by a group of boys who appear tribal in their ways, but British school boys by their appearence. Golding also makes the boys appear more adolescent when he writes that they begin to sob after they have realized what they have become.