CH. 12: Cry of the Hunters (by Tommy)

Lord of the Flies: Chapter 12 Analysis

 Jack’s new tribe is established at the Castle Rock. The Castle Rock has a warlike connotation; the word castle makes us think of war and fortresses, and the word rock brings the ideas of cold and hard to the reader. The spot was also chosen by Jack to be a fortress as the name might suggest. This tells us that Jack and his new society have returned to civilization in a sense, but a lower form of it. Instead of being a society based upon debate and knowledge, Jack has established a militaristic state. Jack’s new tribe can be compared to ancient Sparta. In Sparta young boys were trained to be warriors. Knowledge was not valued in Sparta, only war. In Jack’s tribe the boys are trained to be hunters, and this makes them very similar to warriors. Jack’s tribe also does not value knowledge, only hunting and killing. Sparta was a very hard and strict place to live and therefore the new tribe would probably be under the same circumstances. These hard conditions are symbolized by the “Rock” part of the name “Castle Rock”. This is a polar opposite of Ralph and Piggy’s society where survival and being rescued were the top priorities. After Samneric is captured Ralph is the only one left who is arguably civilized. When he tries to talk to Samneric they initially tell him to go away out of fear of Jack and Roger. They tell him that Jack was going to hunt him down the following day. In Jacks efforts to kill Ralph, he sets the entire island on fire. In an ironic twist this fire is seen by a naval captain who comes to the island and saves Ralph. The ending of the book is ironic because The fire that Ralph set up to get them rescued in the beginning of the book represented a civil society with rules and a base of a government, but the fire that saved the children was one that was created by an internal bloodlust and evil intent that Jack and Roger represented.