Friday, April 6, 2012

In "Lord of The Flies", Ralph asks Piggy "what makes things break up". How does the narration's description of Piggy's reaction to Ralph's question...

Ralph poses this question to Piggy following the splintering of the tribes and Ralph's realization that not only do most of the boys completely fail to understand the importance of being rescued, but that his own group no longer has enough members to keep a fire going, feed themselves, and defend themselves against Jack's raids. 


Piggy's answer is to blame Jack.



“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.”


“Jack?”


“Jack.”



It's a little unclear, and Piggy doesn't elaborate, whether he means Jack personally, or people like him. The irony of Piggy blaming Jack according to any definition is that Piggy is simply encouraging the breaking-up that Ralph is inquiring about. By making the division a matter of Jack's person, Piggy is widening the gulf that separates the sense of "Us" and "Them" that is crucial for establishing identities; Piggy is practically saying that everything would have gone just fine if it wasn't for Jack, who just came along and ruined everything simply by existing.


The fact that Ralph goes along with this suggests a few things in terms of the narration. It might imply that Ralph is physically, mentally and emotionally tired, and doesn't want to go through the degree of introspection necessary to really think this over. He's also seen that thinking and rationalizing hasn't really gotten them anywhere, and it's getting harder for him to do it too. It might also suggest that the boys haven't really learned from their experiences, and they're just settling into the same divisive habits and modes of thinking that, as adults, lead to war.

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